Introducing LinkedIn Elevate
LinkedIn Elevate is an innovative product from LinkedIn that is designed to help companies empower their employees to become brand advocates. Using Elevate, businesses can encourage their employees to share approved corporate content across their personal social media networks. This in turn increases the company’s overall online presence and reach. LinkedIn Elevate is built on the simple premise that employees are the most trusted source of knowledge about a company and its products, thus their voices should be harnessed to build brand value and trust.
Harnessing Employee Advocacy with LinkedIn Elevate: An Overview
Before intricacies are discussed, let’s understand the basic functions of LinkedIn Elevate. At its core, Elevate is a tool for employers to unlock the potentially huge value contained within their workforce. It offers an easy-to-use platform where companies can share corporate content such as blogs, videos, webinars, and articles with their employees. Equipped with this content, the employees can then share it forward on their LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, effectively becoming brand ambassadors.
By sharing company-approved content through LinkedIn Elevate, businesses shine a spotlight on their positive initiatives, products, and services, authentically echoing these messages through the voices of their employees. This practice of employee advocacy helps in building brand credibility and fostering trust amongst potential customers, clients, and investors.
Why Use LinkedIn Elevate?
There are a multitude of reasons for a company to use LinkedIn Elevate. Here are some key advantages that make it worth consideration:
Potential for Greater Reach: When content is shared by employees through their personal LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, it helps the company’s messages reach a wider audience than the company’s own social media channels might be able to achieve.
Increased Engagement: Studies have revealed that content shared by employees receives more engagement than the content shared by company pages. People are more likely to trust and engage with content shared by someone in their network compared to a faceless corporate entity.
Boosting Employee Engagement: LinkedIn Elevate isn’t just beneficial for a company’s brand image, but it also has plenty of benefits for employees. By posting about their work and the positive actions of their employer, employees can strengthen their own personal brands, foster a sense of pride in their work, and increase their professional visibility in the digital space.
Building a Successful Employee Advocacy Program
Implementing LinkedIn Elevate in your organization necessitates creating a successful employee advocacy program. Here are a few steps your company can consider:
Creating Quality Content: Content is the fundamental piece of a successful employee advocacy program. Companies need to consistently create content that is high-quality, relevant, and reflects their brand identity and values.
Training Employees: Employees need to be educated on the benefits of LinkedIn Elevate and how to use it effectively. Regular training sessions can equip them with the necessary skills to properly share the corporate content and grow their personal brands.
Recognition and Rewards: Encouraging your employees to become active brand advocates, involves some kind of recognition for their efforts. This could be as simple as a word of appreciation during a team meeting, or as elaborate as an official employee advocacy program with rewards and rankings.
The Future of LinkedIn Elevate
Since its launch in 2015, LinkedIn Elevate has steadily grown in popularity amongst businesses large and small. In 2020, LinkedIn announced its plan to integrate LinkedIn Elevate with its Company Pages. While the standalone app will no longer be available, the core functionalities of LinkedIn Elevate will remain, offering businesses a streamlined way to engage their employees as brand advocates.
In conclusion, LinkedIn Elevate represents a forward-thinking approach to brand-building in the digital age. With its capabilities to transform employees into brand advocates, it’s an invaluable tool for businesses looking to expand their reach, bolster their brand image, and foster employee pride and engagement. It’s not just about what a company says about itself, but what its employees say about their work which speaks the loudest, and LinkedIn Elevate helps amplify those voices.