Imaging you are getting ready to do an influencer marketing campaign and you told the agency that you want the influencer to have similar values to your organization and they come back with a candidate who already works at your company. Would you have wondered why someone in the company hadn’t discovered this internal gem?
Organizations have several options when it comes to identifying employee content creators and influencers. They can use their internal communications department to solicit volunteers. Or, they can see if their marketing department has found anyone using company hashtags with online content who happens to state in their bio that they work for the company. Both methods do not guarantee that you will find who you are looking for.
In my recent research Exploring personal branding determinants and pro-social organizational behaviors of employee influencers on LinkedIn we explored how one British pharmaceutical company used LinkedIn’s Elevate to identify their potential employee influencers.
We found that personal branding is likely to predict employee influencer activity and that personal branding can predict pro-social behavior toward other employees. So not only are your employee influencers impacting external audiences, but they are building communities with internal stakeholders.
When it comes to selecting employees for influencer campaigns, certain elements of personal branding, in conjunction with reach, relevance and resonance, can help organizations. If your goal is to find those hidden gems, consider what internal monitoring resources you team is using. If you need help, contact us.