Key Findings from the 2016 JEM State of Employee Advocacy Survey

1. EMPLOYEE AS BRAND
THE 2016 STATE OF
EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY
Jen McClure
CEO
Mike Lee
Director, Product Management
Social Media Protection Division

2. ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
JEN MCCLURE
CEO, JEM CONSULTING & ADVISORY SERVICES

3. About Proofpoint Social Media Protection
• Account hacks or “takeovers”
• Malicious content (hackers, deviants, etc.)
• Fraudulent accounts
• Compliance risk (regulations, brand policy)
Eliminate brand, security and compliance risks that stand in the way of enterprise social media success
We protect brands from …

4. Proofpoint Social Media Protection Customers
• Corporate social media
• Social selling
• Brand advocacy
Over 200 major brands use us for …..

5. WHAT IS EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY?
“Brands empowering employees to support the goals of the brand,
through employee-owned social media.
Employees use the social media accounts that they own personally,
such as the employee’s personal Twitter account or Facebook
account.”
- Chris Boudreaux, Social Media Governance
http://socialmediagovernance.com/

6. WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
“Your employees have a vested interest in your company’s success. They
will be your most committed and enthusiastic ambassadors. Providing
them the opportunity and support to be visible spokespeople on behalf
of your brand drives employee engagement, inspires collaboration and
improves customer experience.”
- Susan Emerick

7. MEET THE SOCIAL CUSTOMER
• “Customer 2.0”: Well-informed, with
unlimited access to information about your
company, products, competitors and
connected to influential peer-based social
networks
• Social media conversations are sometimes
more influential to the buying decision than
traditional sales and marketing
• Social media has changed the way we
collaborate – buying decisions start,
progress and sometimes even close online

8. Employee and brand advocacy drives business
• 84% of CEOs & VPs use social media to make buying decisions
• More than 50% of the buying decision is now made based on information he or she finds online well
before a salesperson has a chance to get involved.
• 78% of sales from the web go to the first company that responds to the inquiry
• Social media has changed the way customers buy, and redrawn relationships between buyers and
sellers.

9. Employee and brand advocacy drives business
• Consumers trust brand or product recommendations from friends and family
• Brand messages are 8x more likely to be shared when shared by employees than
when shared by the brand
• There is only an 8% overlap between the company’s followers and those of its
employees

10. Employee and brand advocacy drives business
Empowering employees to use social media provides a valuable opportunity to:
• Strengthen your brand and relationships with customers and prospects
• Connect with customers and prospects
• Share news, insights, expertise
• Enhance thought leadership
• Prospect and generate leads
• Increase the scale and reach of your relationship and peer networks

11. ABOUT THE STUDY
2016 STATE OF EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY

12. ABOUT THE STUDY
• Survey-based study conducted by JEM Consulting & Advisory Services
• Online survey conducted March – May 2016
• 134 responses to survey
• 56% of the companies that responded to survey had employee advocacy programs (75)
• 44% of the initial sample of 134 respondents did not, but of those 59 companies, 24%
stated that they are planning to launch one this year
• Sample included:
• 80% of companies from the US
• 11% UK
• 7% EU
• 2% Canada

13. COMPANY SIZE
# OF EMPLOYEES
1-99
15%
100-999
15%
1,000 - 5,000
15%
5,001 - 10,000
8%
10,001 -25,000
15%
25,000-50,000
50,000+
32%

14. ORGANIZATION TYPE
a public company, 62%
a private company, 38%

15. INDUSTRIES ADOPTING EMPLOYEE & BRAND
ADVOCACY PROGRAMS
• Top industries adopting employee advocacy:
• Business and professional services – 30%
• Advertising / Marketing / PR – 15%
• Technology – 8%
• Nonprofits – 0%
• Missed opportunity for these mission-driven
organizations
• Lowest adoption in highly regulated industries –
correlates to risk issues:
• Financial services
• Legal
• Healthcare/Pharma

16. How long has your company had an
employee advocacy program?
Less than 1 year
31%
1-2 years
54%
3-5 years
15%
Less than 1 year 1-2 years 3-5 years More than 5 years

17. Who manages your employee
advocacy program?
Marketing, 31%
Public Relations 1%
Corporate
Communications, 23%
Internal
Communications 1%
Social Media, 23%
HR, 8%
Other 13%

18. How many employees participate in your
employee advocacy program?
• Fewer than 100 – 31%
• 100-1,000 – 31%
• 1,000 – 5,000 – 38%

19. What percentage of your employees participate in
your employee advocacy program?
• Less than 1% – 15%
• 1% - 10% – 62%
• 11% - 50% - 15%
• 51% - 100% - 8%

20. Does your organization have a
Social Media Policy / Guidelines?
Yes 92%
No 8%

21. ADOPTION TREND:
CORPORATE SOCIAL MEDIA POLICIES & GUIDELINES
§ 12% of the 2015 Inc. 500 have a stand alone social media policy
• (an increase of 5% over 2014)
§ 33% have a written social media plan
• (up 16%)
§ 27% have an online crisis management strategy
• (down 7%)
SOURCE: The Inc. 500 Social Media Survey
Dr. Nora Ganim Barnes, UMASS Dartmouth
Senior Fellow, Society for New Communications Research

22. Do you have a mandatory training
program for your employee advocates?
Yes
54%
No
46%

23. DIGITAL CENTER OF EXCELLENCE MODEL
MISSION:
• Enable Thomson Reuters to gain a competitive advantage through the use
of digital technologies by:
• Maximizing the digital and social media capabilities of our people
• Developing and maintaining successful enterprise-wide standards and processes
• Identifying and deploying best-in-class digital technologies
STRATEGY ENABLEMENT GOVERNANCE
COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE

24. SOCIAL MEDIA
PLATFORMS & TOOLS
2016 STATE OF EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY

25. Which channel(s) are most used by your
employee advocates?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
31
0
15
100
0 0
85
8
15
8
Facebook
Google+
Instagram
LinkedIn
Pinterest
Quora
Twitter
YouTube
Company-owned social networks (e.g.,
customer/partner/developer online communities)
Company-owned internal networks (e.g., intranet)

26. Do you use an employee amplification tool?
Yes
69%
No
31%
Yes No

27. Please rate your level of
satisfaction with this tool?
Very Dissatisfied
11%
Neutral
22%
Satisfied
67%

28. QUICK POLL
ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES & RISKS OF
MANAGING EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY PROGRAMS

29. TOP GOALS & METRICS
2016 STATE OF EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY

30. What are the goals of your
employee advocacy program?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
69
77
85
92
54 54
46
8
31
Elevate and humanize brand
Improve employee engagement
Amplify the reach of branded content / reach new audiences
Enhance thought leadership position
Drive leads / sales
Strengthen relationships with key stakeholders
Employer branding / Employee recruitment
Support change management initiatives
Improve customer experience/support

31. How do your measure success?
• Increase in website traffic – 62%
• Impressions – 46%
• Improved employee engagement – 46%
• Increase in social media following – 39%
• Leads generated – 39%
• Sales – 15%
• Increased engagement with key constituencies – 7%
• Content downloads – 7%

32. How satisfied are you with the success of your
employee advocacy program?
Dissatisfied, 8%
Neutral, 31%
Satisfied, 54%
Very Satisfied, 8%

33. TOP CHALLENGES
2016 STATE OF EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY

34. QUICK POLL
ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES & RISKS OF
MANAGING EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY PROGRAMS

35. What were the biggest challenges you face with
regard to your employee advocacy program?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
8
54
15 15
46
23 23
0
8
Executive buy-in
Employee participation
Training / enablement
Tools and technology to support the program
Measurement
Content
Budget
Inappropriate use of social media by employees in the program
Resources to manage the program

36. LOOKING AHEAD
2016 STATE OF EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY

37. What are your goals for further developing your
employee advocacy program in 2016?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90 85
54
23
46
31
62
Growth in number of employees participating
Expansion to other functions / goals
Deploy a new employee advocacy management tool
Employee training
More budget
Better metrics / reporting on program success
Other - Write In (Required)

38. KEY TAKEAWAYS
2016 STATE OF EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY

39. KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Employee advocacy programs are not yet ubiquitous but adoption is
growing rapidly
• Nearly 50% of the companies surveyed do not have an employee
advocacy program
• Of those who do not currently have an employee advocacy
program, 24% are planning to launch one this year
• Of those who do have an employee advocacy program, growth in
the number of employees participating is the #1 goal
• Adoption is highest in the U.S.
• Large organizations are adopting these programs in large
numbers

40. KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Employee advocacy programs are being managed by various functions
• Primarily:
• Marketing
• Corporate Communications
• Social Media
• Social selling programs are a primary subset of employee advocacy
programs, but also not ubiquitous
• 46% of the organizations who have an employee advocacy program
have a social selling program
• Organizations are seeing success with their social selling programs
• Social selling behavior leads to a 2X increase in sales performance
through new clients, meetings secured and opportunities generated
Source: Sales for Life

41. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEST PRACTICES
Most employee advocacy programs are still fairly new – best
practices are still developing and there is room for improvement:
• Start a Digital Center of Excellence and provide training & enablement
• Strategy, enablement and governance lay the foundation for success
• Align goals and program measurements
• Prioritize social selling to demonstrate bottom line impact

42. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR BEST PRACTICES
• Focus on engagement first, not just on increasing the number of advocates
• Think about how to use more video and visual media
• Consider security risks and take measures to address this risk to protect the
employees’ accounts and brand reputation

43. Proofpoint SocialSight
• Helps your employees combat hacks,
avoid mistakes, and remain compliant
• Easy to use app installs in seconds
• No employer snooping! A Social Media Security Coach
Privacy-first security for employee social media programs
https://youtu.be/TDHlrJRjsosTo learn more, check out the video at …

44. Q&A

45. Join Us for Upcoming Webinars
Webinar 2 – August 23RD – 10:00am PT
“Protecting Your Brand: How to Successfully Handle Challenges & Risks
Surrounding Employee Advocacy Programs”
Webinar 3 – September 20TH – 10:00am PT
“Best Practices for Managing Your Employee Advocacy Program”