Despite being in a highly regulated industry like healthcare, Aetna’s innovative social media team guides and empowers hundreds of employees to represent the brand on social media. By investing in their employees’ social networks, Aetna is able to amplify brand content and increase consumer trust through authentic, employee-led social media engagement.

1. 1
How Aetna Uses Employee Advocacy to
Power Social Sharing in a Highly
Regulated Industry

2. 2
#EngageU
Nicole Alvino
Co-founder & Chief Strategy
Officer at SocialChorus
@Nalvino
How Aetna Uses Employee Advocacy to Power Social
Sharing in a Highly Regulated Industry
Tara Autrey
Senior Social Media
Manager at Aetna
@TaraA_79

3. 3
SocialChorus surveyed 1,000
employees from enterprise
companies.
#EngageU

4. 4
Workplace Communication Needs to Improve
Both employees and managers agree that there isn’t enough
effective communication internally.
• 94% of employees want to hear more about what is going on from
leadership
• 68% of executives believe they do a “good” job of communicating
#EngageU
…Only 21% of employees agree

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When employees are engaged and
well-informed, they will engage and
inform their network.
#EngageU

6. 6
Employee Engagement Leads to Employee Advocacy
Employees who feel connected with the brand are also more
empowered to advocate for the brand.
• 93% of employees say they would be good at advocating for the
brand
• 87% of employees see the career benefits of advocating for the brand
#EngageU

7. 7
Why Don’t Employees Already Advocate?
• 55% of employees don’t share about the brand
because they are worried they’ll get in trouble
• 44% of employees don’t know what information
they can and can’t share
#EngageU

8. 8
Why Leadership May Push Back on Employee Advocacy

9. 9
#EngageU
Nicole Alvino
Co-founder & Chief Strategy
Officer at SocialChorus
@Nalvino
How Aetna Uses Employee Advocacy to Power Social
Sharing in a Highly Regulated Industry
Tara Autrey
Senior Social Media
Manager at Aetna
@TaraA_79

10. 10
Why did Aetna get started with
employee advocacy?
#EngageU

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Employee Advocacy is the #1 Way to Amplify Content
• Employees reach a much larger
audience than a brand’s social page
• Employee-shared content adds character
and personality to Aetna’s brand
messaging
• Employee advocacy gives employees
access to brand and industry content that
that is safe to share on social media
#EngageU

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How did Aetna get internal buy-in for
an employee advocacy program?
#EngageU

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3 Ways Aetna Achieved Internal Buy-in
1. Get leadership onboard early in the process to align program
with the goals of the business
2. Seek guidance from a manager or colleague with experience
building social media guidelines from the ground up
3. Ensure compliance by partnering with Legal and Information
Security departments before launching
#EngageU

14. 14
Employee Advocacy: Benefits Company-wide
• Social Media Marketing: Increase awareness
• Communications: Engage employees
• Human Resources: Attract top talent
• Sales Professionals: Drive leads

15. 15
How did Aetna train employees to
safely represent the brand on social
media?
#EngageU

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Train to Build a Solid Employee Advocacy Foundation
• Start by training employees who are
already active on social media
• Iterate on lessons learned to create
training materials for all employees
• Develop a social media training
curriculum with various levels
• To date, 97% of our employees are
certified to create and share content for
Aetna on social media
#EngageU

17. 17
How can employee advocacy
strengthen consumer trust?
#EngageU

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Employee Advocacy Builds Consumer Trust
• Healthcare has become more like
retail now that consumers can
purchase healthcare plans from
exchanges directly
• Employee advocacy empowers our
employees to connect with consumers
who are seeking information about
healthcare on social media
#EngageU

19. 19
#EngageU
“With employee advocacy, our
employees can reach people who
haven’t been exposed to the
Aetna brand or come across our
social pages.”
Tara Autrey
Senior Social Media
Manager at Aetna
@TaraA_79

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How does Aetna engage employees
to amplify social content?
#EngageU

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Curate Social Media-friendly Content
• Aetna brand and industry content is meant
to keep the public informed on health and
healthcare
• Aetna brand and industry content includes:
• Health and wellness tips
• Recipes of the week
• Infographics on health best practices
#EngageU

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#EngageU
“I highlight social media content for
our employee advocates that I
think will really resonate with friends
and family. We have a lot of health
and wellness tips that can really
appeal to a general audience.”Tara Autrey
Senior Social Media
Manager at Aetna
@TaraA_79

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What does the future hold for
employee advocacy in the Aetna?
#EngageU

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The Future of Employee Advocacy for Aetna
• Position the Aetna brands as a thought
leader in the healthcare industry
• Reach even more people, engaging
different audiences and increasing brand
awareness
• Make it even easier for employees to
participate in the program and make it a
part of their daily routine
#EngageU

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The use of mobile to
accomplish everyday tasks is
increasing — especially for
working professionals.
#EngageU

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Create a Consumer Experience for Employees
Employee communication strategies that adapt to consumer
expectations work better. The majority of your workforce wants
to receive company information via a mobile app.
• 82% of Millennials
• 76% of Gen X
• 54% of Baby Boomers
#EngageU

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Be Better Connected
We believe connection
drives engagement,
productivity and
advocacy for modern
enterprises.

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Interested in Learning More?
#EngageU
Download our ebook
How to Sell Your Company on Employee
Advocacy
http://bit.ly/GetInternalBuyIn
Register for our Upcoming Webinar:
How Gallo Uses Employee Advocacy to XYZ
http://bit.ly/gallo-employee-advocacy

29. Thank you!