Personal brand vs. corporate brand?
A lot of companies spend a lot of money and energy on building strong corporate brands. And this is extremely important, no question about it. But.
What we often forget is that every employee serves as a business card for their company, and absolutely everybody who works for a company plays an essential role in developing the company’s brand. We often don’t think that we represent our company or employer outside of work, and we are therefore like brand ambassadors. In reality, we shape the company’s image 24/7 with our actions and words.
People buy from people, and sharing useful content via your network helps you reach a sufficient number of potential customers more easily so that your salespeople do not have to “get on their nerves” or “wait aggressively.” Of course, it requires training and constant support. But by trusting your people and investing in building their personal brands, you can use social media opportunities most effectively.
Several studies show how considerable changes can happen when you encourage your employees to share posts about their company also on their own social media channels. Simon Kemp emphasizes that content shared by employees is three times more reliable than content shared by companies. We also engage with (like, comment) employees’ posts 8x more, and we also share this content in our own network with a 24x higher probability. In addition, potential customers who reach us via personal contact become customers with a 7% higher probability than customers coming via any other sales channel.
The international PR company MSL Group highlights that employees have, on average, 10X more social contacts than companies and that if an employee shares the company’s message, it reaches 561% further than via the company’s official channels.
98% of employees have at least one social media channel for personal use, and at least 50% already post about their companies. For employers, this situation is both an opportunity and a challenge. It is important to understand how to make a reality that can no longer be changed work for you. These are serious numbers which can considerably affect your company’s sales and profit figures.
Of course, many companies would use this opportunity if it was that easy. Often, the problem is that employees do not want to share this content on their own channels. However, it can be made useful for both parties. If you focus strategically on creating and developing employees’ personal brands, the widespread problem that employees do not want to share or do not care to share the company’s message will disappear. They would do it with pleasure. They just need a reason to do it. Growing and developing their professional personal brand is a very good reason.
Employees with a strong personal brand are the best communication and sales channel for their employer, and therefore, every employer should support the development of their employees’ personal brands and tie them to the brand of their product or service. The stronger an employee’s personal brand, the stronger the brand ambassador they are for the company.
