According to a recent survey from PAN, nearly 40% of professionals between the ages of 25 and 44 have increased the amount of content they’ve shared from their company on social media since the beginning of the global pandemic. Additionally, roughly 36% have increased the amount of content they’ve posted about their company.
It’s clear that many people have become apathetic about their organization and the content their company is putting out as our time in quarantine has lingered on – despite consistent ongoing efforts from marketing and sales departments.
Consumers are buying the items necessary to get through their new way of living. Household products coming in at number one, followed by food and personal care items. Due to our newfound “time on screen,” we’re seeing an increase in visual content on social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, as well as an increase in content on social media around remote work productivity and burnout from over-productivity.
But for executive leadership spanning revenue, marketing, and/or HR departments – the world must go on. As we approach mid-year, it is time to consider the necessary changes you’ll need to make to your strategy in order to recover from the impact of the recent global pandemic.
Shifting the Focus to Employee Advocacy
The focus now should be on coming together to strategize how you can bring purpose and confidence to your employee base in order to turn them into your biggest brand advocates.
Overall sentiment of working professionals towards their company since the beginning of the pandemic is positive, and almost 40% of professionals have taken this time to increase the amount of branded content that they’re sharing. Use that positivity to build a program that your employees can feel a part of – and empower them to feel like they’re making a difference.
- Three quarters of surveyed professionals would create content on behalf of their company and/or share content their company has put out.
- Eighty-one percent have made a purchase of a product or service that they’ve learned about via social media.
- Employees sharing about their company’s social purpose has a direct impact on current and future buying decisions of over 64 percent of buyers.
Why Employee Advocacy Requires Cross-Departmental Support
In our most recent guide, “How Employee Advocacy Can Impact Every Department,” we discuss the influence that the voices of your employees can have on your marketing and sales efforts, as well as your brand reputation and trust. We also guide you through cross-department buy-in and integration to put a successful program in place.
Advocacy – whether from voices of your customers or voices of your employees – is an important facet of the buyer journey and ultimately a purchasing decision. It must be a part of your overall marketing strategy in the second half of the year as you plan for your rebound efforts.
Use this guide to dive further into the proof points – and then kick off your employee advocacy program step-by-step.
The 2020 PAN Communications Surveys in this blog and accompanying guide were commissioned by PAN Communications and fielded by Dynata, a global online market research firm. The responses were generated from three separate surveys of approximately 400 adults each (1200 adults total) and were surveyed online between April 1-30, 2020. The first survey was made up of working professionals and surveyed their perception towards advocating for their brand, and how they feel about employee advocates of other brands. The second survey aimed to understand how adults ages 25 to 44 feel about brand marketing during COVID-19. The third survey inquired about their personal social habits during quarantine.
