brianna, sam, kane and catherine of giraffe social

— Why it works

10x

more connections, on average, across your employees’ networks than followers on your company page.

higher click-through when content is shared by an employee rather than by the company.

— Human-first social / area 2 of 3

Your
Team

Buyers trust the people who do the work more than the brand that sells it.

Human-first social starts in three places: your leaders, your team and your audience. Together they form the method behind Human-First Marketing, the book we wrote on it. This page covers the second.

Your team know your customers, your products and your culture better than any campaign can show. We help them share it, on your channels and on their own, in a way they’re proud to put their name to.

— Why your team matters

Anyone can copy your product. Nobody can copy your people.

Plenty of brands work hard to look different and end up borrowing a personality: a mascot, a clever tone of voice, a stock photo of people high-fiving in a boardroom. The real thing is already on the payroll.

Your team are the ones answering the questions, solving the problems and living the values your marketing talks about. When buyers can see them, the claims on your website have someone standing behind them.

It works for hiring too. Candidates look at your people before they apply, and a team that's visibly proud of where it works is the best job advert you'll ever run.

— From, HUMAN-FIRST Marketing, Phil Treagus-Evans

"Employee advocacy is always the litmus test for your company culture."

— What we believe

How we think about getting your team involved.

Opt-in only

Nobody gets pushed in front of a camera. Advocacy only works when people choose it, so we build around the ones who want to.

Culture-first

If your team wouldn't recommend working for you, no programme will fix that. We'll tell you honestly if the foundations need work first.

A role for everyone

Some people love a camera, some would rather write, some prefer to be behind the scenes. There's a way in for each of them.

Not a sales channel

The moment advocacy feels like a sales target, people stop posting. It builds reach and trust, so you're the name buyers think of when they're ready.

— How do we get your team onboard?

We win them over before we ask them to post.

Most teams don't need convincing that it's a good idea. They need to know what's in it for them, what's expected and that nobody will be left looking silly. So we start there, with a session for your team that explains the why, answers the worries honestly and finds out who wants to get involved. Your leaders go first, because people follow what they see, not what they're told.

Then there are two ways in. Some people would rather appear in your brand's own content: videos, photos and behind-the-scenes on your company pages. Others want to build their own profile, sharing on LinkedIn with guidelines, a library of posts and training that make it easy. We keep both going with recognition for the people who get stuck in and regular check-ins, because the launch is the easy bit.

— get your free personalised report

How human is your social, really?

The Assessment

Five areas: personality, content, trust, your team, your audience; twenty questions, eight minutes. It's the exact framework we run through in our heads every time we look at a brand's social and ask what's stopping it from feeling human.

The Report

This is where it actually pays off. Once you're done, we send over a full report built entirely from your own answers, every section broken down, three things to fix first, examples of brands doing this well and additional resources. Free, and yours in minutes.

Show me my score

— Where this shows up in our services

How your team shows up on social.

On their own profiles or in your brand's content. Here's where each route lives in our services.

See how it fits your wider strategy →

Employee Advocacy

For the people who want to build their own profile. We set up the programme, the guidelines and the content library, then keep it going.

EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY →

Videography

For the people happy on camera. Behind-the-scenes, day-in-the-life and explainer videos for your company pages.

VIDEOGRAPHY →

Photography

For everyone else. Real photos of your real team, so your brand stops relying on stock images of people who don't work there.

PHOTOGRAPHY →

— FAQ

Ask us
anything

The questions businesses ask before they put their team in the spotlight.

What if our team don't want to take part?

Then they don’t have to, and we’d never suggest forcing it. Most programmes start with a handful of willing people. Once others see it’s easy and it’s doing something for them too, more tend to join.

What's in it for our employees?

A stronger profile, a bigger professional network, new skills and more visibility in their industry. We explain that up front, because advocacy only works when people can see what’s in it for them as well as for the business.

What if someone posts something off-brand?

We build guidelines in from day one: what’s encouraged, what to avoid and when to check first. People get training rather than a rulebook, plus a library of content to work from, so they’re rarely starting from a blank page.

Can this work in a regulated sector?

Yes, and it’s often more valuable there, because buyers in those sectors look hardest at who they’d be dealing with. We agree the rules with your compliance team first, including any disclaimers people need on their profiles.

How much time does it take?

Once the programme is running, typically a few minutes a week per person. We make sure that time is properly allowed for, because advocacy that sits on top of a full workload doesn’t last.

We tried this before and it fizzled out. What's different?

Usually the first attempt was a request to share the company’s posts. That isn’t advocacy, and people stop quickly. We build a proper programme with a reason to take part, training, a content library and someone keeping it going, because most programmes fail after the launch, not at it.

Won't it make our people easier to poach?

It’s a fair worry, and visible people are visible to recruiters. But LinkedIn’s own research found companies with socially engaged employees are 20% more likely to keep them. People who feel trusted and proud of where they work tend to stay.