They say that the customer is always right, but the higher truth is: The staff never lies.

We’re always talking about customer advocacy, or customer conversation. Perhaps we need not only to talk, but also work on staff as well? I’m sure you’ve tried to improve your engagement and communication with your customers and clients. But it’s time you realize that there is one more stakeholder in the game: your staff!

There are a few lessons one has to learn while managing the team of staff or the coworkers. Also, one has to learn the difference between managing and leading. Your staff is much more important than your customers because they can help you or can do harm to your business in a way that customers cannot.

Think back to school days–especially those in primary and secondary school where we were constantly reminded that we were representatives of the school and that our actions while we were on our uniforms or not directly and indirectly affected our school’s image. We paid school fees and we were made to follow some rules.

Imagine you are paying your employees and they are affecting your business because you failed to engage them properly. I’m not saying you should censor your employees and teach them how to live their lives, no, but you do need to show them why positive actions from them is very important not just to the company but also for them as well. You engage only the employees who are in alignment with your values and culture. These are the people who are proud to be working with you no matter your current stage and you have a lot to do in ensuring this.

1. Acquaint them with your company’s culture, guide and policies, this should not happen just at the point of orientation, it should be continuous to achieve proper assimilation.
2. Give them a sense of ownership, and this should not be done during a pep talk alone, you can work with a communications management consultant in setting this up on paper. You do not need to give them equity to achieve this, there are other performance based benefits that can easily get you this. But never stop communicating this to them verbally without being imposing.
3. Work on your communications strategy and plan as a company to enable your staff share curated content across their social networks. It’s impossible for everyone on your team to come up with and share content. That’s where your curated contents come in, they can tweet, post and publish without stressing about it. This will help your company amplify reach, attract qualified leads and increase engagement.
4. If your social posts are all coming from one account, then that limits the reach and impact of what you’re doing. If you want to get more reach and engagement, think about leveraging the power of your employees’ networks and their personal touch. Let them share your core marketing contents with their own voices in their own ways without compromising your company’s communications style.
5. Reward is a very important motivation. To get more staff active in talking about what you do in your company, you need to reward those who currently do.

As a business, should you be diving into staff advocacy? Well, the world has changed drastically in the past decade, with the advent of the web 2.0 increasing the effect of social media and its ability to reach millions of people within seconds. If you want to develop your business further and enhance your brand reputation, which is especially important for startups, then this article will help you in developing your social business strategy.

Every business has its own internal advocacy program. We need to be willing to give it a try and see what we can do. With these tips, you are ready to start your company’s own advocacy program. I’ll also add that this movement of employee advocacy starts with you being a champion of change because without your passion to seek the best for your people and your business, nothing will ever happen. A business is only as successful as their leaders allow it to be and if there really are no limits then we have to be engaged in this conversation. If there’s anyone to setup an employee advocacy program for you, I will personally take the challenge so let’s see if you are up for the challenge.