KC/IABC June Lunch - Sara Folkerts - Employees As Brand Ambassadors

Sara Folkerts, Communications ManagerSprint Nextel

Turn Engaged Employees Into Your Best Brand Ambassadors

IABC – Kansas CityJune 20, 2013

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What we’ll talk about today

Building advocacy – starting from within• Why social media training for employees is critical to your

PR and Social Media strategy• Employee social media training best practices• How to create a program that will meet your employee’s

needs AFTER training them• What measurable objectives you can expect from your

employee ambassador program

Final questions and wrap-up

Why do this at all?Why social media training for employees is critical to your PR and Social Media strategy

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Your brand is what your customers (and employees) say it is

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“To succeed with empowered customers, you must empower your employees to solve customer problems.” – Empowered, Bernoff and Schadler

It’s about empowerment

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Employee engagement

“Employee-owners exhibit such enthusiasm for their organization that they infect customers with similar

satisfaction, loyalty, and dedication.” -The Ownership Quotient by Heskett, Sasser and Wheeler

Basics Honesty Transparency Trust Loyalty Advocacy

“People like me” are more trustworthy

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2013 Edelman Trust Barometer

How to set up an employee ambassador programEmployee social media training best practices

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1. You need a Social Media Policy

• More guardrails, fewer rules• Encouraging, not discouraging• Get the right people together –

Legal, HR• Start with a supporting statement

for social media• Tell employees what the policy is

about• Why does it exist?

Photo courtesy theurbanmind.blogspot.com

Sprint embraces social media…

Sprint embraces social media as a significant part of its corporate strategy and acknowledges and

encourages employee participation in a wide variety of social media activities as they feel

comfortable. This policy applies to any social media activities that contain postings about Sprint’s business, products employees, customers,

partners, or competitors.

Specific to your company

• You might already have a Code of Conduct – remind people of that!

• How should people manage the company’s time when they are online?

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Photo from Sprint Social Media Training for Managers

Specific to your industry

• Publically traded company

• Mergers and acquisitions

• Intellectual property• Copyright• Private customer data

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Photo courtesy Wikipedia Commons

2. You need Executive Buy-in

13Photos courtesy Getty Images and the Catholic League

3. You need to listen first

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• 65% of those surveyed were being asked specific questions about PepsiCo products

• More than half wanted information they could share across their social media platforms

4. You need training that works for everyone

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Screen shot of Sprint Social Media Ninjas training

Training should…

• Be fun!• Be fast – or self-paced• Be easy – you can do it from almost anywhere• Solve an employee’s problem – Why should an employee take this training?

Sprint Social Media Ninjas

•What the Ninja program IS:• Support group for employees engaging with

customers online• Community of people who care about

customers and are active in social media• Real enablement for advocates

•What the Ninja program is NOT:• Spokesperson training• Certification

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What makes a good ambassador?

• Engaged• Specialized

expertise• Personality• Team player• Permission to

participate

This is Chris

David (aka the IT guy) in central Florida

He keeps busy with his family, the outdoors and his church

Ninjas news makes it really easy for David to share awesome Sprint stories with everyone

6. You need to stay connected AFTER training

• Facebook group• Online community

Sharing the approved stuff

Sharing the approved stuff

• 65 US employees from four locations(Smaller groups in UK and Brazil)

• Training on…> Key messages> Social media> How to become better ambassadors

(e.g., sharing coupons and friends)• They engaged via blog posts, using products at family

gatherings, distributing coupons, sharing approved content• Results: Increase in comfort and activity• Engaged with average of 22 people per month (goal was 3)

7. You need measureable results

Sprint measures…

• The number of employees who have completed training

• Clicks and shares on bit.ly links specific to the Ninjas program

• Views on the content we share

• Etc.

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Ninjas by Organization

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Population: 3,000 and growing!

The Black Belt Challenge

• Self-report and track your Ninja activity

• Use existing recognition tools and programs to reward that behavior

• Make the rules clear and make it easy to participate!

• Self-paced programs work for everyone

Ninjas are getting noticed

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#1 most improved company – period

2008 2009 2010 201155

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ACSI Results

ACSI Results

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Who else is doing this?Examples from other companies

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Other companies include

• Coca-Cola• Dell• Sodexo

Employee comments

Employee posts

Network group pages

Links to employee

blogs

Employee stories

Short-term campaigns

Wrap up and QuestionsFinal thoughts and let’s discuss

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Lessons from Sprint Ninjas

• Lesson #1: Treat employees like trusted partners in your business.

• Lesson #2: Listen to your employees as much as you listen to customers.

• Lesson #3: Equipping employees as ambassadors boosts commitment.

• Lesson #4: Have a social media policy and make sure everyone knows what it says.

What will build trust in the future?

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2013 Edelman Trust Barometer

Copyright applies to this document – some rights reserved.

This work is licensed under a Creative CommonsAttribution-non commercial-share alike 3.0 license

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

Questions?Sara Folkerts

Phone: 913.484.5410

Email: sara.folkerts@gmail.com

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/saramiller

Twitter: @saramiller

More questions?

I also have expertise in:

• Online community management

• Blogging and writing for the web

• Internal social media strategy development and governance

• Social media policy and training

• Employee advocacy programs