The employee advocacy competition that reignited summer engagement

In case you run an worker advocacy program, you’re most likely conversant in the highs and lows that include it, particularly within the summertime, when engagement tends to take a trip.

So what did we do? We launched an epic worker advocacy competitors that was merely unimaginable to withstand.

Right here’s how our Advocacy Summer time Splash got here to life, the way it made waves, and how one can steal the concept in your personal advocacy program.

Step 1: Strategic planning

Each nice initiative begins with a plan, and this one was no exception. We adopted the identical tried-and-true framework we’ve utilized in previous competitions like our Holiday Advocate Challenge and The Okties.

1. Setting targets and targets

This time, we did issues a bit otherwise.

After all, boosting participation was nonetheless a key purpose. However extra importantly, we aligned our advocates’ efforts with one in every of our core firm targets for the quarter: employer branding.

So we constructed a month-long competitors, with a bonus recreation completely centered on sharing employer branding content material. (Extra on that later…)

2. Choosing a theme

Shock, shock, we love theme at Oktopost. And what higher strategy to seize the season than with a summer season splash?

Therefore, the Advocacy Summer time Splash was born.

3. Securing a funds

This time round, we locked in a barely bigger funds. We cut up our advocates into six groups, and awarded present playing cards to the highest three performers.

However we didn’t cease there.

We went huge on bonus prizes and received inventive with no-cost rewards like shoutouts on social and public recognition throughout our company-wide all-hands. Generally, these are much more motivating than the present playing cards.

Step 2: The competitors

1. Staff setup

We created six groups primarily based on departments to spark each camaraderie and competitors:

• Staff Gross sales
• Staff Buyer Success
• Staff Product & Operations
• Staff Administrators & Staff Leads
• Staff Advertising and marketing
• Management Staff

Be aware: Staff Advertising and marketing and Management weren’t eligible for prizes.

Utilizing Oktopost’s point system, groups competed to rack up engagement and climb the leaderboard.

Right here’s the way it labored:

• Gross sales, Buyer Success, and Product & Operations battled it out for the highest three spots of their respective leaderboards.
• To be eligible for a prize, advocates wanted to hit a minimal of two,000 factors, sufficient to maintain everybody persistently engaged all through the month.
  

We additionally launched a twist for Staff Administrators & Staff Leads:

• One present card was up for grabs, awarded to the director or group lead with essentially the most factors (a minimal of two,000 factors was required).
• Bonus: For each direct report who made the company-wide High 5 leaderboard, they earned an additional 1,500 factors.

Sure, it was all very calculated to get managers to rally their groups. And it labored.

2. The bonus spherical: employer branding takeover

In Q3, we centered closely on employer branding content material.

Advocates naturally love posting about our tradition, recruitment, and what it’s prefer to work at their firms. However we didn’t simply lean on curiosity, we made it unimaginable to not take part.

3. Bonus prizes, however with a twist

The three Oktoposters with essentially the most engagement on employer branding content material had the prospect to win one in every of these summer-perfect prizes:

• Apple AirTags
• Amazon Kindle
• JBL Bluetooth Speaker

However we didn’t inform them which prize they’d win, not less than not but. 

Step 3: Setting all of it up in Oktopost

Operating the competitors inside Oktopost made all the things easy and trackable:

1. Staff assignments

Every advocate was assigned to their group and will see their standings in actual time by way of the leaderboard.

2. Factors system

We didn’t simply reward exercise, we rewarded good exercise. For instance:

• Extra factors for modifying posts than for one-click shares (as a result of personalization = higher engagement).
• Bonus factors for suggesting content material to the board, serving to us scale high quality content material, and exhibiting advocates their contributions really matter.

Step 4: Launching our competitors

We launched the competitors with a 20-minute, high-energy company-wide assembly.

We walked via:

• The principles
• The purpose system
• The prizes
• And most significantly: the best way to make a splash on LinkedIn
  

We saved the deck brief, sharp, and enjoyable, simply sufficient to get everybody hyped.

Step 5: Have fun Like Champions

1. Saying the winners

As quickly because the competitors wrapped up, we wasted no time:

• A celebratory message dropped in our company-wide Slack
• An organization-wide electronic mail with all of the shoutouts and highlights
• Social media shoutouts to cheer on the winners and their superior contributions

However there’s extra.

2. We held a bonus spherical thriller recreation

Keep in mind these bonus prizes?

We promised one thing particular: an exciting recreation to determine which winner received which prize. And we delivered.

We posted this picture in Slack:

Every of the highest three bonus winners picked a door quantity so as, and behind every door was one in every of our prizes.

It was enjoyable, suspenseful, and stuffed with thrilling power, simply ask Jamie Wilcock, winner of the JBL speaker:

“It seems like Christmas!”

Who wants Santa when you could have worker advocacy competitors?

Summer time vibes throughout

Summer time is usually a troublesome time for worker engagement. Persons are switching off, taking holidays, and absorbing the solar.

However with a bit creativity, some pleasant competitors, and the precise instruments, your advocacy program can maintain thriving, even when the workplace feels half empty.

Our Advocacy Summer time Splash reminded us that:

• A well-timed problem can spark severe momentum
• Aligning advocacy with enterprise targets (like employer branding) makes participation really feel significant
• And a bit thriller (plus quite a lot of enjoyable) goes a great distance

We hope this gave you some inspiration in your subsequent problem.

Till then, comfortable advocating!