Last week a colleague asked me why I had chosen to mandate the use of Flowcrete’s avatar on the LinkedIn profile images of employees from all over the world.
Somewhat taken aback, I explained that I hadn’t. There was no dictate, no obligation, no policy, no forceful email sent out from marketing, or HR for that matter, instructing employees to act as a mouth-piece from which to perpetuate our brand values and share our brand’s stories.
Instead, Flowcrete’s global LinkedIn community was born out of a culture of trust, respect and the wilful desire to be part of a brand network that was not restricted by geographical borders or shifting time zones.
Those choosing to emblazon their profiles with the brand did so both openly and willingly in order to be part of the conversation, providing an authentic voice from which to share our common values with their own trusted peers and networks.
You see, for me it’s all about encouraging a culture of employee social advocacy rather than imposing strict rules, restrictions and guidelines.
Many brands forget that we don’t own our employee’s social profiles or social personalities, nor can we control how they choose to curate them. However, rather than contractual obligations on what, why and how not to talk about the business in an open forum surely it would be better to create an environment where our employees simply want to champion our brand?
That’s the culture that we have tried to encourage at Flowcrete when it comes to our employee’s social interaction with the brand.
We give employees the space to select how, when and where – or even if – they want to engage with our social activity. We give employees the freedom to carve their own roles within the social community providing insights best suited to their own skills and interests and we give them the content that will act as the rocket fuel to extend our online social reach.
We want to create a social environment inclusive of each and every element of the Flowcrete business from our executive influencers, HR & finance custodians through to our roaming sales and marketing storytellers and technical product experts – each of whom feel empowered to act as a spokesperson for our shared brand.
Many CEOs believe that the most important part of their businesses is their people. This is never truer than when it comes to making an impression on social media.
Only corporate cultures rooted in trust can do employee social advocacy well. Rather than seeing the Flowcrete avatar as a stamp of authority imposed on our people by the brand, it should instead be celebrated as the ultimate sign of respect for the brand from our own people.
Discover more at blog.flowcrete.com
