Social Media Advocacy How to Develop a Successful Program For Your Brand

Social Media Advocacy How to Develop a Successful Program For Your Brand Social media employee advocacy. It’s a buzzword that has been floating around marketing teams for the past couple of years. While these types programs can be dramatically effective for a plethora of different reasons, including†¦ Brand awareness Sales connections Building company trust teams are still hesitant to adapt them  because†¦ There is risk of posting inappropriate content They are afraid the team won’t want to participate They already have enough work on their plate Whether you’ve started a program with your team and it’s turned into a chaotic mess, or you’re simply not sure how to start, you’ll learn about the resources and tools you need to turn your own employees into your biggest brand advocates. How To Develop A Successful Social Media Advocacy Program That Will Increase Brand AwarenessFirst Things First: Get Your Free Social Media Employee Advocacy Startup Package Before we start, make sure you download our Social Media Employee Advocacy Startup Package. When you download it, you’ll get: An pre-set email template to help you ask your co-workers to join the program A PowerPoint deck to help introduce and train your new employee advocates A brainstorming worksheet that advocates can use to determine their online voice A worksheet that your employees can use to remind themselves of when they need to send social messages That’s right, we did all the work for you. You’re welcome. What Is Social Media Employee Advocacy? A social media employee advocacy program allows you to use your employee’s vast social networks to help promote your company or brand. These employees are called "social employees" or "employee advocates." There are a lot of definitions of social employees, but the definition  that captures it best is from The Social Employee  by Mark and Cheryl Burgess: â€Å"Social Employees can utilize social media tools to act as authentic brand ambassadors in order to cultivate unique relationships with individuals where the end goal isn’t simply a purchase action but a dynamic exchange of ideas.† It’s a long definition, I know. But, the definition above captures both what a social employee is, and their purpose within your organization. It’s also important to note before we continue that when we refer to social media employee advocacy platforms, we’re talking about Twitter and LinkedIn. Let’s continue, shall we? What is social media employee advocacy (and is it right for your brand)?10 Steps To Starting Your Own Employee Advocacy Program Now that you know what an employee advocacy program is we’re going to move on to how to start your own program. The following steps will walk you through how to convince your team to join you, and the process you need to follow in order to get your program off on the right foot. Step 1: Identify Strong Candidates for Your Employee Advocacy Program Whether you’ve started your program and it flopped, or you’re just trying to get your feet off the ground, having the right people on your team is crucial to the initial success of your program. Therefore, check off the following before you  start: Pick a group of 10 people who you think would be good initial adopters of the program Narrow that list down to five Send the introductory email to those five people Depending on the size of your organization, the number of your initial adoptors may vary. We would recommend starting off with five, and growing the program from there. Five may seem like a small number, but there’s a lot of work that goes into setting up this program. Start small, you can always grow. Not to mention, you could run into a too many cooks in the kitchen type of problem. Don’t create that problem for yourself, trust me on this one. Now, I know what you’re thinking. What qualities should I be looking for the initial adopters of my employee advocacy social media program? A potential employee advocate should check off at least three of the following: Eager to learn Social media savvy Passionate about their job Great writing skills Has a wide knowledge base about the company Is already active on LinkedIn, Twitter, or both Is actually excited about the program and the potential it can bring to their department These are just a few of the qualities you will want to look for in your new social media employee advocacy program participants. Remember, you want to narrow it down to the best of the best so your program has a great jumping off point. A quick warning before you start your list. Do not, under any circumstances, force an employee to be a part of your employee advocacy program. No one likes being forced to do anything. It's like forcing a 4 year old to eat anything that's green. It's not gonna happen. If you force your employees to become your brand advocates, your program becomes in-genuine, and your potential consumers will see that coming from a mile away. So how do you approach your employees so that’ll they come and hear you out? Grab your free email template that complements  this post to customize and send to potential employee advocates. Feel free to personalize it to each person you’re sending it too. It may take a bit more time, but the personal touch really helps. Or you could just copy and paste the email from the social media employee advocacy kit. To Do: Make a list ten employees who you believe would be a good fit for your program Narrow the list down to five Send initial introduction email (Grab it from the kit that complements this post) Step 2: Introduce The Employee Advocacy Program To Your Team Why do you need to introduce the program to your employees? Well, first of all, you need to ask them if they want to participate.  Check out that email template from above to help get your started. Secondly, think about their schedule. They’re probably already swamped with a giant list of things to do. Imagine if your boss came to you and said, "Hey, I need you to spend about 3 hours a week tweeting about our company." You’d probably say no. Who wants extra work? No one. Being an employee advocate is not an easy task. It’s one that requires dedication and time. Most importantly, it’s a task that needs to be taken on voluntarily. So how do you convince your employees to take on extra work? Incentivize it. How do you convince your employees to take on extra work? Incentive it.I'm gonna get personal here for a second. When someone puts a competitive twist on things I’m immediately hooked. I have to win. I want to come out on top. Obviously, I'm pretty competitive person. Maybe your employees are the same way, and if so you can capitalize on that. Whether it’s a bonus, fun retreats, or even company swag, having a way for your employees to get rewarded will help them be more open to the possibility of participating in the program. So you've got everyone in the room. Now what? A presentation, maybe? You don't have time to create that. Don’t worry, we did that for you. Download it here. To Do: Download the PowerPoint slide deck from the social media employee advocacy starter kit Brainstorm ways to incentivize your employee advocacy program Get clearance from upper management for those incentives Schedule a meeting with your select five employees to go through presentation Step 3: Determine The Voice Of The Employees Who Will Be Participating In The Program If your employee advocates sound like a corporate robot, that’s what your consumer/customer fan base is going to think of them as. That’s not a good thing. Your employees need to bring their unique voice and perspective in order to breathe fresh life into your content. So how do you do this? Bring your employees to the  table. Schedule a short meeting, 15 minutes maximum to brainstorm and finalize an employee voice. You could even just swing by their desk when they have a minute or two to spare. Remember you want these meetings to be effortless and easy. The less this program interferes with their daily schedule the better. Once you’re in your meeting ask the following two questions and have them record their answers on the one-pager that is in the attached kit. What are five personality traits that make you great at your job? What are five personality traits that are not you? Once they have those written down have them pick their top three. Those become the voice of the employee online. An example is below. For a sales manager (let’s call him Bill), his list could look like: Confident but not arrogant Silly but not unprofessional Informative but not pushy Here's how to help your team develop their social media voice:Still stuck? Let me use myself as an example. I created my professional Twitter profile during my senior year of college because I wanted my potential new employers to know that: I was knowledgeable about social media and knew how to use it. I wanted to stand out among other applicants and find additional ways to showcase my personality. So when it came to creating my voice I had to answer the following three questions: Who am I and what is my personality like? Am I passive in my opinions or unafraid to state them clearly? If a potential employer or professional took thirty seconds to look at my profile what would they think about me? Have your employees try and think along the same mindset. Remember, don’t give them the answers. This is all about them. Have them fill out the worksheet in the kit that complements this blog post, and attach it to a desk, cubicle wall, or wherever they will see it often. This will act as a gentle reminder in case they get stuck on what to post. To Do: Print out voice brainstorming worksheet from kit Schedule a short meeting with participating employees or drop by there desk Brainstorm what their voice will be Finalize voice structure and record on worksheet Step 4: Create A Username  Convention When most companies start their social media employee advocacy program, they’ll usually identify their employees with a naming convention. Usually this means incorporating the company name into the Twitter handle somehow. It is important to note that once you pick a naming convention,  you stick with it. Once you pick a company-wide social media naming convention, stick with it.For example, our friends at Onsharp, a digital marketing and website development company in our home state of North Dakota, has an active social employee program. The handles for each of their employees is @Onsharpname. They cover a wide variety of topics, and are also able to show off their company culture. This not only helps increase their overall credibility,  but if you have a potential employee looking into the company, they have a chance to see genuine interactions that happen within the team. But it’s not just small businesses using username conventions. Discovery  Benefits is making a huge mark on the insurance industry. We recently interviewed their marketing manager,  Abby Boggs-Johnson,  for our Actionable  Marketing Podcast. In it,  Abby mentions how her sales team has started a series of social media employee advocacy profiles that are helping them connect to their customer base. By creating these unique connections between the sales team and their customers, Discovery Benefits is able to showcase genuine interactions which can allow people to build trust  in the company. Like Onsharp, Discovery Benefits has a naming convention @DBIname. It would be easy to say, â€Å"Well, these are smaller companies.†Ã‚  What about big Fortune 500s? Have they tried a social media employee advocacy program? Actually, some Fortune 500s were a few of the earliest adopters. One of them was Adobe. Adobe’s program still exists but unlike Discovery Benefits and Onsharp, Adobe doesn’t have a naming convention. Most of their employees have the @Adobe programming they work for listed in their handle. Why would Adobe forgo a naming convention? The company is huge,  and because there are so many different official Adobe product accounts, it would be impossible to keep one single convention among  all the different products. So if you’re a smaller company with one main Twitter account,  you should have a naming convention.  But if you’re marketing for a major corporation with multiple official Twitter accounts,  use your bio to identify which major company profile you are associated with. But Breonna, how do I create my naming convention? Don’t worry, I have you covered. Here's how to create a naming convention for your social media employee advocacy program:Below is a list of ten naming conventions. Pick one that you think will work best for your company. Some names will be too long. Remember, Twitter has a character limit for it’s usernames, so don’t be afraid if you have to use initials or abbreviations. @CompanyName @Company_Name @CompanyAcroynmName @CompanyInitialsName @Name_CompanyName @NameCompanyName @NameAtCompany @NameFromCompany @NameFrom_Company Company handle in bio To Do: Go through naming convention list Choose a convention and make sure it fits under Twitter’s 15 character handles Step 5: Create Consistent  Profile and Cover Photo Images One of the great ways that you can help distinguish your social media employee advocates is to have a matching profile style image and cover photo. Not only does this help distinguish your actual social employees online, it gives it a nice, clean, polished and professional look to your social accounts. Profile images should be: Headshot style- shoulders and above Contain the same background Any editing style applied to the headshot photo should be the same throughout Here are a couple examples from our team. This is Chris St. Amant, UI/UX Desginer: And Tyler Brazier, Software Engineer: Like the profile images, cover photos should be: Clean and informative Inviting The same throughout all profiles They should look like this: Or this: Everything is clean and consistent. Just the way we like it. It’s important to note that once the standard is set for the profiles, it needs to be followed throughout every single one of them. Why is this consistency  important? It helps users and your customers find your profiles. It also acts as a minor defense system against people who may try to impersonate the account. Once you’ve got your headshots and cover images created,  you can move on to account set up. To Do: Meet with graphic designer and document headshot and cover photo requirements Schedule time for employees to have headshots taken Review headshots and cover photos for final approval Step 6: Set Up Your Social Accounts Now that you’ve got your team on board and their voice has been determined, you’re ready for the fun part. Setting up your profiles. Whether your team is working with Twitter, LinkedIn or both, how you set up the accounts is incredibly important. For some people, this will be the first interaction they ever have with one of your employees. You want your bios to be short and sweet, as well as original. Everyone talks about how they love coffee and traveling. Challenge your employee advocates to think outside the box with another brainstorm session. Have them write down or think about the following: What does their online voice sound like? How can their bio reflect that? They may love coffee and traveling but what is something unique about them? What position do they hold within the company? Do they have a hobby, favorite book series etc, that they will sometimes tweet about? Have them think about some of these questions so they can incorporate them to make a unique bio for their profiles. For example, my professional Twitter bio looks like this: In it, I talk about my field of experience, my passion for theatre, my current position, my alma mater and for good measure I throw in a bit about my Harry Potter obsession. This simple bio does a few things: It establishes my area of expertise and the repertoire I tweet about. It adds personality. Not only do you know that I’m a Content Writer for , you also know that I love theatre and Harry Potter, among other things. This can help establish a connection to a potential client or customer. It makes me approachable. You know,  without a doubt, there is a real human behind that profile. This can make approaching me with a question about our product easier than approaching a company account. Some of you may have noticed there’s something missing in my bio. Can you see it yet? I don’t have a disclaimer in my online bio. Many people will tell you that your professional social accounts need a disclaimer that runs something along the lines of: Opinions are my own Retweet does not = endorsement Many people will add these disclaimers to their social bios in order to protect themselves and the company they work for. It seemed like a simple solution that would protect the employee in case they tweeted something that their employer disagreed with. It’s also thought that adding this disclaimer would protect the employer from public backlash if an employee tweeted something inappropriate. I’m sorry to say that these phrases will rarely protect either the employee or their employer  from backlash if something inappropriate is posted on social media. What can protect me, you might be thinking to yourself? Honestly, nothing but solid common sense. And on that happy note, we’ll continue into step 7. To Do: Brainstorm traits for your employee bios Edit and finalize bios. Add to social profile Step 7: Determine Your Posting Rules If I had to tell you to take away one vitally important piece of information away from this blog  post,  it would be that if you decide to develop your own social media employee advocacy program, determine your posting rules before you start. It may seem like a nonsense task. Why would I have the team take time to write everything down? Because, while great, social media can turn on you within seconds if you or a team member sends the wrong tweet  or message. It doesn’t take much to remember some of the biggest blunders that a company has made on social media. United, Cracker Barrel,  or Pepsi  ringing a bell at all? The internet can be a merciless place, and will never forget anything you posted. Yes, even if you delete it. Social media can turn on you in seconds if you send the wrong tweet or message.Having established rules in place can help you avoid those costly mishaps and give you the peace of mind that content being sent by your team is appropriate, timely and most importantly, connects with your customer base in ways your normal advertising won’t. With that in mind here is an example list of posting do’s that your team can start with and expand on: Post about company milestones Post/Retweet great reviews from other customers Have a blog? Have your employees tweet links back to new content Hosting an event? Have your advocates help promote it? The same goes when you’re attending an event or conference. Make your presence known by tweeting about it If you have fun office traditions, like our #BratwurstBlowout, tweet about it to show off your culture Hiring? Having your advocates post about new positions is a great way to help recruit people to your team Launching a new product or have some big news coming out? Extend the reach of your launch by having employees tweet to If your company is industry specific, have employees share new news or industry trends This is just a starting list. As your program continues to grow, your list will change and grow as your employees find their niche.

Why was there popular discontent between 1815-1822 Essay Example

Why was there popular discontent between 1815 Why was there popular discontent between 1815-1822 Essay Why was there popular discontent between 1815-1822 Essay Britain has always been a traditional society. It is one of the reasons so many tourists flock here each year, observing such visual delights such as the changing of the guard or the waving hand of the queen. However, despite our apparent fondness for continuity and stability, at times these values are tested to their very limits. One such period was the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars, namely 1815 1822. In this essay, I will demonstrate how the ruling oligarchy was forced to leap from crisis to crisis, desperately trying to quell the increasing tide of civil discontent around Britain. I also hope to explain the reasons behind the protests. The major event of 1815 was the battle of Waterloo, and the subsequent British victory over the French. The end of the war came, however as a mixed blessing for the government. On the one hand, Britain had defeated one of its biggest threats (Napoleon,) and secured its trade routes across Europe, both on and off shore. However, the flip side of the coin held many nasty surprises. Firstly, the 400,000 returning soldiers put an intolerable strain on the labour market. Considering the population at the time was less than 10 million, this extra influx of labour had a major impact on the economy. Also, with the end of the war came the end of the war economy. Vast industries that had fuelled the campaign were drastically scaled down or stopped altogether. Labour intensive industries (at the time nearly everything,) such as uniform makers, iron smelters and musket manufacturers were all forced to lay off many workers. This increase in unemployment was extremely damaging as it had the knock on effect of giving ordinary people less money to spend on goods, sending manufacturing into an endless downward spiral. The charitable bodies that had in the past cared for the unemployed found themselves unable to cope with the huge numbers of people in need of help. This led to many people being forced to live with very little food and water in the worst sort of accommodation. Also, with so many unemployed, the self-esteem and confidence in their leaders slowly evaporated from peoples minds. Therefore, the collapse of the economy and the subsequent rise in unemployment were major reasons for the popular discontent that arose. The Corn Laws passed in 1815 also led to disquiet. The Corn Laws, legislation protecting the market for British corn as opposed to foreign imports was seen by many as a piece of class legislation that penalised the poorer sections of society, while guaranteeing the wealthy landowners a goof price. Not only did these laws impact the vast majority of people personally, as they were forced to spend a greater proportion of their income on food, but they also impacted on the economy, as less disposable income means lower sales for other sections of the market (for example textiles. ) Because of this, the Corn Laws were also partly responsible for the discontent. One thing that particularly incensed the population was the change in the tax laws. In 1797, the then Prime Minister William Pitt introduced income tax as a way to increase revenue to pay for the war. This form of tax, as it is linked to the amount you earn, takes most money from the richest people in society. Needless to say this was highly unpopular amongst the wealthy landowners and businessmen (both of whom had considerable influence over parliament. ) Therefore in 1816 parliament voted to abolish the tax. However it was soon discovered by the treasury that the missing revenue was not sustainable. The government therefore decided that, rather that replace the income tax system, they would increase the tax on everyday goods such as beer and sugar. This impacted most on the poorer members of society, as the tax did not depend on income, meaning the rich paid just as much as the poor. As a modern day example of the public hostility to such a tax would be the poll tax riots in the 1980s, where the attitude was similar to that in 1816. In addition to taxing the general publics staple foods, the government also passed the Game laws. This stopped people from hunting their own food. At a time when unemployment was rife and tax on food was extremely high, stopping people from hunting was extremely unpopular and considered very unfair. As well as the economic hardship faced by so many people, another reason why people felt dissatisfied by the government was their perception that it was unsympathetic to their plight. Many people felt that the government existed solely to appease the wealthily ruling class and nobody else. They therefore felt that it was time for a change; the administration should work to improve the lives of the vulnerable in society rather that protect the interests of a small few. This was spurred on by the conditions that the working class had to endure while working in the new industries created by the industrial revolution. So, faced with the policies of Lord Liverpools government, many people felt they were being treated unjustly. Some began to organise radical groups to protest and press for change. Their essential demands were: A parliament that gave a more accurate reflection of British society, thus giving everybody a voice. Annual elections, making the administration more accountable. A secret ballot, allowing people to vote without intimidation or any corruption. The radical movement sprang up all over Britain, and despite being fragmented and uncoordinated, conducted itself with surprising passion and managed to wake the government up to the fact that the people were not happy. Some examples of the way the radical movement expressed its discontent with the situation are the Luddite movement, the spa field riots, the march of the blanketeers and the pentrich rising. The Luddite movement were opposed to the increased mechanisation of the textile industry, and the inevitable job losses and (in most cases) detriment in quality of the product. They also opposed the lack of a minimum wage and the shocking conditions endured by workers. The Luddites protested by destroying machinery, and holding demonstrations. The Spa Field riots were orchestrated by a group of radicals known as the Spenceans. The people involved campaigned for liberty and a more representative parliament. They were more concerned with creating a more politically equal administration. This message was echoed by the march of the blanketeers. An example of the governments attitude towards the protesters can be seen in the brutal murder of one of the unarmed marchers. This same heavy-handed oppression was exerted on the marches in Huddersfield (the Pentrich rising,) where people were indiscriminately killed and injured by the authorities. These two examples briefly characterise the feelings harboured by the government towards the protesters. Composed exclusively of wealthy landowners and other members of the aristocracy, the British parliament was essentially an organ designed to protect the interest of a small, very rich minority. It did not feel it had direct responsibility for the welfare of the people. The fundamental reason for this was greed, the insatiable, unstoppable quest for more money. By giving the proletariat rights and improved living and working conditions you would be compromising your own profit margins. However, the government also knew that completely ignoring the problem could prove just as dangerous; the French revolution was still fresh in many a noblemans mind. Lord Liverpool and his ministers knew something had to be done, but to be seen to be giving in to public pressure would set a terrible precedent as far as they were concerned. It was therefore necessary to crush the current uprising and quietly introduce reforms afterwards. This way they would still come out looking strong and as though they were the natural people to lead the nation. In order to bring the revolutionary movement to a close, the government used extremely harsh tactics, breaking up demonstrations in a very violent manner, thus discouraging them all together. Laws were also introduced stopping people from meeting in large groups (more than 3. ) This discouraged people from conspiring together, making it a lot harder to organise demonstrations or acts of sabotage. The suspension of Habeas corpus, the act preventing somebody being held in custody indefinitely was suspended. This was effectively a suspension of justice and a fair trial sending a clear message that anyone caught being involved in radical movements would easily be dealt with in a very harsh manner. In effect this was rarely enforced (probably due to the anger and disgust it would cause,) but instead symbolised the stance the government had taken. So, in effect the government dealt with the radical groups by trying to come down on them as hard as possible. Was this successful? Well, ultimately the government won as the radical groups were defeated. However, to what extent was this due to the oppressive tactics employed? If we look at the organisation of the radical movement, we can see that its uncoordinated structure and differing ideologies also had a major influence in its eventual demise, in my opinion more so. The state of the Radical movement can be compared to the factions of the communist party in Russia around the time of the revolution. Two competing factions one favouring non-violent transition, the other looking for a violent, bloody revolution were bitterly divided. The same problem existed in Britain 100 years earlier, and created a split that made it very hard to come together to win. The lack of weaponry also hindered the radicals, making them unable to intimidate the government forces sent in to break them up. It has also been suggested that the radical groups were too centred on their own local agendas and not the hardened revolutionaries they are sometimes portrayed as. This would have seriously weakened their ability to significantly change British society. Therefore, to conclude, The post-war period in 17th Century Britain was a time of great public discontent, caused by the economic downturn (a consequence of the ending of the war economy,) rising unemployment, taxation and a General feeling that the government was out of touch with ordinary people, putting their concerns behind those of the ruling classes. The government tried to deal with the situation by coming down very hard on the reformers, but the failure of the revolutionaries was more to do with a lack of unity among the movment.

Design in a Changing World Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Design in a Changing World - Case Study Example This feedback can be audible or visual. Feedback gives the user a feeling as well as a sense of confirmation that a system is functioning correctly and responsive. Consistency; User interfaces will be designed for consistency in appearance and function. Information will be organized on forms; the shape and size of icons, the arrangement and names of menu items, and the order followed to perform tasks will be consistent throughout the system (Satzinger, Jackson & Burd, 2012). Shortcuts; User interfaces, as well as dialogs designed for novices, are usually an impediment and annoyance to the productivity of experienced users. Users that frequently work with an application or for a long time want shortcuts for regularly used functions so as to cut down on the number of mouse clicks, keystrokes and menu selections needed to complete the task (Satzinger, Jackson & Burd, 2012). The system will have shortcuts such as voice commands and shortcut keys, like Windows keyboard sequences Ctrl+V for paste. Easy Reversal of Actions; Users should explore options as well as take actions that can be reversed or canceled with ease. This is also known as experimenting whereby users learn about the system. It is as well a way to avoid errors; since users can cancel the action once they realize that they had done a mistake (Satzinger, Jackson & Burd, 2012). Additionally, the design will include cancel buttons on every dialog box as well as allow users to go step backward at any time. Lastly, the system will ask the user to verify the action when he/she deletes something important like a record, a file or a transaction, if possible, the system will delay implementing that action.