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Employee advocacy (or ambassador) programs once were rare; the companies that offered them were the subjects of interviews (like this one on FIR Interviews back in 2012, with Sara Folkerts talking about the Sprint Ninjas program). Today, it seems like most companies have one and those that don’t are planning one.

Actually, that’s what the data says, too. Jen McClure, CEO of JEM Consulting and Advisory Services, has released the results of JEM’s second annual State of Employee Advocacy Survey.  In this FIR Interview, host Shel Holtz talks with Jen about the connection between employee advocacy and social selling, whether employees who participate in an employee advocacy should have their involvement reflected in their performance evaluations, the role of advocacy amplification apps (and whether they can constitute an entire advocacy program), and some of the challenges of maintaining enthusiasm among ambassadors once a program is up and running. You can get more information in the press release covering survey highlights.

Jen is planning a one-day Conference Board seminar in which she will unveil the complete findings of the research, along with presentations by program leaders from 3M, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, FedEx, and Thomson Reuters. The seminar is set for Wednesday, September 27, at the American Management Association’s conference center in San Francisco. You can register here; use the code FS1.

Connect with Jen on Twitter at @JenMcClure_JEM.

FIR Interviews are sponsored by Thornley Fallis, the public engagement specialists. If you are looking for tools and up to date techniques to engage with your community, Thornley Fallis can help. Find them at thornleyfallis.com.

About Our Conversation Partner

Jennifer McClure is CEO of JEM Consulting, LLC. Prior to founding JEM, Jen was VP of Digital & Social Media and the head of the Digital Center of Excellence at Thomson Reuters. She was Managing Director of Re:Imagine Group, a consulting firm focused on helping clients to re-­‐imagine their business models for the digital age; CMO of Redwood Collaborative Media, a start-­‐up focused on building professional online communities for technology professionals; and Managing Director of Albrycht McClure & Partners, a strategic marketing and communications consulting firm, specializing in serving high-­‐tech Silicon Valley start-­‐ups. She also held marketing, public relations and financial management roles at Ziff­‐Davis and Ketchum Public Relations.

About Shel Holtz

Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is director of Internal Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining Webcor, Shel spent 21 years as principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, business initiatives and communications research. Full bio