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Happy Employees Are Loyal Employees Who Enrich Company Branding

 

For a new company, there are few things as important as establishing an appealing brand identity. One effective way to do this is with a positive and authentic social media presence, accomplished with the help of an engaged and enthusiastic staff. Here are a few tips on how to turn your team into top-flight brand ambassadors.
 

 
Create an empowering social media policy

The first step in empowering your employees to be excellent brand ambassadors is to craft a clear-cut social media policy. It should include information regarding what your company hopes to achieve through its social media presence, a code of contact regarding how your employees should communicate with customers and outline what you would and would not deem as appropriate online behavior. A clear social media policy will resolve any concerns your employees have regarding whether or not they should mention their employer online, and will empower them to start conversations regarding your company and what it can do for consumers within their extended social network.

 
Cultivate excellence with an employee recognition program

Traditional wisdom holds that to motivate your staff, you should reward success with financial incentives and admonish poor performance with progressive corrective actions. However, in practice, carrot and stick tactics are not very effective in optimizing performance and cultivating loyalty. As it turns out, most American workers believe that their efforts are not appreciated by their superiors. Over time, those feelings of inappreciation can turn into a costly and contagious disengagement. By giving your employees prompt, contextual and authentic recognition, they'll feel better about themselves and their company. In turn, they will be more engaged and more enthusiastic brand ambassadors.

 
Lead by example

The final and most important step in turning your team into ace brand ambassadors is to model the behavior you want to see from them. This means maintaining an active and authentic presence on a variety of different social media platforms. In addition to talking about what promotion you're currently running, you should also mention how invigorated you feel after a staff meeting or how pumped you feel after setting a new one mile time. It is also important to be open to hearing ideas and criticism from your staff. When your employees know that your brand of leadership means a dedication to consistent excellence and continual evolution for yourself and your business, they'll feel compelled to share it with the world.

 

 

This article was written by Mario McKellop for CBS Small Business Pulse.
 

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