CASE STUDY: International Employee Advocacy program in a manufacturing company.

What does running an Employee Advocacy program in a manufacturing company look like?

See the case study of Aluprof, which operates worldwide.

Two years ago, Aluprof decided to use the Employee Advocacy program in its communication and sales and implemented it together with Sharebee.

What effects did it achieve?

Aluprof Aluprof SA is one of the leading manufacturers of aluminum systems in Europe. It sells its solutions to most European countries, as well as in the United States. The company has representations and distribution centers all over Europe, in Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Ukraine, and also the USA.

In foreign markets, Aluprof is perceived as a large and trustworthy partner, which translates into steadily growing export sales.

High-quality architectural systems from Poland find buyers in completely new markets, such as:

• Estonia,
• Azerbaijan,
• Georgia,
• United Arab Emirates.

Employees are associated with the company, identify with it, and talk about it on social media. The company’s communication strategy increasingly involves its employees, who best represent the business. They constitute the highest value of the company, moreover – they are a credible source of organization information.

-emphasizes Wojciech Brożyna, the CEO of the British company Aluprof.

LinkedIn is a tool in which we have noticed great possibilities in reaching our narrow target groups.

-says Jarosław Kowalski, deputy director for object implementation.

The company has 9 foreign subsidiaries and each of them has recognized the potential of LinkedIn as an important channel for building a brand and increasing sales in our industry. This gave rise to the idea of systematizing it and including LinkedIn as the official communication channel of our company.

– says Bożena Ryszka, marketing and PR director at Aluprof, responsible for the implementation of the Employee Advocacy program.

Aluprof decided to implement LinkedIn and Employee Advocacy in its daily marketing and sales communication. The Employee Advocacy program is a strategy for external communication through personal employee branding, built in social media.

The best way to build a company’s image is through the employees who create and represent it. Their image as experts and specialists allows reaching different audience groups and building a positive opinion about the business and the people associated with this business.

– summarizes Wojciech Brożyna.

The main goals of the Aluprof Employee Advocacy program are:

• increasing brand awareness,
• building personal brands of ambassadors,
• acquiring new customers in Poland and abroad.

Our actions were aimed at developing the Employee Advocacy program and systematizing it. The biggest problem for ambassadors was preparing a post and presenting themselves on a platform like LinkedIn, where we professionally evaluate everyone and are exposed to criticism. This caused a certain amount of anxiety and resistance. That’s why we decided to cooperate with Sharebee, who support Social Selling and Employee Advocacy programs.

– explains Bożena Ryszka.

Sharebee allows employees to actively enter a medium like LinkedIn and get rid of the fear of sharing content. We have a ready database of content that is appropriate, verified, and safe.

– adds Wojciech Brożyna.

At the very beginning of the cooperation, Aluprof identified 20 ambassadors, both male and female, who had previously been the most active on social media. These were people from different departments – those responsible for cooperating with architects and those taking care of sustainable development, related to recruitment or marketing.

•  Training on profile building and content creation on LinkedIn.
• Activation of the Sharebee platform.
• Creation of a content library.
• Pilot.
• Recruitment of new ambassadors.
• Creation of a publication plan and expansion of cooperation with Sharebee to co-create content available in the content hub.

The algorithm selects content so that the user can publish materials appropriate for their target group and build an expert image. Employees can also easily propose their own content, which after moderator approval will join the rest of the content.

Steady work on building a community on LinkedIn provides huge opportunities. LinkedIn is a channel that undoubtedly supports our sales indirectly. Unique and valuable content tailored to the target group is the key to success. At Aluprof, I mainly work with architects and it is to them that I direct my content, it is with them that I want to build a community on LinkedIn.

– emphasizes Jarosław Kowalski.

With the growing demand for content, Aluprof turned to Sharebee for help in filling the content library with external materials. Graphic designers and editors on the Sharebee side provide posts according to assumptions and an agreed schedule every month. Sharebee gives us a great relief and a sense that we are not alone in this. Thanks to Sharebee, we help our employees build personal brands, we provide them with content that is important for their networks, our clients, and partners.

– says Bożena Ryszka.

After the pilot program, new ambassadors were recruited to the ambassadorial program, who also underwent training on LinkedIn and onboarding to the application. At the moment, 50 people from various European countries (including the Czech Republic and Hungary) are participating in the program. The platform operates in two languages, thanks to the adaptation and creation of a special solution for Aluprof. We are also implementing the program in the UK market. Currently, we have a selected group of ambassadors who are starting their adventure with Sharebee. So far, we have only heard positive opinions from our employees.

– adds Wojciech Brożyna

Sharebee has been working with Aluprof for over 2 years now. Therefore, after such a period, the effects of implementation can be easily assessed.

Sharebee gives us great support. I think our businesses are similar. Just like us, Sharebee provides full support at every stage of cooperation – from inquiry, through realization to after product purchase. This greatly facilitates the implementation of the Employee Advocacy program goals. With Sharebee, we feel safe. I know I have a partner on the other side, not a service provider. New people contact us daily on LinkedIn to ask about cooperation with Aluprof. Many people also write to us with congratulations that we are just doing it right.

– praises Barbara Ryszka.

Thanks to Sharebee, I have met many people who are eager to share their knowledge and experience and are my inspiration in building communication on LinkedIn. The Sharebee tool is our solid support and help in publishing and controlling the reach of our content.

– says Jarosław Kowalski.

We observe how the Employee Advocacy program together with the Sharebee platform brings visible effects, which translate, among other things, into an increase in the number of people who follow our company profile on LinkedIn. Interestingly, at the beginning of our activities, our profile was followed by less than a thousand people. Currently, we are followed by over 5,000 users, which confirms the tangible effect of activity on LinkedIn. Sharebee and the Employee Advocacy program in our company built awareness and recognition of the brand in the market and among target groups. We know this based on the information we receive from our industry. These are numerous opinions, comments of our customers, but also potential contractors. We arouse positive interest, which translates into real effects for our business. The key to the success of the Employee Advocacy program is to build a community through social media messaging, and Sharebee facilitates and accelerates this process. What’s more, the main factors that affected the lack of activity of our employees on LinkedIn earlier were the time-consuming process of content creation and uncertainty whether the prepared content is appropriate and correct.

– comments Wojciech Brożyna.

Introducing the Employee Advocacy program in a company positively influences not only the brand image, but also and above all the recruitment and sales processes.

Did you know that the LinkedIn algorithm promotes personal relationships, and therefore, content from private profiles has even 8 times better reach than those from company pages?

It is worth consciously using this potential!

Do you want to talk about how to implement the Employee Advocacy program in your company?

Test Sharebee! Schedule a demo.