HR Pulse

Groom your employees as thought leaders for your employer brand

With more and more companies boasting impressive results from social media marketing campaigns globally, SA businesses are definitely feeling the pressure to become socially savvy. However, corporates still distrust social media – perceiving it as a barrier to employee productivity and a waste of money. This prejudice has led to a huge missed opportunity to maximise the employer brand and engagement. Promoting your employer brand doesn't need to be time consuming or expensive at all. HR leaders and management need to start looking internally and start tapping into their human resources to groom employee thought leaders and brand ambassadors.

Speaking at the ITWeb Social Media Summit, held at The Campus Forum on Wednesday 25 June, FNB digital strategist Jeanine Ferreira discussed the benefits and rationale for developing thought leaders in your company.

'Thought leadership fuels Return On Interesting (ROI)'

Ferreira used Timo Elliot's quote above to explain how thought leaders achieve a ROI for business by generating content that potential customers/clients identify and interact with – increasing lead generation for the company and awareness.

FNB is a classic example to demonstrate the effect thought leaders have for business growth.

FNB approached several economists in their employ and encouraged them to create content and start blogs. These employees wrote financial content ranging from Finance 101 to complex economic forecasts and insights.

Two years later, FNB reported their findings on this thought leadership campaign:

• Thought leadership creates value to business' customers by sharing knowledge and insights.
• It created a win-win situation as not only did the economists build their personal brands, but also contributed to the brand reputation.
• It illustrated the brand's problem-solving ability because its thought leaders attended to customers' needs and answered their financial questions.
• It gave individuals a platform to communicate their unique perspective.
• It inspired customers to take the next step in the buying journey.

Thought leadership tips

• Don't just copy, create. Remember that thought leadership is about original content, not articles and ideas that have been rehashed over and over.
• Use thought leadership to break down internal boundaries in your company and promote employee engagement.

Frew Murdoch is the assistant editor of HR Pulse. She is currently completing the last semester of her BA degree in Communications and English. Christine Botha, co-author of 'Ethics in HR Management: A guide for HR professionals and line managers', had this to say: "I stumbled across your review of our Ethics Guide published 28 June 2012 and wish to thank you for the positive and complimentary comments made – this was a lovely surprise and most rewarding. I will certainly pass this on to all co-authors of the Guide."