Back To Basics. Back To Matrix.

Back in 2015, I sketched out a nine box framework (above) not realising the impact it would have on our business nearly nine years later.

You see, Tribal Impact was born out of the belief that people are more interesting than logos. My curiosity around this started at SAP .

Back in 2013, whilst leading social media for SAP EMEA, I noticed that I engaged more with my colleagues on social media than our brand channels. Slightly awkward considering I managed the content on our EMEA brand channels 😬

That's when I had a lightbulb moment. 💡

My hypothesis:

Employees are more credible, trustworthy and authentic than logos on social.

This applies when engaging with employees (internal communication), applicants/candidates (employer branding) and customers (social selling).

My 'what if' questions:

• What if we connected the dots between internal social media programs?
• What if employees became expert influencers?
• What if we enabled them to tell their story in the context of the brand story?
• What if executives opened conversations for sales teams at senior levels?
• What if employees are enabled to create their own content for social?

It was time to test my hypothesis, along with others at SAP who volunteered their time to support my crazy idea - forever thankful to you guys🙏🏼.

The data told me everything I needed to know.

Whilst employees didn't drive thousands of eyeballs to our website, they drove the 'right' eyeballs.

Employee driven traffic to the website converted at a much higher rate than any other source of traffic.

I knew the time was right.

I left SAP to pursue my dream - to start Tribal Impact.

The Tribal Framework For Employee Advocacy

On leaving SAP, I sketched a nine box matrix in my notebook (actual sketch below - took me an hour to find the right notebook) never realising the impact it would have on our business nearly nine years later!

Quick note: The 'Enthusiast' box was originally called the 'Maverick' box - those employees that may veer off the path and cause an unintentional crisis on social. Then I realised that most people in this box had the enthusiasm but needed context.

This framework set out to help large B2B organisations scale #SocialMedia advocacy and #SocialSelling based on my experience at SAP.

The key premise being, employees start their professional journey on social from different places and learn at different paces, taking into account that they sit in different roles with very different goals (e.g. sales vs talent recruitment).

Once you know where your employees are on the matrix, you map training and enablement accordingly.

For example, scalable low cost, low touch training for the masses (e.g. most employees) vs high touch services for the few (e.g. execs) and everything in between (e.g. tailored group workshops for Key Account Managers).

I've been that person running the same 'LinkedIn profile training' webinar every week - day in, day out. It's not scalable, nor cost effective.

This model is built to help organisations connect the dots between internal social media enablement programs.

A framework that works just as well with senior executives as it does with sales teams and employer branding programs.

Our training products and services map to every stage, helping organisations build a pipeline of advocates, ambassadors or champions.

Back To Basics. Back To Matrix.

Over the last 6 months, we've gone back to basics by revisiting the matrix.

We've injected new life into a model that has stood strong with us over the last eight years. We've done this by...

• Revamping the matrix to include internal social media (e.g. Viva Engage)
• Investing in data and insights so we can measure impact over time
• Developing a scalable learning platform combining AI with Tribal know-how
• Creating learning modules to accelerate employee generated content
• Mapping tailored learning paths to our matrix model

I'm so proud of our tribe who have been flexible and fearless as we've experienced rapid transformation and growth over recent months.

We a talented team, amazing products and incredible customers who chose to innovate with us every day. I'm excited for what's next.

Over the coming weeks, I'll be documenting our journey here on LinkedIn, sharing how we've evolved, lessons learned along the way and answers to questions we're often asked.