Employee Social Media Advocacy


I posted a tweet recently from my twitter account the other day and I wanted to share my thoughts behind this tweet with you.

The Tweet: https://twitter.com/ScottyTidwell/status/1070377123922305025

“It’s almost 2019, and brands still are not using their employees to amplify their social media messaging… IMO, it speaks volumes about a brand when it’s own employees won’t share their employer’s posts.  Your most prominent fans/advocates should always be your employees.”

After a few replies, it was apparent to me that I needed to write a blog on this subject as it’s one that is very dear to me as a former Community Manager, Director of Marketing, CEO, and now CMO.  I’m still blown away by how many brands are scared to death to engage with their employees when it comes to amplifying brand messaging on social media platforms.

We live in a digital and very connected world, and employers have taken a strange stance with company social media policies that make ZERO SENSE to me.  I’ve had the pleasure or pain, depending on how you look at it, overseeing several brand social media policies.  I’ll go back to talk about how I would handle this issue if it were left up to me in just a second, but first I want to touch on some of the ridiculous comments I’ve heard over the years from all angles in business to include C-Level Officers, in-house PR team members, and even contracted PR firms.

It usually starts with these words, “we must protect our brand on social media, therefore we shouldn’t allow employees to state they work for us publicly, and we don’t want them engaging with anyone on social media, account we only want one voice and that voice should be from the main branded accounts”.

Yeah, I wish I could tell you that I’m kidding, but I’m not.  I’m going to highlight a few stats below before wrapping all of this up in a simple statement for brands to take to heart.

Here are some stats for you to look over.

  • Brand messages reached 561% further when shared by employee’s vs the same words shared via official brand social channels (MSLGroup)
  • 79% of firms surveyed reported more online visibility after the implementation of a formal employee advocacy program. 65% said increased brand recognition. (Hinge Marketing)
  • Content shared by employees receives 8x more engagement than content shared by brand channels. (Social Media Today)
  • Leads developed through employee social marketing convert 7x more frequently than other points. (Marketing Advisory Network)
  • Earned media (press, word-of-mouth, peer-to-peer referrals) drives 4x the brand lift as paid media. (Bazaar Voice)
  • Peer-to-peer marketing is the leading driver behind 20-50% of all purchasing decisions. (McKinsey)
  • 73% of salespeople using social selling as part of their sales process outperformed their sales peers and exceeded quota 23 percent more often. (Aberdeen Group)
  • According to IBM, when a lead is generated through social selling or employee advocacy that lead is 7X more likely to close compared to other lead gen tactics. (Find and Convert)
  • Sales reps using social media as part of their sales techniques outsell 78% of their peers. (Forbes)
  • 91% of B2B buyers are active on social media. (IDC)
  • 64% of teams that use social selling hit quota compared to 49% that don’t. (Aberdeen Group)
  • 80% believe their sales force would be more effective and efficient if they could leverage social media. (Sales Management Association)
  • An employee advocacy program can drive 16% better win rates, 2x pipeline, and deliver 48% larger deals. (EveryoneSocial)
  • More than 80% of Americans say employee communication is key to developing trust with their employers. (Lexicon)
  • 74% of employees feel they are missing out on company information and news. (Trade Press Services)
  • 85% of employees said they are most motivated when management offers regular updates on company news. (Trade Press Services)
  • Use of social software by employees can improve productivity by 20-25%. (McKinsey)
  • More informed employees outperform their peers by 77%. (CEB/Gartner)
  • When companies use social media internally, messages become content; a searchable record of knowledge can reduce, by as much as 35%, the time employees spend searching for company information. (McKinsey)

So, with all of this fantastic data why are brands bullish on letting their employees have a voice and be social with the company that they are working for?  Why are employees signing social media policies that are telling them to stay the hell away from branded social posts and do not engage on social media with customers who are happy or sad with their user experience with their brand?

ALIENS BRO… ALIENS… seriously, it’s almost like everyone has forgotten about the ten golden rules of communication.  If you have no idea what I’m talking about, I’ll list them out now.

  1. Convey messages in a clear and effective manner.
  2. Use clear and unambiguous language.
  3. Use non-verbal methods of communication.
  4. Use repetition.
  5. Check understanding.
  6. Be warm and attentive.
  7. Show that you are listening.
  8. Be slow to pass judgment.
  9. Use silence appropriately.
  10. Check understanding.

Notice how “check understanding” is on here twice?  Yes, it’s that important to ensure that you are on the same page with the people you are talking too or the people that are talking to you.  I see so many brands get themselves in trouble account they are not following or do not understand how to apply these ten simple golden rules.

Scotty, we understand that you think many brands are not handling social media correctly, so… tell us what you would do?

First, be human… By saying be human, I’m saying allow human interaction to take place on social media platforms.  It should be 100% ok for an employee on social media to engage and amplify brand posts and the customers/users who are also engaging with the branded accounts.

Second, build trust… the data tells us that consumers are more confident in purchasing a product or service online if they can easily find key people who work for the brand on social media.  It’s like asking to speak to the manager directly without having to ask… you type your message to them and hit tweet/send/post/comment.

Third, train/educate… brands need to train employees how to handle certain situations on social media, employees need to know when they should forward something up the chain of command vs when they can simple like/share/reply.  Remember, the idea is to allow employees to be social and proud of their brand, to do this you will need plans that help ensure employees are seen as human, but also “on brand” when it comes to how they engage.

Lastly, be fun, be engaging, be active, be friendly, it is never ok to get it wrong for a customer, but it is always ok to try and empathize, sympathize, with them.

I’d love to hear about your experiences with social media policies at work! Comment or Tweet @ScottyTidwell



Dear Esports Pro Player,

Dear Esports Pro Player,

I’m writing this in hopes of helping you and your career not in regards to how you practice or how you play, and I’m certainly not trying to give you any tips that help you become a better player in your game.

What I am doing, is trying to get you to understand that your playing days and the earning days that go hand in hand with those playing days should NOT be 100% of your focus. You need to ask yourself the following question… WHAT AM I GOING TO DO AFTER MY PLAYING DAYS HAVE ENDED?

Like it or not we live in a digital world now, and it’s easier now more than ever to make money when it comes to content creation. So with that being said why wouldn’t you want to try FURTHER and LENGTHEN your ability to make a living off of esports/gaming? I don’t understand this logic. Last year I was yelled at for saying that PRO COD players were responsible for the decline in viewership that the CWL was getting. I told every pro who would listen to stream and create meaningful content, build it and they will come.  Not many, if any were trying to build anything. No tournaments were streamed, no videos were made, hardly any content at all was created. Because of the lack of content, this left media sites with very little content to help create storylines that would have built hype going into LAN events.

Now is a good time to brag on Nadeshot for a moment… his playing days have been over for a while now, right? Because of content creation, you see him doing better than ever right? Because of content creation, he now owns one of the hottest and most valuable orgs in the world. Do you think Nadeshot owns 100T’s simply because he is a world champion at Call of Duty? Do you think he was able to raise capital to fund 100T’s only because he is a world champion?

Imagine where Nadeshot would be today had he not invested in himself and worked at creating meaningful content on a regular basis? I can assure you he would not be where he is today, and he would not have got the type of investment he did from the people he did had it not been for his content creation, and that is a fact. Matt is a smart guy, and I’m confident he would be the first to come out and say that being good at Call of Duty helped lift his career, he would also say that being on OpTic helped boost his career. He would also say that content creation is the most critical factor that enables him to still work in this space after his days of being a pro is behind him.

Fast forward to this November and a ton of pro players are streaming scrims and tournaments on Twitch and some are making YouTube videos as well. I see more and more players taking their long-form content = steams, and turning them into short-form content = short clips for Twitter and Instagram and guess what? The pros who are doing this are seeing the most growth overall on social, and they are earning more money than the ones who are not doing any content creation.

Now, if a pro player looks me in the face and says “Scotty, I hear you, but when I’m done being a pro player, I do not want to work in gaming and esports.” Then, I understand and wish them the best in whatever they plan to do after their playing days are over. However,… if you are a pro player and you want to continue working in gaming and esports after your playing days are over, and you are not creating content… then I hope you understand you are making life much harder on yourself then it needs to be.

Esports Is a Content Delivery Platform, Period.

Yes, I have said this for a while now, but I have never taken the time to put my feelings on paper for all to read. Most of you who know me know I am very passionate when it comes to esports, and I have a burning passion for seeing and helping it continue to grow.

Esports at its core is about competition right? Human nature is to compete, compete for food, compete for land, compete for a better job, compete for a better car, better house, competing is something we do and don’t even think about it.

I have seen 70yr old women competing on Bejeweled on Facebook and talking smack to each other based on who has the highest score or have reached the highest level. I have coached young men in football and watched them compete during a football game, then watched them compete after the game at my house playing Madden. Competition is in our DNA and esports allows anyone to scratch their competitive itch regardless of how fast he or she can run, or high they can jump, how much they weigh or how tall they are.

Content is king! How many times have you heard that before? If you follow me or know me, then you will know I say this all the time. Content is king, and we need to take care of our king at all costs. Without written and video content then all of the competition that I have talked would be almost meaningless from a value proposition.

Good content that is engaging and draws in views and traffic is valuable to esports, it allows us, marketers, to be storytellers for our products and services. As traditional media keeps declining, you will see more and more non-endemic brands turn their marketing budgets to gaming and more importantly esports. When these brands turn to esports, we need to be ready to serve them and help them integrate their campaigns seamlessly into our ecosystem.

Within esports, there are a few types of vehicles that are driving and delivering content.

1. Dev’s/Publishers:
2. Org’s/Teams:
3. Media Companies:
4. Independent Content Creators/Players:

If you have been around long enough, then you have seen first hand how meaningful content from Devs/Publishers has grown over the years. I mean, some of the content that is being created around the Overwatch World League is some of the best I have seen.

I love content from Orgs and Teams when I can get it, sadly not many of them are producing good and regular content, this needs to change asap. People want to connect with their favorite players and who better to quench that thirst than the teams that they play for. Behind the scenes, please, let me connect with my favorite player… People know Player B is impressive at his job, but they want to know the real Player B, what makes Player B tick? What does Player B do daily, how does Player B live? It is all about the players. As more investment takes place into other Orgs, you will see the content efforts pick up.

The big one for me here is Media Companies… running a media company is very tough these days and is NOT a short-term play in my opinion. I do feel that the best esports focused media companies that are left standing within the next 12 to 36 months will do very well. I am confident you will see a few of them get acquired by larger brands that are forced to move into the esports space for impressions/views/users.

Number four on my list is so significant to me that I am going to take the time to write another blog post that only covers that topic.  Look for it to go up next month.

If the content is King, who is trying to own esports?

How Fortnite Took Over

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few months and weeks, you have probably heard of a game called Fortnite. I wanted to take the time to share my thoughts on how/why Fortnite has taken over the gaming space, unlike any game we have seen before. Fortnite has gone mainstream as of late with clips from people playing the game showing up on ESPN, and many other news outlets in addition to countless celebrities playing and even live streaming the game.

What is it that made Fortnite so special in my opinion?

1. Free To Play
2. Multiplatform
3. Weekly Content
4. Ownership of Game Issues
5. Twitch Prime Partnership
6. Super Fun

1. Free To Play:
Why? Let’s think about PUBG for a moment. I am thinking to purchase PUBG cost me $30 on steam. After putting over 400 hours into PUBG, I felt as if my experience playing the game was lacking, I was faced with constant framerate issues, laggy servers, countless bugs, etc. You could say the same for H1Z1…

With Fortnite being an F2P game, I found myself way more understanding of any in-game issues surrounding the game account Fortnite didn’t cost me a dime to play.

2. Multiplatform:
With Fortnite being F2P on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and iOS you can see how something so simple as this has allowed Fortnite to leave other games and especially BR games in the dust.

3. Weekly Content:
The team at Epic have done a fantastic job understanding that gamers play a lot and they get fatigued when it comes to games. Epic combats this by rolling out weekly updates, content, new weapons, new player skins, etc.

4. Ownership of Game Issues:
I can summarize the amazing job Epic’s been doing regarding game issues and updates very easily… TRELLO… yes, Epic created a public Trello board to show everyone what bugs and fixes they are working on. This is unheard of and yet another reason why so many people trust in Epic and Fortnite to keep giving them an amazing gaming experience.

5. Twitch Prime Partnership:
The partnership with Twitch allowed a lot of gamers like myself who haven’t bought skins or the battle pass a chance to feel what it’s like to have a really cool character skin in-game. That simple deal leads me to spend a lot of money in the “ITEM SHOP” which is now the first thing I check when I load the game up.

6. Super Fun:
When someone asks me to describe what Fortnite means to me, I always say, SUPER FUN! I can play Fortnite for countless hours regardless if I’m playing solo, with a friend, or with a full squad.

7. Drake:
Sorry, I had to include this for fun.  If you don’t know, you should know.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on why Fortnite has exploded into one of the hottest games ever.

Streaming Platforms… Who Cares?


I saw an article that said ESL(I know some good folks over there and wish them the best) had chosen Facebook to be their streaming partner for CSGO and Dota 2 events. You can read more about that here https://www.dexerto.com/news/esl-surprises-everyone-partnering-facebook/42569. I made a snarky comment this morning that was met with some agreement and some disagreement. “ESL picked Facebook as their streaming partner tears of joy emoji and rolling on the floor laughing emoji here:).





The Race For Esports Viewership

In case you didn’t know we have a massive power struggle that has already started in the world of live streaming Esports and Gaming content.  YouTube Gaming announced yesterday that they have partnered with FACEIT in a multi-year deal that will bring the ECS(Esports Championship Series) to YouTube.

You can say this is a black eye for Twitch seeing how ECS was created out of a partnership between Twitch and FACEIT less than a year ago.  You can read about it here in case you missed that announcement last year.  Now, between you and me, I have no idea if YouTube just outbid Twitch to make this happen or if Twitch thought it wasn’t worth the investment and decided to pass, on the surface, it seems that they’ve lost something they put a lot of time and money in.

The next 12-24 months will be very exciting when it comes to streaming.  I think it’s obvious that Twitch is way out in front of everyone else.  But, after YouTube making this play for ECS I’m certain you will see other big moves very soon.  For now, I think we should all pay close attention to the following sites.

1. Twitch
2. YouTube
3. Beam

I can hear you now… “Scotty, what are you on about mate. Beam is new.. and MLG pretty much has nothing going for it other than Call Of Duty events.”  Yes, you’re right.  Microsoft acquired Beam late last year, and I can tell you they’re putting a lot of time and effort into the platform.

What’s important to note is that Beam is a Microsoft product.  That matters because of Esports titles like Halo and Gears Of War.  Why would Microsoft want to allow the impressions/ad revenue that Halo/Gow generate go to Twitch’s coffers when they now own a site like Beam?  Now, I’m only speaking to this in regards to Esports Lan Events that would normally be streamed on Twitch for example.

MLG.TV gets a ton of shit from people within the Call Of Duty community.  Everyone use to say that “MLG killed COD” when streamers like Nadeshot and others made a move from Twitch to the MLG platform.  This is simply a load of bullshit.  COD was hitting some tremendous numbers on MLG.TV.  Fast forward, and most everyone is back to streaming on Twitch, and a lot of them have fewer viewers now than when they were on MLG.TV.  I still believe MLG.TV will be the exclusive home for all ATVI/BLIZZARD Esports streams in the future.

Let me know what you think about streaming sites, which site is your favorite and why?

Underage Players and Esports

As you may know, I’m a father of three awesome kids(19,18,13), and we play a ton of video games.  Hell, we’ve played a ton of competitive video games together as well.  So when I hear things like “thank god this event is 18+) it makes me sad.  At times I have a hard time understanding some of the stupid rules that are set up by gaming companies, federal, and state governments.

Want to drive a car? Get your learners permit at 15 and get an adult to ride around with you. Want to get married to the girl or boy of your dreams?  Not a problem.. you can do that at 14 years of age or younger in some states.  Want to shoot virtual characters in a video game at a LAN/Esports event? Fuck off..  I wish I were joking about the marriage part and the video games competition part.. but, sadly I’m not.

I’m no Lawyer, but for the life of me, I don’t understand how parental consent is not sufficient to allow “little johnny” a chance to play with his friends at an “open” LAN event.  Someone, please explain this to me?  Now, some of you will say “but, they shouldn’t be playing mature games in the first place.”

Screen Shot 2017-03-13 at 7.59.11 PM

(Team Heckleberry pictured above competing at a Call Of Duty LAN event in 2014)

Somewhere, there is a sixteen year of kid who will drive themselves to work tonight after school and work for a few hours at McDonald’s.  Then he/she will drive back home, clean up, finish up any homework they hadn’t finished, play some video games till midnight or so and do it all again tomorrow.  Yet, They’re not mature enough to play video games at a LAN event.

Before I go any further, I want to give you examples of games that are rated Mature, Adult, and Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).  Just a quick note, there are other factors that come into play besides an ESRB rating of a game.

Mature 18+: Grand Theft Auto IV, Nioh, For Honor, and H1Z1: King of the Kill, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and pretty much every Call of Duty game created.

Adult 17+: Hatred, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Manhunt 2, Thrill Kill to name a few.

Teen: Overwatch, Halo 5, etc.

I wonder what sales, DAU’s, MAU’s, DLC sales, for the games listed as Mature or Adult would look like if underage players were blocked from playing the games.  I’ll go out on a limb and say sales and active users would take a massive hit.

Pretty much my entire issue is with “open” style events.  Open events should be just that, open.  This is a great way for these kids to travel to events with their parents(which is fun btw) and see their favorite game being played by their favorite pro players.  The best part is they get a chance to not only meet them, but some even get a chance to play them.

In the past, we’ve seen players who were considered top talent in games swap over from certain FPS console games to Halo 5(Rated Teen btw).  This player went on to win the North American Halo 5 championship with his professional Halo 5 team.  Kids shouldn’t have to stop playing their favorite game so that they can scratch their competitive itch that most all of us have.

I’m sure everyone will bring up traveling, and the full-time commitment required to play for one of the best teams in the world and I get that.  At the end of the day, we should ask the following questions and let parents be parents.

  1. Is the player good enough to play on my pro team?
  2. Is the player 18 or older?
  3. If no, does the player have parental consent and support from their parents?

Leave a comment and let me know what your thoughts are on the subject or tweet me.