Turning employees into champion advocates for long-term success

Behind the Post Published: April 02, 2024
Turning employees into champion advocates for long-term success

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Episode summary

Sarah Hankins takes the hot seat on this episode of Behind the Post with host Alina Dallal to talk all things employee advocacy at CBIZ. With an impressive cohort of 2,700 advocates, Sarah dives into how she runs their successful advocacy program and how she plans to keep their momentum going throughout 2024.

From finding the right balance of content to the types she creates, Sarah dives all in with the best practices you should implement for any advocacy program. She also shares her top tips for keeping advocates engaged, including quarterly training and gamification ideas to hold their interest in the long-term – she even created her own spin on Spotify Wrapped to create an “Oktopost Wrapped” campaign at the end of 2023 to showcase their results to her team and shoutout there top performing advocates.

Communication is the foreground of any successful employee advocacy program. Sarah candidly shares how she supports her team while also learning from her advocates on ways she can better her program and continue to create more relevant content.

Running the employee advocacy program led Sarah to trade Zoom calls for an incredible tour of CBIZ’s offices across the U.S., which they called the “Oktopost Roadshow”. With pitstops to 12 offices across the country, Sarah met her advocates in person to further encourage participation and provide them with the guidance they needed to become champion advocates.

Even if we aren’t all lucky enough to tour the States on a company budget, Sarah leaves many practical tips that we can still use to train, support, and coach our advocates for success.

Hot topics:

  • How to write for different personas in your organization
  • Why communication and support is so integral for a successful program
  • How you can learn from your advocates to improve your strategy
  • Tips and tricks that help her keep her advocates engaged

Meet Sarah

With marketing and teaching experience in her back pocket, Sarah is the Marketing Content Specialist at CBIZ. She manages both their corporate social media profiles and employee advocacy program, creating engaging content and helping build the company’s and its professionals’ brands. She’s even on LinkedIn even in her dreams.

When she’s not posting or dreaming about LinkedIn, she’s singing karaoke, adding to her impressive CD collection, or hanging out with the love of her life — her Irish terrier, Lucy.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the core strategies for successful B2B employee advocacy program engagement?

Successful B2B employee advocacy programs prioritize engagement through consistent communication, tailored support, and active learning from advocates. Key strategies include providing regular quarterly training, implementing gamification ideas to sustain interest, and even organizing in-person meetups, like the 'Oktopost Roadshow,' to foster deeper participation and offer direct guidance.

How do leading B2B companies create and balance effective content for employee advocacy programs?

Leading B2B companies like CBIZ excel by finding the right balance of content types and tailoring them for different personas within their organization. The strategy focuses on creating relevant, engaging content that empowers advocates to build both the company’s and their own professional brands, ensuring a diverse and impactful content stream for sustained advocacy.

What role does Oktopost play in scaling large-scale employee advocacy initiatives, such as CBIZ's with 2,700 advocates?

Oktopost serves as the foundational platform enabling the successful management and scaling of extensive employee advocacy programs. As demonstrated by CBIZ's impressive cohort of 2,700 advocates, Oktopost supports program leaders in distributing content, tracking engagement, and implementing creative initiatives like 'Oktopost Wrapped' to showcase results and recognize top performers, maintaining momentum across large teams.

How can B2B organizations leverage communication to continuously improve their employee advocacy strategy?

Communication is integral to refining and improving an employee advocacy strategy within B2B organizations. By actively supporting the team and candidly learning from advocates on ways to better the program, managers can gain invaluable insights into what content resonates best and identify areas for strategic improvement. This iterative process ensures content remains relevant and the program continuously evolves to meet advocate needs and achieve program goals.

What innovative methods can maintain long-term advocate interest and participation in a B2B employee advocacy program?

To maintain long-term advocate interest, B2B businesses can implement innovative methods beyond standard practices. These include gamification initiatives, regular quarterly training, and creative recognition campaigns. An excellent example is the 'Oktopost Wrapped' campaign, which provides advocates with personalized performance insights and publicly celebrates top performers, fostering a strong sense of achievement and continued engagement.

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