Engage, influence, convert: Inside ComplyAdvantage's Advocacy Success Using Oktopost

Meet ComplyAdvantage

ComplyAdvantage is a pioneer in AI-driven fraud and AML (Anti-Money Laundering) risk detection. Their mission is to empower a safer, stronger financial system through smarter decision-making. Trusted by over 1,000 leading businesses worldwide, ComplyAdvantage is at the forefront of preventing financial crime and ensuring robust compliance processes. Their solutions help businesses go beyond compliance "on paper", providing them with the actionable insights they need to determine the strength of evidence linking an entity to financial crime.

The challenge

ComplyAdvantage faced several challenges in launching its employee advocacy program:

When I first joined, there was no blueprint for an advocacy program. It was both thrilling and intimidating. We had big goals and needed to ensure every post reflected our professional tone." George McCann, Social Media and Community Manager

1. No existing advocacy program or previous lessons to learn from.

2. The newly appointed Social Media Manager had extensive experience in paid social media management and less experience running a corporate advocacy program.

3. An ambitious goal was set to quickly grow to 50 active advocates as part of a goal to move from a company-led to an employee-led social media strategy.

4. It was crucial to carefully manage the content and tone of advocacy posts to protect the brand and coordinate communications.

Oktopost made it incredibly easy to get started and allowed us to impact reach and engagement even with a few advocates by leveraging their large networks who reacted to their authentic posts posted on their personal profiles. George McCann, Social Media and Community Manager

The Oktopost employee advocacy solution

Oktopost offered an intuitive platform that facilitated the smooth rollout of ComplyAdvantage's employee advocacy program:

• Ease of use: The platform was straightforward to use, which was essential given the varied experience levels among employees.

• Authentic content: Employees post content on their profiles rather than the company page, ensuring authenticity.

• Audience reach: By leveraging employees' networks, the company could capture an audience the company page couldn't reach.

• AI writing suggestions: Managing an advocacy program as a one-person team is challenging, but Oktopost's AI recommendations for post stories were invaluable. The AI tool helps generate several post suggestions quickly and accurately, saving time and ensuring a steady flow of content.

Oktopost made it incredibly easy to get started and allowed us to capture a wider audience through authentic posts from our employees' profiles." George McCann, Social Media and Community Manager

Launching the advocacy program

ComplyAdvantage started with a user group of five AEs (Account Executives) in the US. They later expanded the program to include the whole commercial team and their regulatory affairs specialists, who have a wealth of knowledge in the compliance space. The content was also localized on Oktopost for French-speaking employees and the French-speaking audience.

Starting with a small, enthusiastic group allowed us to refine our approach before scaling up. The Regulatory Affairs team, with their substantial following, played a crucial role in our success." George McCann, Social Media and Community Manager ComplyAdvantage

Growing from 5 to 50 advocates

The journey from five to fifty advocates required strategic planning and collaboration:

• Policy creation: ComplyAdvantage must establish community guidelines to avoid naming and shaming incidents and companies or people in posts.

• Content management: Encouraged post suggestions while implementing a valuable screening process to ensure on-brand content.

• Professional guidance: The team guided advocates on professional communication, leveraging their knowledge and networks while maintaining brand consistency.

• Advocate appreciation: Advocates began to see the value in high-quality, curated content, leading to increased participation.

We created a culture of collaboration. By guiding our advocates and showing them the impact of their contributions, they felt valued and motivated." George McCann, Social Media and Community Manager

The most effective advocacy strategies after implementing for 2 years

Through continuous improvement and adaptation, ComplyAdvantage identified several effective strategies for a successful advocacy program:

1. Integrating Slack: Enabled less engaged advocates to see and share new posts easily, sharing directly from Slack and increasing participation.

2. Training: They now incorporate employee advocacy and social media impact training into the onboarding process for new hires.

3. Promoting marketing activities: At the start of the quarter, they present details on the planned marketing activities and encourage advocates to highlight key milestones, like upcoming webinars and events. They acknowledge that sharing these events with their contacts increases engagement and more sign-ups.

Integration with Slack and regular training sessions kept the momentum high, ensuring continuous engagement and effectiveness of our advocacy program." George McCann, Social Media and Community Manager

Measuring success

Sharing the success and impact of our program kept everyone motivated. When advocates saw the tangible results of their efforts, their participation increased." George McCann, Social Media and Community Manager

To measure the success of the advocacy program, ComplyAdvantage tracked several key metrics:

• Engagement: Tracking engagement of target and key accounts with organic social media posts.

• Conversions: Attributing downloads of guides and sign-ups to webinars to advocacy posts.

• Network growth: Observed the growth in advocates' networks and company page followers.

• Brand engagement: Noted the overall growth in the number of engagements to the company channels and the advocates' profiles.

Seeing and sharing the direct impact of our advocacy efforts on conversions and engagement was incredibly rewarding. It validated the hard work and collaboration we put into the program." George McCann, Social Media and Community Manager

Advice to other leaders of employee advocacy programs

1. Create interesting and engaging content for advocates to share. Be consistent, but don't overwhelm them with too much content.

2. Be flexible. If someone suggests a post by email or on a Slack channel, take care of it and thank them for their suggestion.

3. Share information about successful conversions thanks to the advocacy they have been doing.

4. Don't overlook the power of gamification. People love looking at leaderboards and understanding how to climb up and gain more points.

5. Identify authentic thought leaders who know the industry inside out. If they join your advocacy, you are sure to be successful. They will also help with suggestions and pull the rest of the team after them.

6. Tuesday is a winner for us regarding engagement, reach, and conversion - make sure to be aware of which is your winning day.

Flexibility, appreciation, and transparent communication are key. Recognizing and celebrating the contributions of our advocates has been crucial to maintaining their enthusiasm and engagement." George McCann, Social Media and Community Manager

The results

The results of ComplyAdvantage's employee advocacy program have been nothing short of remarkable. The program has grown and become integral to the ComplyAdvantage marketing program.

• 1028% increase in brand reach thanks to advocate participation.

• A high advocate edit ratio (88%) proves increased engagement in the advocacy program.

• 1.5K posts over the past year, a 160% increase from the previous year.

The transformation has been incredible. Our advocates have become integral to our brand's reach and engagement, and their efforts have amplified our voice in ways we couldn't have achieved alone." George McCann, Social Media and Community Manager, ComplyAdvantage