Landis+Gyr has taken major steps towards becoming a social organization. 

 

When we speak of unconventional industries for social media, we mean those which, due to high regulations and security controls, perceive social media as a dangerous area.

Some companies have been able to successfully disrupt this cycle and really establish themselves on social media. We had the pleasure of meeting Fungai Alexander Mapondera, a recent case in point for making this happen. He is the Global Digital Communications Manager of Landis+Gyr, a global provider of energy management solutions across 5 continents.

 

Time for “More”

Before launching Employee Advocacy, it was clear that there was potential in Landis+Gyr’s social media presence: their social media profiles had shown a growing organic reach of over 20,000 in less than 2,5 years. The number of LinkedIn users identifying themselves as Landis+Gyr employees had also increased from over 1,000 to almost 3,000. It was a situation that had to be leveraged.

In order to take a lead in the matter, Fungai Alexander Mapondera introduced the company to a more human and engaging approach through Employee Advocacy. The company’s values include Customer Focus, Innovative Spirit, Trusted Partner and Committed Quality; things that could strongly be advocated on social media.

Landis+Gyr’s Global Digital Communications Manager Fungai Alexander Mapondera

Landis+Gyr’s Global Digital Communications Manager Fungai Alexander Mapondera.

 

Implementing an Employee Advocacy Program

The first step for Fungai Alexander Mapondera was to launch a pilot program for Social Media Champions with a pilot audience of 30 employees who were active in different social media channels. Smarp helped in employees discovering and sharing great content to their networks.

During a period of six months, two introductory as well as review sessions were held. Good feedback from the people involved in the company led to the Employee Advocacy program pilot being moved to the operational stage, and the number of Smarp users was increased to 60 over the course of the year.

 

New Possibilities

The Champions reported high appreciation for new possibilities provided by Employee Advocacy to share content to a wider audience; an audience which they share common interests with.

“What is exciting about Smarp, apart from its content sharing ability, is the content discovery aspect provided by the tool”, Fungai Alexander says. “We have employees across the globe, and for some, the traditional internal channels may not be their first port of call for industry-related content. With Smarp, they were offered the possibility to connect in a world that they probably are more accustomed to consuming content in – the world of social media.”

 

The Results

The pilot included over 1,800 content shares, 1,500 engagements and an estimated earned media value of over $10,800.  According to Fungai Alexander, Employee Advocacy on social media provides an extensive reach and an authenticity to brand messages.

Landis+Gyr successfully educated their stakeholders about the benefits of the program. This new approach could only be perceived to have a positive impact for the company. It was a big step in the company’s quest to become a Social Organization.

Due to the pilot’s success, Landis+Gyr was shortlisted for the “Most Innovative Use of Social Media” at the Corporate Social Media Awards 2016. Landis+Gyr has also been recognized with the Collaborative Enterprise Cup: Best Integration of Collaboration & Communication, and the Landis+Gyr Intranet Re-Launch Project Award.

Landis+Gyr awards for its social media use

Landis+Gyr has received awards for its social media use.

 

What’s Next?

When it comes to the next steps on their Employee Advocacy program, Fungai Alexander happily announced that he plans to introduce further users to Smarp and continue to educate not only the Champions on the benefits of social media, but also the whole Landis+Gyr population.

According to a study published by Rewardian, an impressive 94 % of employees in the energy sector would recommend their employer as a great place to work.  Implementing an Employee Advocacy program seems, then, to have been the right strategy for Landis+Gyr.

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