Corporate Influencer: Hype with a lot of substance
Many companies have had brand ambassador programmes for decades. Large and small, strategic and opportunistic. Because one thing is clear: our own employees are the best brand ambassadors. Nobody knows products and services better, nobody knows more about customers and consumers, nobody is there with more passion and authenticity.
People trust people
Basically it is about the big and important (and old) topic Employee Advocacy: To understand enthusiastic, loyal and committed employees as convincing ambassadors and to support and appreciate them with the necessary contents, tools, resources and trainings. Among these intrinsically motivated ambassadors, there may be individuals who stand out for their high level of commitment, their passion for specific topics and their exceptional communication skills. And who thus generate reach and influence in relevant sub-public spheres. These people could be described as corporate influencers:
Employees who represent their company and its topics with a measurably effective influence on internal and external subpublics. They do this on their own initiative, self-determined and authentic. In this way, they create high interaction rates, strong commitment and real conversations. Their work pays dividends on the strategic goals of marketing, communication, human resources and sales. Corporate influencers are very active online and offline and are excellently networked. As credible experts, they position themselves on relevant topics in their profession and industry. They speak on podiums, give interviews, organize bar camps and interact via their personal profiles on the Social Web.
From reach to relevance
Corporate influencers can not only communicate the topics of their companies in a more credible and exciting way, but can also use their specific knowledge to communicate them in a more targeted and relevant way. This is exactly what the fight for attention is all about: switching from reach to relevance. Therefore, corporate influencers must not be misunderstood as mere multipliers, which would only intensify the already excessive noise. Their task is to translate and specify the company messages and their topics for subpublics. Corporate influencers are therefore a good means of addressing the opinion market, which is also highly fragmented for companies, more precisely in terms of content and formats.
