Employee Advocacy in PR: Turning Colleagues into Brand Ambassadors

Why Employee Advocacy Matters in PR

Trust is in crisis. The Edelman Trust Barometer consistently highlights declining trust in institutions like businesses, governments, and media. However, individual employees are increasingly perceived as trustworthy sources of information.

What does this mean for PR?
It’s time to shift from traditional corporate communication to a more integrated, people-centered model. Empowering employees to share their expertise and stories can amplify your brand’s voice while building genuine connections with stakeholders.

How to Empower Employees as Brand Ambassadors

1. Identify and Train Your Content Heroes

Not everyone is a natural advocate, and that’s okay. Focus on a small group of enthusiastic employees who are willing to represent your brand online.

Steps to Take:

• Identify employees who are passionate about their work and already active on social media.
• Offer training to teach them how to share content responsibly and effectively.
• Highlight how advocacy benefits them personally, such as by enhancing their professional reputation.

Pro Tip: Encourage advocates to mix personal and professional content. This balance makes their posts feel more genuine and relatable.

2. Provide Tools and Resources

Employees are more likely to participate when they’re equipped with the right tools and support.

Tips for Success:

• Provide pre-written content, such as tweets, LinkedIn posts, or visuals, that employees can customize.
• Use employee advocacy tools to schedule posts and track engagement.
• Make it easy: Share weekly content suggestions or updates employees can quickly repost.

Action Step: A single LinkedIn update from an employee about attending an event can amplify your brand’s visibility and help establish personal connections with potential stakeholders.

3. Motivate Participation Through Recognition

Even motivated employees need encouragement to prioritize advocacy. Celebrate their contributions to keep them engaged and show the impact of their efforts.

Ways to Motivate Employees:

• Recognize top advocates in internal communications or at team meetings.
• Share examples of how their advocacy led to tangible outcomes, like media mentions or new partnerships.
• Build a sense of community among advocates by hosting regular check-ins or sharing success stories.

4. Amplify Reach with Personal Networks

Social media algorithms often prioritize content from personal profiles over corporate pages. Empowering employees to share brand messages on their accounts increases visibility and engagement.

Why This Works:

• Employees’ networks trust them more than a corporate voice.
• Personal posts often lead to organic conversations and expanded reach.

Pro Tip: Encourage employees to engage with their audience when sharing brand content by responding to comments and starting conversations.

5. Gain Leadership Buy-In

Securing leadership support is key to building a successful advocacy program.

How to Win Over Leadership:

• Start small with a pilot program to show early results.
• Present both qualitative and quantitative metrics, such as increased reach, engagement, or leads generated through employee advocacy.
• Speak their language: Emphasize how advocacy directly supports business goals like brand awareness and lead generation.

Why Employee Advocacy Supports Mental Wellbeing

Encouraging employees to share stories about their work isn’t just beneficial for the organization—it can also boost morale and mental health. Advocacy gives employees a sense of purpose, helps them connect with others, and fosters pride in their contributions.

Learn More: Read about how mental health intersects with corporate communications in our blog: “Let’s Talk: Supporting Mental Health in PR and Corp Comms.”

Key Takeaways: From Colleagues to Ambassadors