Source: Hinge Research Institute / Social Media Today [pdf]
Notes: The primary benefits that firms receive from employee advocacy are increased visibility (79%) and brand recognition (65%), per results from a Hinge Research Institute and Social Media Today survey of 588 professionals (primarily B2B) who use social media for business purposes. But there are benefits for advocates, too, as more than two-thirds said that involvement on social media for professional purposes has helped their careers. The top-stated benefits advocates receive are an expanded professional network (87%) and keeping up with industry trends (76%), per respondents.
Meanwhile, training topics that respondents would find most beneficial are using social media to create engagement (54%), social media training for a specific social channel (48%), content marketing strategy for social media (48%) and motivating employees to be brand advocates on social media (46%).
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In order to properly motivate employees, respondents see the value in communicating the importance of social media (41%), with fewer pointing to incentives such as public recognition of performance metrics (17%), gift incentives (12%), monetary incentives (10%) or additional benefit incentives (10%).
Related: Social Business: Employee Advocacy Programs Gaining Interest
About the Data: Some 83% of respondents have a B2B market audience, while 27% sell to the government, 26% to consumers and 21% to non-profits. About 1 in 8 are solo practitioners, while close to half come from companies with at least 50 employees.
