It’s always been true that if you want to know what a company is really like, find someone who works there, buy them a drink, and start asking questions.
These days you don’t need to look hard for those workers, they are all around us on social media, and their opinions, behaviors, and value systems reflect back on their company.
In other words your employees are already your brand ambassadors. So it would be smart to takes steps to ensure that at least most of them will be good ambassadors.
Share the vision
Employees who understand company strategy and purpose can not only become aligned in the work they do, but they can amplify that vision in their dealing with the world.
Ask them for ideas
Treat employees as brand collaborators. Ask them what kind of information and tools (and maybe swag!) they need to represent the company.
Train them
Not everyone automatically knows how to communicate about the company in public. Help them learn good skills and standards, so they can help themselves and help you.
Brand starts from within
A company that lives its purpose and values does so internally as well as externally. Workers need to have a positive experience of the brand in their daily lives.
Do half the work
Provide workers with information and about new products or services to make it easy for them to drop it into their personal social media accounts.
Does your company have a brand ambassador program that makes it easy to share about the company on your personal social accounts? Even if it doesn’t it would still make sense to set up some sort of initiative to encourage your people to post about your company’s initiatives, mission, and impacts. (Unless, of course, you have something to hide, or have been treating your workers poorly… in that case it is time for a little bit of leadership soul-searching!)
“Why are stakeholders so important? It is because the community that is interested in your project, or contributes to your project, or can make or break your project, is larger than you think.”
Harvey A. Levine, Practical Project Management
“Think as a member of society, not only as an employee of your company.”
Guy Kawasaki, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy