How to Turn Your Employees Into Powerful Influencers

Word-of-mouth has always been a successful form of marketing. When it comes to spreading this word on social media, influencer marketing is one of the most effective methods. A recent Tomoson study reveals that businesses are earning $6.50 for every $1 they invest in influencer marketing. The top 13 percent of businesses make more than $20 for each dollar spent on influencer marketing.

However, given recent trends and changes, brands might need to rethink the way they approach influencer marketing. Considering there’s a bottom 18 percent that doesn’t make any revenue as it is, those who don’t pay attention to these changes will find influencer marketing even harder.

Just recently, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), for the first time, had to settle charges against two social media influencers. As a result of the process, the FTC has set a new precedent: Going forward, influencers will have to clearly disclose their relationship with the brands they are promoting. As part of implanting the new rules, the FTC has issued an endorsement guide for both influencers and brands.

Today, it’s relatively easy for aspiring influencers to purchase followers and offer their services on various marketplaces, and brands are wising up, learning to approach influencer marketing as a long-term relationship rather than a quick-grab media buy. And this is the case in both the business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) spheres.

In light of such changes, brands will have to rethink their influencer marketing strategies. Here’s how you can improve your strategy this year.

An influencer message has to be authentic because audience members now have a clear view of who’s behind the curtain. Knowing that a message is inspired by money, rather than earnest appreciation, breeds skepticism.

As buyers turn to niche blogs and their social networks for assistance with their spending decisions, there will be new layers of scrutiny involved. The person behind the message and his or her relationship with the brand in question will certainly become a more significant factor. And an influencer being close to the brand won’t necessarily be a bad thing. Even as they watch out for bias, consumers will also want to hear from someone close enough to the brand to know what they are talking about.

Your employees are best positioned to discuss the product and consumers are very likely to believe them. They work directly on your products and are actually the people behind the product features. Who better to talk about those products? No one.

“When an employee talks about their work experience or shares lessons they’ve learned working for a company, it resonates in a completely different way,” explains Roope Heinilä; CEO of Smarp. “So imagine what sort of message a company can share online if it can orchestrate entire departments of employees to work together and make their voices heard. That’s extremely powerful.”

Clearly, employees have been an untapped resource for influencer marketing that may prove invaluable now.