Sociabble and Dentsu Webchutney launch employee advocacy for brands in India

Sociabble–a software company delivering social media solutioninemployee advocacy, social selling, internal communications and brand advocacy–has forayed into the Indian market in partnership with Dentsu Webchutney to provide employee advocacy to Indian brands.

Employee advocacy is a new buzzword as brands and social media agencies deploy strategies for a better consumer connect. Employee advocacy is something when employees of companies generate experience for brands with the help of their own social media profiles and online presence. Though social media channels are the first option for employee advocacy, it also covers chat, email, discussion forums, boards and much more.

According to Nielsen Global Survey, nearly 84 % of consumers believe in endorsements from people they know, like their friends and family, while an additional 77 % of potential customers may buy only after hearing about it from somebody they have faith in. In comparison, only 33 % of the buyers believe in brands.

Commenting on the need for employee advocacy, Avinash Joshi, VP and Head of Social Advocacy, DentsuWebchutney, said, “Brands always try to reach out to the consumer through social media, but with the crunching Facebook reach, growing number of mediums and the increased cost to reach out to the target audience, it has become imperative for the brands to look at other means to communicate with the consumers. There is big workforce who is working with you and they are very credible and wear the brand on the sleeve. Therefore, it’s a big opportunity that brands need to leverage their own people to get their communicationpowered.”

People have all kind of social media connections across the platform, so how can one make sure that the particular piece of communication will reach the right kind of people and the brand target audience?

Joshi answered, “People become acquaintancesof each other on social media due to some common likes and preferences. Therefore, through this, the brands reach out to the employee's social media circle that might have the similar preferences and thought processes.”

Joshi said other than just helping brands build powerful consumer connection, Sociabble has more to it. It’s about consumption, sharing content and it also gives one’s employees a voice. This programme allows the employees to share their own content.

“On Sociabble, I can share content, see what the competition is doing, read the news and can learn from it. It helps me in PR, HR, marketing, sales and customer service,” Joshi said.

In this partnership, Dentsu Webchutney will make sure that sharing content by the employees is not enforceable and not a part of KRA that it makes compulsory for employees to share the content. Joshi said, “We understand the whole medium, the interaction and emotional needs of the employees and users on social. The content that is provided to them is something to which they relate and want to share. We create compelling content, analytics and execution of communication pieces keeping the employee behaviour in mind.”

Sociabble will let one know about the leads generated by the content shared by employees. One would get to know how many leads are generated through Facebook, LinkedIn and others, giving pointed RoIs.

Launched in 2014 by a team of experienced entrepreneurs in digital asset management technology, social media and content marketing, Sociabble is used in over 60 countries, and works with clientele including Microsoft, BNP Paribas, L’Oréal and PwC. Headquartered in Paris, France, it has operations in Lyon, New York, London and Mumbai.