ProActivists – Brand advocates, highest level of engagement, social media users PreActivists – Potential ProActivists, average level of engagement, low social media use HyperActives – Highly engaged, sometimes a loose cannon, some social media regrets ReActivists – Average engagement, often critical of employer, social media users with regrets InActives – Low engagement, low social media use Detractors – Low engagement, distrustful of employer, low social media use
Weber Shandwick makes the case that in an environment of fast-moving social media, highly engaged ProActivists have a positive impact on the brand in the outside world and others less enthusiastic about their organization represent risks to the brand reputation. Weber Shandwick offers some detailed recommendations for each type of employee in their paper from “providing socially sharable content” to “fixing negative leadership trust perceptions.” They also state, “This requires employers to ‘flip different switches’ on various aspects of leadership, internal communications, human resources and corporate social responsibility in order to effectively drive activism or reduce detraction. Here are four strategies for activating employees: 1. Accelerate the activism of ProActivists. Ignite the activism of PreActivists and HyperActives. 2. Negate the negatives for ReActivists and Detractors. 3. Communicate in ways that matter. 4. Customize strategies and tactics for each segment.” Accelerate? Ignite? Communicate? Customize? That’s precisely what employee engagement programs do. We accelerate the work of the best of the best. Ignite interest and passion in the middle sixty. Communicate organizational goals and successes to all. Customize solutions based on the audience and the needs of the company. Sounds like employee engagement to me. What Weber Shandwick has accomplished here is to frame the discussion in terms of how engagement impacts the brand through social media. This is an increasingly critical consideration for many organizations. To protect the reputation of the brand, you have to start with the employees, because if they don’t believe in the work that they do, no one else will either . . . Particularly, if that disconnect is broadcast on social media.As Vice President of Engagement Strategy & Corporate Services at Next Level Performance, Susan serves on the board of the Incentive Research Foundation (IRF), and chairs the IRF Research Committee. She has also served on the board of the Incentive Marketing Association (IMA) and is a past president of the Recognition Council, and a past member of the Performance Improvement Council and the Incentive and Engagement Solution Providers (IESP). She is interested in the strategies and benefits of employee engagement, incentive, and recognition programs. An avid traveler, she is also passionate about the art and science of incentive travel.
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