Industry
- Computer Software
Department
- Marketing
Use Case
- Increase Reach and Engagement
Results
- $20,000 in CPC Savings
- 2.5M in Social Media Reach
- $7,000 in Quarterly Earned Media Value
- Less Than 20 Members
Buurst used the GaggleAMP platform to empower its employees to be industry thought leaders on LinkedIn. In return, the company saved over $20,000 on cost-per-click spending in just four months. With less than 20 employees in the program, Buurst garnered over 700 clicks, over 1600 social interactions, and a potential earned media value of over 2.5 million people. The company's employee advocacy program performance has an estimated earned media value of almost $7,000. Furthermore, Buurst employees on GaggleAMP gained over 950 connections on their personal social media accounts.
Buurst saw huge growth in both cost savings and social media engagement in its first four months with GaggleAMP.
To get more traction out of its social media efforts, the cloud storage and data performance solutions provider implemented an employee advocacy program with GaggleAMP in January 2021. Buurst wanted to extend its brand reach and increase its engagement on LinkedIn by getting employees active on social media and presenting them as industry thought leaders.
"I'm a huge fan. For the value, GaggleAMP is exceptional. I don't think there is a better product on the market. This is the place to go."
Stephen Spector
Vice President of Marketing at Buurst
Buurst By The Numbers
With fewer than 20 employees and partners on GaggleAMP, Buurst garnered over 700 clicks, over 1,600 social interactions, and over 2.5 million reach in just its first four months with the program.
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The industry average cost of a LinkedIn click is $5.26, and the average cost for a potential LinkedIn reach of 1,000 people is $6.51. By these numbers, Buurst saved over $20,000 on the average cost of paid ads with its social media output on GaggleAMP.
Before starting its employee advocacy program, Buurst spent more than the industry average for fewer results. The company spent about $50,000 over a six-month period on LinkedIn and Google ads, which did not get near the results it currently gets with GaggleAMP, Stephen said.
"If I look at what is costs me to run this tool, and what I've gotten back it's an enormous return. Buurst is a small company and people call me and say 'you guys are everywhere. I go on social and all I see is Buurst everywhere. How are you guys making yourselves appear so big when I know how small you are?' It's so simple. Why more people don't do it — I don't know."
Stephen Spector
Vice President of Marketing at Buurst
Buurst’s results with GaggleAMP equate to an estimated earned media value (EEMV) of almost $7,000 in Q1, which is based on the average social media interaction industry cost. The annualized EEMV of its program is almost $24,000, far exceeding the $300 a month the company spends on its 25-member plan with GaggleAMP.
Buurst’s Social Turnaround
Before starting with GaggleAMP this year, Buurst did not have a strong social media presence, and very few employees were active on LinkedIn.
Many people worry that they’ll unintentionally say something their company wouldn’t approve of if they post on social media. That was a common concern among employees at Buurst as well.
This all changed with GaggleAMP.
Employees who are part of an employee advocacy program receive marketing-approved content and suggested captions. This way, employees get the messaging the brand wants to promote, and they’ll have full confidence that what they are about to promote won’t ruffle any feathers.
Organizations invest in employee advocacy programs because it makes their messaging more authentic and personable by having their employees share it rather than a brand handle.
People are more likely to listen to someone they know rather than a brand or ad, and that’s why employee advocacy works so well. This leads to more people sharing posts, greater engagement, and further reach.
We've reached 2.5 million in reach in a couple of months — that's enormous for a small company like us. Our LinkedIn page has 2,200 followers. Do you know how long it would take me with 2,200 followers to reach 2.5 million people? It's just not possible."
Stephen Spector
Vice President of Marketing at Buurst
Buurst used GaggleAMP to send employees suggested activities to carry out such as sharing industry-specific content on LinkedIn. This type of activity presents employees as industry thought leaders and attracts the company’s target audience.
This has been a more successful strategy for Buurst than its previous paid ad campaigns, and it gets employees more comfortable on social media to the point where some of them started posting and engaging on their own.
Buurst employees added over 950 social media connections in just four months while on GaggleAMP.
Measuring Progress
To be successful with any marketing initiative, you need to measure your progress, and employee advocacy is no different.
With GaggleAMP’s analytics dashboard, managers can easily measure clicks, social interactions, shares, reach, and more. The customizable analytics view organizes all the numbers by the time of activity, social network, and even geographic region.
"GaggleAMP has the best reporting there is in employee engagement. I've used several other tools and no one does it better...I've used EveryoneSocial, I've used Sprinklr, and I've used other tools. This is the best."
Stephen Spector
Vice President of Marketing at Buurst
The analytics view also allows Managers to easily track their estimated cost-per-click savings. They can report these numbers to the company, including Gaggle Members to keep them motivated, and executives to let them know what they’re getting out of the program.
“In social media, nothing is as important as getting great graphs that explain what’s happening, and getting it to the execs so they understand it. If you can’t get it to the high-level bosses, then the whole thing doesn’t have value...I can show them the return and the impact, which is substantial.”
Onboarding Made Easy
Stephen used GaggleAMP at a previous company and saw great success in increasing the brand’s reach.
Naturally, he pitched employee advocacy at Buurst as well.
"Most of our executives and people in the company were like, 'yeah, that's worth a try. I doubt any of them really understood what was going to happen. The expectation of what GaggleAMP could do from within the company was very minimal...But now they are all hardcore, on board — they don't miss a message."
Stephen Spector
Vice President of Marketing at Buurst
Stephen worked with Joe Quigley, Customer Success Manager at GaggleAMP, to train and onboard employees to be part of the Gaggle. They selected 11 salespeople to be the initial Gaggle Members and later added six employees of partner companies.
Quigley hosted a meeting where he took the new Gaggle Members step-by-step on how to use the platform, the purpose of the program, and what’s in it for them. He recorded an introduction meeting for Buurst to reuse on new Gaggle Members and a more advanced training session for those who need it.
"Joe is really great. The thing that Joe helped me do that really helped is we kept it simple. From an effort standpoint, [employees] click a couple of buttons twice a week, and we keep it simple for them. I'm getting great success on limited input, and I'm getting the scale I need with the reach."
Stephen Spector
Vice President of Marketing at Buurst
About 40% of Buurst employees are part of the company Gaggle, but the company has aspirations for further growth.
To learn more about GaggleAMP, please watch the video below.