A business’ results are directly affected by its employees.  Simplified, the more positive the experience of an employee within the organization in which they work, the greater the potential for the employee to positively perform their duties and contribute to a business’ key performance indicators.   Higher levels of engagement are directly supported by the level of motivation and commitment of the employee.  There are multiple factors that affect an employee’s motivation and commitment, including company culture, feeling connected, opportunity to share ideas and opinions, trusted environment, employee recognition program, sense of community, and more.   L’Oréal, a global leader within the cosmetics industry, has embraced a number of unique, noteworthy social media tactics to develop employee engagement and in fact is extending their objective of employee engagement to include employee advocacy.  A question L’Oreal has asked though, is when can advocacy and engagement begin to be developed within an organization?  According to Rosie McCarthy, International Learning Manager for L’Oreal, “One of the best opportunities you have to engage with your employees is when they start.“   The onboarding process provides one of the first touchpoints with a new employee; it is a perfect opportunity to connect with, support and build engagement with an employee, during a very positive time that can be full of excitement and anticipation.  L’Oreal has harnessed this opportunity; L’Oreal has developed the world’s first employee onboarding app: ‘Fit’.

L’Oréal  is a global leader in cosmetics, beauty and grooming with companies in more than 70 countries representing over 130 product lines.  The company is highly revered as a desired place to work and has  been awarded with several “top employer” awards  globally from various respected entities including Forbes magazine , Glassdoor  and Montréal’s Top Employers .   There are several factors that have contributed to this top employer recognition, one of which is the strong, positive corporate culture they’ve manifested through employee engagement and empowerment via social media.    Although counterintuitive for many companies, L’Oréal has embraced the use of social media by it employees.  In fact, it encourages it.  Social media for most companies is perceived as a distraction and a hindrance to productivity.  As a result, social media policy is typically created with the objective of restricting its usage.    Conversely, L’Oréal, views social media  policy as an opportunity to enlighten employees on its benefits and an opportunity to shed light on the tools and tactics that can be applied to use it effectively to shape desired behaviours.   

A new approach to employee involvement The L’Oréal Group developed a two prong social media strategy to engage existing employees and compete for top talent. L’Oréal is the world’s largest beauty and cosmetics firm with its head office in Clichy, Hauts-de-Seine, France. Offerings include hair products, skin care, sun protection, make-up, and perfume. With increased employee engagement through social media, L’Oréal has been able to demonstrate the benefits of its corporate culture to a broader audience.

The beauty industry is a multi-billion dollar market and social media is becoming a beauty battleground as companies compete for their share of the pie. Companies are constantly looking for new ways to engage their customers, build brand loyalty and of course increase sales through their social media efforts. With a number of major players in the industry thriving in the social media landscape, beauty companies constantly have to come up with new and innovative ways to garner the attention of their sometimes fickle target market. One company that has been very successful in accomplishing just that is L’Oréal. Not only has L’Oréal amassed an impressive base of followers on their social media accounts but they have also been praised for their innovative campaigns that continue to raise the bar for competitors and inspire companies in other industries as well. “Globally, L’Oréal has an objective of building 100% love for our brands, and social media is crucial to driving engagement and affinity for the brands that sit under the broader L’Oréal group banner.” – Emma Williamson, Manager, Consumer Affairs and Social Media ANZ The following video provides a quick look who L’Oréal is and at some of their social media successes to date.

Social media experts know exactly what impressions, reach, klout, community growth and engagement mean. Although, these words seem familiar to us, they might not be for your CEO. One of the hardest challenges for social media experts is to quantify the monetary return on investment (ROI) of social media. How can you convince the investment with metrics that are unfamiliar to the upper management of your company? Social media wise, the infamous Formula 1 has been considered a dinosaur on social media, and it might have been because of its Chief Executive.

Full disclosure: I’ve been a ‘BzzAgent’ for a number of months now. How did I find out about it? Someone else told me. In turn, I’ve told others and promoted the site to them. And that, is exactly what BzzAgent is trying to do. BzzAgent is  part of dunnhumby, a customer science company that analyzes data and customer insight. According to dunnhumby they, “married science with the most expansive suite of consumer advocacy solutions on the planet to create the next generation of advocacy marketing – one created to build and sustain long-term brand growth. From insights and consumer generated content that optimise your product launch plan to widespread reviews that deliver on your brand promise to the authentic customer conversations across social media that drive product sales, you’ll feel the impact of these programs across your entire enterprise. BzzAgent’s Advocacy Suite is a blend of social and science you won’t find anywhere else – with results you won’t find anywhere else, either.”  To the customer, they are marketed as a way to get freebies and sample new products that you can ‘brag’ about to your friends. There are twitter accounts and blogs devoted to ‘free stuff’ and giveaways and BzzAgent fits into that demographic perfectly.