The proliferation of social media and the impact on a company’s brand cannot be denied. Company communicators can tap into this by encouraging its employees to be its best brand ambassadors.

A Brand Ambassador is a person who is hired by an organisation or company to represent a brand in a positive light and by doing so help to increase brand awareness and sales.  

Brand ambassadors can also come from company's stakeholders (clients, investors, suppliers, employees etc.) to project its brand with increased sales if a comprehensive policy is drawn to include them.

A study conducted by the MSL GROUP found that brand social media posts shared by employees reach 561 percent further than the same posts shared by company pages. This can have huge implications for companies that empower their employees to become advocates and influencers on social media.

Imagine 10 or 15 percent of your employees tweeting daily about your brand and its effectiveness? Imagine another 15 percent writing stories on their Facebook timeline or LinkedIn on a new product recently released? Imagine a few of your top executives blogging about a recent product launch and the benefits of customers utilising the particular brand? Indeed, the company may have a social media presence, but encouraging employees to project and write about its brand augment and expand awareness exponentially.

In order to streamline the social media activity, company communications and HR executives should initiate and institute a company social media plan and policy for all to follow.

The plan can include the following guidelines:

- Determine which social media platforms suit your organisation and employees.

- Communicate to executives and employees why external social media is important.

- Design a social media policy that aligns with your organisation’s culture.

- Encourage employees to write about company, products and activities regularly.

Remember, however, that just one brand-related slip by an employee can be devastating for both the employee and the company brand as such, strict guidelines have to be in place for do's and don'ts.

Statistics also show that 80 to 90 percent of CEOs and top executives already use social media, inculcating their use into the company's plan gives added impact.

Social media is now part of our everyday life; let's use it to benefit and push our brands further.

About Em Bartels

Em Bartels is the founder And Executive director of Excell Consulting GH, Excell Branding GH, a Personal Branding Expert and Executive coach with an extensive track record of building incredible personal brands that help executives to stand out, become visible and attract a passionate tribe.

An ardent public speaker, and elocution expert, Ms Bartels supports executives and professionals in the art of oral delivery and diction.

She is the founder of GPA Awards, a Professional Development Organisation that promotes Creativity, Innovation and Excellence.