Becoming an influencer is now part of job training

 After pushing back on the phenomenon for years, companies now want their employees to become influencers… and they’re actually helping out with training and support. The hope is that employees can become authentic pitchmen for the company. Although, the companies may run the risk of creating influencers with enough popularity that they just drop the day job to become creators full-time.

People marketing

Professional influencer may soon be a job you can apply for at some companies.

• Cisco is offering training to all of its 83,000 employees to act as talent influencers — it even lets employees take over the company’s corporate socials for a day.
• United Airlines has a team of 50 in-house influencers, ranging from flight attendants to bag handlers.
• Ericsson trains employees on how to gain more followers and how to make videos.

“Gen Z’s LinkedIn”

…is what Forbes calls TikTok, so it’s easy to understand why companies want their employees to get involved (with plenty of corporate oversight to stay on message).

• Job search platform Zippia found that 57% of job seekers use social media when scoping out companies.
• #corporatetiktok, a hashtag on videos about career advice and jobs, has 3 billion views, while #worktok has 1.5 billion views.

That means there’s a lot of potential to put job opportunities at the center of the cultural conversation… as long as the company has a “strong culture,” says University of Florida professor Rita Men. No one wants to be on the receiving end of an employee drubbing.