Sitting in a staff meeting, my boss asked if there were any questions. I mentioned seeing a job posting online for the marketing department and wondered if the team was expanding.
Several co-workers quickly interjected, “Why were you reading that? Are you looking for a new job?”
“No,” I replied. “I just like to keep tabs on what’s happening in the marketplace.”
That was 15 years ago. I doubt that conversation would go the same way today because most people have an online presence through social media and use the internet for information gathering.
As the rise of social media and influencer marketing has led to exponential opportunities for content marketing for corporate brands, it also has presented countless opportunities for content marketing for personal brands.
But how do the two work in harmony? Should they? Should people closely connect their brand to their employers? Should companies actively encourage their employees to use content marketing, including social media, to talk about the company?
Eight years ago, Christian Crumlish, then director of consumer experience at AOL, outlined the concerns of the employer – they don’t want to make star employees visible and expose them to poaching from competitors, and they are concerned those star employees will outshine the corporate brand.
Given the billion-plus active on social media now, the option to discourage or ban employees from talking about their employers publicly isn’t realistic.
“It’s not only possible – but highly advantageous – to leverage the power of personal brands in conjunction with (or instead of) the central corporate brand,” writes Jayson DeMers, a Forbes contributor.
As Jayson explains, telling your corporate brand stories through a personal brand (i.e., your employee) allows for more trust with the audience, a distinct voice, a difference from your competitors, an extended reach, and lasting power.
Nurturing employees’ personal brands also is an attractive selling component in the recruiting component as it indicates the company cares about developing the people who work for it.
And employers still worried their employees will take off for greener pastures should turn their focus to the positives. Sure, employees may leave the company, but they will do that with or without your support. If the company helped nurture their personal brand, they may attain positions at other brands that could benefit their previous employer or, at a minimum, they will speak well of the company.
Consider the example of Hallie Warner. She spent years developing her personal brand around her professional identity as chief of staff at Adam Hergenrother Companies. “I use the corporate brand and story to share my own,” she says.
About 18 months ago, she launched her own blog, Lead and Assist, and was invited, along with her boss, to speak at the Behind Every Leader conference. “These branding efforts have put me on the map as an expert for executive assistants and other chiefs of staff, and administrative professionals,” Hallie explains.
In addition to her chief-of-staff position, Hallie is now working as a coach and trainer for executive assistants through Adam Hergenrother Training.
Overall, supporting employees to develop their digital profiles is good for the bottom line. Research from Weber Shandwick shows employees with socially encouraging employers are significantly more likely to help boost sales (72%) than those with employers who are not socially encouraging (48%).
What should the company do?
If you want your employees (and their personal brands) to boost your corporate brand, you must be strategic. Here are a few essential steps.
1. Set easy-to-follow, practical guidelines
Sure, you must protect the brand, especially if it’s a publicly traded company, from employees disclosing proprietary or confidential information. Just don’t use that as a reason to go overboard with restrictions in your social media policy.
Check out this employee social media policy from Intel:
- Disclose your relationship to Intel.
- Protect Intel.
- Use common sense when posting.
“What do our policies mean? They mean we trust you … You are both the person in the best position to tell the world why Intel is such an amazing place to be and the person best suited to protect Intel from harm. Don’t slam Intel or our competitors … When you are online, you are representing Intel: our peoples, our values. There is no room…
