Behavioral branding: employees as brand ambassadors

It is a challenge for companies to ensure that their digital reputation is maintained. In addition, companies are generally struggling with declining credibility, which is partly due to the flood of information via a wide variety of channels. Content that employees share about their employer on their digital channels is considered more trustworthy by others and is read more. A study by Sturmer (2020) showed that content shared from a personal profile achieved up to eight times higher interaction rates than that shared from an official company account. This means that employees are often the only interface in the relevant communities and thus important ambassadors for the company. In addition, certain stakeholders can now be reached exclusively via online channels. A study on communication channels that will become even more important in the future was able to show that social media channels and employees as ambassadors are rated more important than the influence of executives as multipliers or the company's website (Mast, 2019). It is thus clear that traditional media relations are losing importance and that companies should pay particular attention to the topic of brand ambassadors or corporate influencers.

Employees as brand ambassadors

But what motivates employees to talk about company-related content and how is it possible to specifically involve them as multipliers for corporate communication messages? The concept of behavioral branding (Tomczak et al. 2012) provides an important starting point here, as it examines the role of employees' knowledge, commitment and skills in connection with the use of employees as brand ambassadors for the company. Annika Golz (2020, see box), in turn, examined the relevant part of digital communication as part of her master's thesis. Based on an online survey with 130 employees, all of whom are part of Swisscom's Ambassadors program, it was investigated what encourages them to use their social networks in a professional context and to what extent, according to their own assessment, their messages are in line with the brand. We would like to present the results of the study and the framework model developed for the targeted involvement of employees as ambassadors for corporate communications here.

What is brand-compliant behavior?

In order for employees and corporate influencers to act in the spirit of corporate communications, it must be understood which aspects contribute to brand-compliant behavior. In the context of the use of social networks by employees, competent handling of social media is important on the one hand, but reputation competence in particular. This refers to the competence of employees to use social media in accordance with corporate reputational goals. (Hoffend et al. 2018). One of the company's responsibilities is therefore to empower employees to use social networks in a way that enhances their reputation. This can take the form of training on how best to use LinkedIn, for example, or giving corporate influencers access to interesting reports about the company itself. Ideally, posts about the company should not only be shared, but actively authored. In addition, brand-compliant behavior requires that employees who are expected to positively contribute to their employer's image as ambassadors understand what the brand stands for and how their behavior contributes to branding. A well-anchored commitment to the corporate brand is also a key prerequisite.

Focus on intangible incentives

For companies, it is important to understand why employees place themselves at the service of the brand in order to be able to exert a targeted influence on this or to support employees with suitable measures. The list of motives for using one's own social networks for professional purposes is long. While some are primarily concerned with social contacts and building interpersonal relationships, others use it to stimulate discussions and gain recognition for their role as opinion leaders. However, it is striking that the use of social networks in a professional context is primarily intrinsically motivated (Figure 1). Thus, a company can achieve the most through an incentive system that relies primarily on intangible incentives and addresses different motives.

The framework model shown in Figure 2 can provide targeted support for those responsible for corporate communications when it comes to successfully using employees as multipliers of the company's messages. In addition to the basic prerequisite of building up brand-compliant knowledge, commitment and behavior, employees must not only be motivated with the right measures, but also empowered to act in the spirit of the brand. If this succeeds, a company can not only reach its target groups better, but also build much better relationships of trust with its stakeholders.

* Karin Jeker Weber holds a doctorate in economics, industrial and organizational psychology, and additional degrees in business mediation and university didactics. As a marketing expert, she has been teaching at various universities of applied sciences in Switzerland for over 20 years and is active in strategy consulting and diversity management.

Annika Golz is responsible for midmarket communications at Swisscom and wrote her master's thesis on "Motivation and integration of social corporate influencers in digital corporate communications". She holds a Master's degree in Business Communication from the Zurich School of Economics.

 List of sources:

• Golz, A. (2020). Analysis of the Motivation of Social Corporate Influencers and Derivation of Recommendations for Action to Involve Employees in Digital Corporate Communications, Master's Thesis, HWZ Hochschule für Wirtschaft Zürich.
• Hoffend et al. (2018). Employee reputation competence for the use of social media. In: Competence management in small and medium-sized enterprises. Pp. 71-86. Berlin, Heidelberg, Springer.
• Mast, C. (2019). Corporate communications. A guide. 7th edition, Munich, UVK
• Sturmer, M. (2020). Corporate Influencer. In essentials. Wiesbaden, Springer Gabler
• Tomczak, T. et al. (2012). Behavioral branding. 3rd edition, Wiesbaden, Gabler.