Baby Boomers couldn’t trust institutions. The “trust” of Gen Xers was broken at the individual level. But when it comes to Millennials, it all boils down to literally not trusting anything and anyone but a few people they know.
That is why it comes as no big surprise that Millennials are influenced by choices, reviews and others’ views on products and services. To market to millennials, it is better to have the employees themselves talk about the products and services that the company has to offer. Simply put, using employee brand advocacy can do the trick for Millennials.
Through staff advocacy, businesses are leveraging the “selling power” of their most valuable and convenient assets: Millennial employee advocates. It’s a win-win. The youngsters gain personal and professional developments while the business enjoys increased credibility, online visibility, and customer engagement.
What Is Employee Brand Advocacy?
Staff advocacy is a business strategy in which employee advocates promote or share company, brand or product updates online (or social media to be precise). Besides improving company culture online and building brand awareness, employee brand advocacy has been known to have a tremendous impact on revenue.
Talking lead generation, staff advocacy is an “always on” channel that can help you effectively market to Millennials. More specifically, employees advocates can help you get 5 times more web traffic and 25% more leads.
Why is Employee Brand Advocacy Effective when Marketing to Millennials?
(1) Ads Have Little to No Influence on Millennials
Several surveys carried out by Forrester and Nielsen shows that standard television, magazine, and newspapers do not influence Millennials. Get this: under 1% of survey Millennials admitted that an ad influences their brand's trust. To them, ads do not seem authentic. That’s a huge a wake-up call for traditional businesses who depend on ads to drive sales and brand awareness.
(2) 99.99% Millennials are on Social Media
Again, conventional marketing channels do not have much influence on Millennials. However, staff advocacy allows employee advocates to reach Millennials where they spend oodles of their time: social media.
(3) Most Millennials look to Social Media and Friends for Buying Advice
What others are saying about your product or brand is 8-10 more crucial to Millennials that your content or ads. That’s why they get their advice from their peers, social media, and blogs.
(4) They are Brand Loyal
The major reason employee advocacy works for Millennials is that they are eager to participate in creating products and they are loyal to brands they think are trustworthy.
