Participation Marketing

Unleashing Employees to Participate and Become Brand Storytellers

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Pub Date 3 Mar 2018 | Archive Date 16 May 2019

Description

Trust is an invaluable commodity in any business environment. Organizations benefit from being viewed as transparent, open and human, and one of the best ways of achieving this is through authentic employee advocacy. Participation Marketing takes a detailed look at the benefits that arise when employees are fully subscribed to a brand's ethos, and how this can be used to magnify a brand's voice. After all, it's likely that every individual employee of a company now has several hundred unique social media connections, if not more. So by engaging staff and encouraging them to participate in company activity and share via their own channels, they will be broadcasting trusted brand experiences to entirely new groups of consumers.

Employee advocacy has always been worth investing in, but as the combination of constant connectedness and conversation becomes standard in our everyday lives, so too grows the importance of leveraging it. Participation Marketing will convince business leaders to think hard about employee advocacy as a channel that has many positive business outcomes. Internally, it will engage employees and make them feel part of something bigger, which will naturally result in employee satisfaction, retention and an increase in productivity. Externally, it will help brands reach new audiences with trusted and relevant stories.

Trust is an invaluable commodity in any business environment. Organizations benefit from being viewed as transparent, open and human, and one of the best ways of achieving this is through authentic...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9780749482107
PRICE £26.99 (GBP)
PAGES 240

Average rating from 5 members


Featured Reviews

Get your employees active and telling stories about your brand, enabling an authentic and informed form of enthusiastic marketing to be unleashed in the process. This is the focus of this book that looks at the world of participation marketing.

If correctly deployed, the results can be astounding, as consumers value enthusiasm and authenticity, and participation marketing can help form a strong connection for them in the process. However, it must be done carefully, since few are fooled by the faux friendliness and over-the-top excitedness that may remind them of a TV shopping infomercial. Today it is easier-than-ever to get employees active with marketing, as social media and the internet give so many opportunities to extend a company’s voice. It can be an approved YouTube video, quick Instagram video or even help on a Facebook or internet forum. Don’t forget, of course, the social networks that individual employees have too! Just give them the ‘green light’ to do it…

This is an extension of traditional marketing and employee advocacy. Perhaps it is better said to be a consolidation of the two subjects, being an important way forward that should be carefully encouraged and welcomed within a company. Ground rules need to exist, of course, but employees need to be engaged, invigorated and invited to speak out (positively) about their employer’s activities. Not only will this potentially help the company’s bottom line, but it can also improve employee engagement, productivity and loyalty. The book will show you how this can be achieved and it need not be a costly or complex activity either.

It is something that should be considered. You may think that your ‘boring’ company, which produces metal screws and bolts, might not be ‘social media sexy’, but perhaps many of your employees already hang out on social media and online forums that attract people who may buy your product, influence its use or be industry peers. They may be already consuming and discussing the self-same subject, so why not encourage them to talk about your activities too. Even locally it can help with recruitment, when a friend of an employee keeps seeing interesting posts about a company they may want to work for in the future.

Far too many companies prohibit unauthorised statements about their activities, but a carefully managed set of permissible activities can be a great bonus. Just set the ground rules, give some advice and training and let natural spontaneity take part.

It was an enjoyable read that has the capability to inspire a lot of goodness. Trust in it and give it some of your reading hours. It may be one of your wiser investments this quarter.

Participation Marketing, written by Michael Brito and published by Kogan Page. ISBN 9780749482107. YYYYY

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Participation Marketing: Unleashing Employees To Participate And Become Brand Storytellers by Michael Brito was an interesting look at how company's can increase their revenue and brand awareness through encouraging employees to post about their company on social media. Posts from employee's personal social media accounts have a far different reach than official company profiles. But if a company really wants their employees to be positive brand ambassadors, they need to foster the right environment and create incentives for genuine interaction. People can tell the difference between genuine employee advocacy and forced involvement.

The importance of social media in business is often discussed, but many disagree on the best way to achieve a successful social media campaign. This book draws from a variety of sources concerning sales and marketing data. It also included some short case studies. However, some parts were not as engaging as I hoped. It did feel like a sales pitch at times and much of the information felt like it was focused on and specifically for sales teams as opposed to other departments. It also seemed focused on American markets and companies. I would liked to see a more international outlook. All in all, there are some helpful tips and certainly a lot of points to consider. But each company will have to take their own business model and company culture when implementing these types of programs.

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