Employees are some of the most trusted representatives of your brand. Reports show that potential customers trust employees over CEOs, journalists and celebrities. Internal people are sincere and accessible, which humanises your brand.

If you’re curious about influencer marketing, consider engaging with your internal network. It’s a cost-effective alternative to partnering with external influencers who are often expensive, and may come across as insincere.

Here’s how to do it.

Ensure employees connect with all company social media pages

Begin by asking your employees to follow all of your brand’s social media accounts. By seeing your content, they’re more likely to engage with it. And it they engage with it, it’s more likely to reach other people in their network.

Also, encourage them to choose See First on your Facebook Page, so your content is the first thing they see in their news feed.

Social media algorithms are looking for meaningful reactions between people, so ask internal influences to leave long comments, tag their friends, and share your posts.

Pro tip: Also ask employees to invite their online connections to follow your brand’s social accounts.

Identify and recruit your internal influencers

Who is most invested in the success of your brand?

A large university’s network might include students, staff and faculty. A medium-sized business could involve a highly engaged group of employees, customers and suppliers. An entrepreneur just starting out might reach out to support family and friends.

These will be people who have their own sizable audiences on platforms and are willing to leverage their personal networks to promote your brand. Once you’ve identified your internal influences, it’s time to engage them. Here are some key ways to do that

Inform internal influencers about company updates and news

Keep internal people up to date on news about your business, i.e. company announcements and accomplishments. Most employees will be happy to share company wins on their personal social media accounts.

Posting about your company’s accomplishments is a win-win for employees and employers. Internal influencers will be eager to share content that connects them with a successful brand.

In addition, keep people informed of your social media strategy, and help them understand the impact of their efforts. For example:

“By liking one of our social media posts, you’re telling the platform’s algorithm that our content is valuable. Because you’re interested in the content, the algorithm decides that other people might like it, too. As our content gets more engagement, it becomes more valuable, and the algorithm will show it to more people, which helps us reach new audiences with our brand’s message.”

Pro tip: Show your internal influencers that you value them by asking for their input on social media content. Many will already be active on social media and could have some creative ideas about how to engage. Their feedback could certainly be useful.

Gamify the social media experience

Provide an incentive to your employees. This way, your company isn’t making it seem like participation is required. But those who do get involved have the chance to receive some type of reward.

For example, you could display a leaderboard which shows the top people sharing content, getting engagements, clicks and shares. This can then be used to reward the top participants, whether that’s on a weekly or monthly basis. Rewards could include:

• Paid for lunch by the company
• Gift cards
• Donations to their chosen charity
• Extra time off
• Guest post opportunities
• Employee recognition

Not only are you offering potential rewards, but a little internal friendly competition can also drive employees to share more on social media.