A very interesting thing happened when I started having conversations with vendors who help companies build their employee advocacy programs; I found out that there is a bigger and deeper story that isn’t always told when you look at their website. That bigger story is what I want to share with you in my vendor interview series.
My intent is to share their story and a demo so companies / brands looking for a content sharing platform to help them with their employee advocacy program can make a better decision.
Here is the audio from my interview with Roope Heinilä , the CEO of SmarpShare
A few things of note from our Conversation
The time in the [brackets] represent where in you can find the information in audio track.
- What got you into Employee Advocacy? [0:58]
- Started as social media consultants
- Many clients were law firms. They noticed that when people where hiring the firms they would look up the lawyers on the web. Linkedin had a big impact on someone’s decision.
- It’s not just an organization in social media, it’s people
- At the core it’s about the relationship between the people.
- Who better to speak on behalf of company than it’s employees
- First version on January 2013 – Smarpshare
- Ar you only focused on Employee Advocacy? [4:10]
- Yes; they were never on the customer advocacy side of things.
- Customer advocacy had been around longer. Interestingly enough 2yrs ago companies were still afraid of putting employees on social media but ok with having customers do it on their behalf.
- When you think about it your employees know the company better and have a bigger incentive to advocate for the company.
- Employees know who to ask if something tough comes up.
- Who is it for and who isn’t it for? [5:45]
- At first thought tech and consumer business.
- 1st major client was in heavy machinery with 30k employees globally
- They were interested because have active sales force who engaged with clients.
- SmarpShare is good for a company with 20+ employees. If smaller you could probably just scream out, hey I found this article and you should share it (in the same room)
- With highly regulated industries it adds a layer of compliance because the company has overall control over what is being spread.
- People have always been talking about their jobs it’s thousands of years old. The concept is not new, the way you can do it is new. Before can tell 5 people in a day, now you can tell 100’s.
- What makes you different? [9:40]
- Point is telling the brand story.
- A lot of focus on the end users (less clicks)
- Can gain rewards with points.
- If you know how to use the computer you can use our platform.
- What is You Training Process like? [12: 40]
- admin training
- support IE 8 and up
- Tend to work with company 1 month before launch and 2 months after
- What’s pricing structure [14:10]
- Approximately $6-7 / employee /month or
- Can do by number of users
- Unlimited package available
- Downside with limiting number is tough to do a successful launch when limit the number of employees who can participate.
- Feels best option is to offer an unlimited price (let those interested sign up and slowly grow)
- Aim to reply to all within 24hrs
- After 20k users look at a separate support contract
- Where can the people find you? [17:35]
- SmarpShare.com
The Demo Video
Thanks for listening.
My goal is to help you Run the Point (Take Action) from where you are, with what you have.
Do you want to talk personal branding for business results? Do you want to put more emphasis on employees in employee advocacy? Let’s chat for 15 minutes. Connect.
Your Ambassador,
Mike Ambassador Bruny
Brand Inside a Brand
“Personal Branding for Business Results”
