You are well aware that your employees are the greatest strength of your company. Naturally, you want to give them a voice so that they become your best brand ambassadors. How can you help them do this?

Marketing has long understood that consumer trust comes through greater authenticity. This makes employees an ideal solution for brands that need to drive more traffic and conversions through the content they deliver. 

The content you create (social media posts, white papers, company news, etc.) is critical to the success of a brand ambassador program.

What content to share with your employees ?

Chances are you already have content that has not yet been distributed to your colleagues. Even if these are articles that seem outdated to you, they are surely worth distributing and sharing.

Go through your library and blog  you can start to pull existing topics for your brand ambassador program. This content can be repurposed to suit your company's employees.

Retweetened, you can make it completely relevant to their needs.

Before reposting content, first make sure :

• that it is relevant to your colleagues
.
• that it tells a story they can relate to
• that it involves employees and their own network
• that it helps them work better
• that it has interest in the current environment

Such content-recycling practices are quite common. They are especially appropriate during the launch phase of a brand ambassador program. This allows you to test the content and observe its virality to better target your next messages.

Initially, you might produce content for a pilot group. Over time, you would focus on more personalized content, sending content to employees based on their position or location.

You can start with a mix between specific content and curation. It's important that a non-negligible portion of your content is not directly about the business.

When an employee shares content only about their company, it may seem too commercial to their friends and family.

For this reason, it is crucial to maintain a balanced approach. Over time, you'll find that it's best to favor content that is liked and shared by employees.

Some examples of business-related content

• Company blog posts
• Consumer stories
• Publications (ebooks, white papers)
• Press releases
• Press reviews (mentions of the company in the media)

Some examples of external content

• News or articles about industry news
• Blog posts from market influencers (on topics of interest to employees)
• Social media shares of tweets and posts from market influencers

How to distribute your content to your employees 

To get started, use email.

This way you can target the key employees you identify upfront. You can refine your distribution and targeting methods over time. Emailing is a gentle way to get employees used to the principle of the brand ambassador program.

When identifying your initial group, be sure to select people who are relatively active on social networks. Having a small number of people who are willing to share content immediately will help you get your program off the ground and encourage those who are less familiar with social networks to become active in turn.

Select a department (sales, for example) and make an email with a clearly understandable title that has several Call-to-Actions.

Emails work best on Tuesday morning and Thursday morning. Don't hesitate to make it explicit to your staff what you expect them to do, in this case share the content on their various personal social media accounts.

By being clear in your request, you can quickly see who is interested in the process and wants to be more involved. These " early adopters " will be your champion ambassadors later.

With them, you can build a case for more resources to expand your program.

How to facilitate the sharing of content on social networks ? 

When it comes to sharing content, you need to consider the specifics of each social network.

In order for your employees to feel comfortable with the content you're offering to share, they need to be comfortable with the social-network usage you're recommending beforehand.

Provide your employees with a guide to the proper use of social networks, as well as training if needed, and you'll ensure they master their journey through the social web.

First and foremost, employees need to understand how LinkedIn and Twitter work, which are the most professional networks.

Help them optimize their profiles with professional bios and photos. Also show them how to connect with other employees and how to follow influencers.

Finally, show them how to create posts, share and comment.

Some employees won't need help because they are already very experienced on social media. But don't underestimate the needs of employees who are just starting out on the subject.

This is also a way to help them build their personal brand on professional social networks.