Engage and Empower Your Internal Influencers

When you think of influencers do you think of an LA-based Instagramer with millions of followers and a constant influx of brand deals? What if I told you that your company’s biggest influencers could be sitting right next to you? That’s right! Today we’re talking about internal influencers — who they are, how to find them, and what they can do for your business’ marketing strategy.

What is an Internal Influencer

Internal Influencers are employees that have a powerful voice, primarily in the digital space, and keep a strong pulse on the happenings of your business and the greater industry. They know all the details of the brand/product and are usually perceived as having valuable “insider information” to share.

From a social media perspective, these individuals can be key factors in the success of recruitment and company culture campaigns. After all, what says “our team is fun!” better than the teammates sharing that fun first-hand?!

How to Identify Your Internal Influencers

No two internal influencers will look the same, but they all carry a common authority over how your business is viewed. For example, the mid-level manager with a huge LinkedIn network may be the first contact potential applicants have with your organization. And, according to LinkedIn, employee-shared content is regarded as being three times more authentic and, therefore, typically sees a click-through rate that is twice as high as corporate pages.

To identify these individuals, begin by auditing your businesses’ social media mentions and cross-checking those posts with a list of employees. You can also take a direct approach by asking employees how often they post about work and in what ways. These organic conversations will spark ideas for both parties!

Preparing for Success

Encourage employee social media sharing by providing tools and training to make posting easy. Showing employees samples of what good employee-generated content looks like will assure high-quality, usable content that follows brand guidelines while still being personal and organic.

Additionally, incentivizing internal influencers with rewards is an option, but ultimately their advocacy must be internally motivated to be truly authentic. In this sense, it is best to shift your view of employee advocacy from ‘owned’ to ‘earned’ media. Finding what motivates your employees to create their own content is the secret to unlocking the power of internal influencers.