Brand advocacy is a one way to help generate positive PR for the brand while cultivating a strong relationship with the brand's customer-base. Check out this slide to learn more about the different forms of brand advocacy and how a brand can leverage its employee's to connect with its audience on social media

2. What Is Brand Advocacy?
• One or more person(s)
speaking favorably about
a brand
• Serves as brand
"spokesperson" in a sense
• Generation of positive PR
about a brand via "word-
of-mouth"

3. Examples of Brand Advocates
• Mommy Bloggers for Walmart*
• Fiesta Agents for Ford*
• Current customer base
• EMPLOYEES'S
*source: Social Media Examiner; "9 Reasons Your Company Should Use Brand Advocates: New Research", June 13, 2011

4. What Differentiates Brand Advocacy
From Influencer Marketing?
• Influencer's most often support a brand at a COST!
• Brand advocates are FREE and they are passionate
and loyal followers of a specific brand
• According to Jay Baer, "Advocacy is driven by the
depths of conviction"
• Research has shown that 92% of consumers trust
brand advocates more so than influencers!

5. • Brand advocates will connect more with their
community on an emotional level
• Brand advocates help encourage fellow community
members to take action while influencer's focus
more creating brand awareness
• Advocates will not hesitate to attack multiple social
channels if necessary, while influencers may rely
on one or two channels where their largest
audiences are

6. Using Employee's As Brand
Advocates
• Employee's are the best form of
brand advocates a company can
use
• Not only do they represent the
company, but in most cases, they
also happen to have the most
interaction with the consumer
• Employee's have a better
understanding of the consumer's
mindset
• Employee's are a brand's biggest
asset

7. Case Study: Lego
• Lego is famous for requiring its
employee's to use social
media to interact with it's
customer's
• This includes senior
executives as well
• Over 300 Lego employee's
have trained to use social
media on behalf of the
company

8. • Employee's are required to take an exam in order to
get their social media certification
• 24/7 presence on social media across different time
zones
• Help's create brand affinity while engaging in
potential crisis management
• Built stronger online-relationships with its fan base
and generated growth of over 10%

9. Social Media Driver's License
• Requires rigorous training, especially for employee's
who do not have social media knowledge
• Important for employee's to understand how each
social platform functions
• For example, hashtags can be used on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest but not on Instagram
• Instagram and Pinterest rely heavily on visuals, with
Pinterest attracting mostly a female audience

10. • Lego employee's were required to attend one day
workshops where they drafted sample social media
posts
• One wrong move (sharing or liking the wrong post)
can result in the brand experiencing negative
backlash quite RAPIDLY!!

11. Managing Employee's Use of
Social Media
• There are ways brands can monitor their employee's usage
of social media
• Tools like Geofeedia, Hootsuite, and Sprout Social are
great tools to use that are low cost to engage in social
listening across multiple social platforms
• Company can create a "bible" of sorts detailing what an
employee can and can not do while on the company's
social channels
• Development of a crisis plan in the event mistakes take
place online

12. Benefits of Employee Advocacy
• Research has shown that
employee's have a greater
propensity to viewed as
thought-leader's
• More cost effective as
opposed to paying an
influencer
• Create a more authentic
look and feel for the brand

13. Final Thoughts
• Brand advocacy can come in different forms
• Community, employee's, loyal fans
• Employee's have a more understanding of the
consumer's mindset and they are representative's of
the brand
• Cost-effective to implement as opposed to using an
outside influencer
• More authentic in terms of brand representation

14. Do you believe all companies should enable their
employees to use social media on the company's
behalf? Why or why not? Also do you think
employee's are the best form of advocates to use
for a brand?

15. For more information you can
check out my website,
www.tmahmoud.weebly.com and
follow me on the following
platforms:
!
!
!
!
!
!
Tamer M. Mahmoud Tamer M. Mahmoud @TMahmoud87 @TMahmoud87

16. References
Baer, J. (2015, December). Social Media Influencers versus Brand Advocates Infographic.
Retrieved January 24, 2016, from http://www.convinceandconvert.com/content-marketing/
social-media-influencers-versus-brand-advocates-infographic/
Mershon, P. (2011, June 13). 9 Reasons Your Company Should Use Brand Advocates:
New Research : Social Media Examiner. Retrieved January 24, 2016, from http://
www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9-reasons-your-company-should-use-brand-advocates-
new-research/
Prosinski, S. (2014, February 3). Lego's social media strategy excites hard-core fans,
attracts new customers. Retrieved January 24, 2016, from http://www.ragan.com/Main/
Articles/Legos_social_media_strategy_excites_hardcore_fans_47871.aspx
Tamuno, D. (2015, February 24). 10 reasons why social brand advocates are more
important than influencers. Retrieved January 24, 2016, from http://customerthink.com/10-
reasons-why-social-brand-advocates-are-more-important-than-influencers/
Walter, E. (2013, October 15). Want To Find Brand Ambassadors? Start With Your
Employees. Retrieved January 24, 2016, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/ekaterinawalter/
2013/10/15/want-to-find-brand-ambassadors-start-with-your-employees-2/#3da925151ff6