If you scroll LinkedIn for five minutes, you’ll see every man and their dog telling you about the amazing benefits of employee advocacy on LinkedIn. It’s the magic cure-all. I don’t disagree with the benefits, but launching a successful program takes more than a tool, a collection of approved posts and a hope that employees will start sharing.
That might sting a little, but don’t worry, I sat down with Jen Roth, Senior Manager of Global Social Media at JLL this week to ask how she’s doing it. Jen is building a global social media strategy and employee advocacy program while bringing order to what she and her manager call “random acts of content”.
What she’s learning inside a complex global organisation applies whether you’re supporting thousands of employees or trying to activate your first ten.
This article is inspired by an episode of the Social Media for B2B Growth Podcast. Listen on Apple Podcasts or watch on YouTube to get the full impact of this conversation.
Build the Strategy Before You Fill the Tool
A full content library doesn’t mean your organisation is ready for employee advocacy.
Before inviting employees to participate, get clear on the foundations:
- Purpose: What business problem will the program help solve?
- People: Which employees genuinely want to become more active?
- Ownership: Who will manage the program and support participants?
- Partners: Which internal teams will supply expertise and useful stories?
- Process: How will content be reviewed, added and kept relevant?
- Measurement: What will success look like beyond shares and impressions?
Leadership support matters too. Employees notice when senior leaders promote advocacy but don’t participate themselves. It quickly becomes another example of “do as I say, not as I do”.
That doesn’t mean every executive needs to become a daily content creator. It means leaders should show that building relationships and sharing expertise on LinkedIn are valuable business activities, not something employees are expected to squeeze into their spare time.
You’ll also need partners across the organisation. A social media manager can’t identify every useful story, understand every market and support every employee alone. Marketing, communications, sales, talent and regional teams all have a role to play.
👉 The tool isn’t the strategy. Employee advocacy works when the Company Page, employees, leaders and internal teams each have a clear role, and you have built the system around it.
Focus on the Employees in the Middle
I know it’s tempting to aim big, but you don’t need the whole organisation posting on LinkedIn. Trying to activate everyone usually spreads the program too thin and leaves the team chasing people who were never interested in the first place.
“The biggest opportunity is the group in the middle.” Jen Roth – JLL
These are the employees who recognise the value of LinkedIn but still need help participating. They have expertise, customer knowledge and strong professional networks, but they may not know what to say, where to start or how to show up without sounding like the brand.
That hesitation is easy to underestimate. Even after more than a decade of creating content, I still have days when I look at a post and decide not to publish it. If that happens to someone whose business is LinkedIn, expecting every employee to participate without support isn’t realistic.
Jen’s approach is to focus on the employees who want to participate and give them the tools and support to do it well. That’s where I’d focus too. Find the employees who are willing but unsure.
Give them clear guardrails, useful examples, practical coaching and a reason to keep going.
👉 The technology should make participation easier. The strategy should make it worthwhile.
Build a LinkedIn Ecosystem, Not a Content Conveyor Belt
Employee advocacy should do more than recycle Company Page content through employee profiles. It should bring new voices, useful context and greater credibility into the mix.
This is what I call the Power of Two: the Company Page and your people working together, each playing a different role.
- Employees bring personal experience, subject-matter expertise and trusted relationships. They can share what they’re seeing, hearing and learning in a way the brand never can.
- The Company Page brings the broader brand perspective. It can connect those individual insights, add context and shape them into a clearer story for the market.
Not every story needs to appear in both places. Some are stronger from an employee. Others need the authority and context of the Company Page.
When the Page and employees add their own value to the story, both become more useful. That’s the Power of Two in action.
👉 The key is to choose the most credible voice and the channel that can add the most value.
Use Data to Choose the Right Channel
Unfortunately, Company Pages with a significant number of followers can become the default destination for every internal request. Teams see the follower count and assume the Page is the best route to visibility.
But audience size alone doesn’t tell you whether the right people will see the post, care about it or act on it.
Before publishing, ask:
- How many relevant followers does the Page actually have?
- How have similar posts performed?
- Does the topic matter to the broader Page audience?
- Which employees already have relationships in that market?
- Would a regional Page or expert profile carry more credibility?
I’ll also say this clearly: I don’t think Company Page posts should be geotargeted in 2026. The numbers rarely justify it. A Page may have thousands of followers in a location, but only a fraction will see the post, and fewer still will care about that specific update.
The better route may be through the employees already connected to the customers, partners and industry contacts you want to reach.
This is why employee advocacy and Company Page strategy can’t sit in separate plans. Together, they give the social media team more options than pushing every request through the main Page.
👉 Good governance isn’t about saying no to content. It’s about choosing the channel most likely to make it work.
Final Thoughts
Employee advocacy isn’t a switch marketing or social teams can flick to generate more reach.
Technology can organise content, simplify sharing and measure activity. What it can’t do is build confidence, create leadership support or decide whether a story belongs on the Company Page or with an employee.
That requires strategy.
The strongest programs treat LinkedIn as an ecosystem. The Company Page builds the brand’s position. Leaders and experts bring experience and credibility. Employees strengthen relationships with the people they already know.
Take a look at your current employee advocacy program. Are you just giving employees more content to share, or are you building the structure, support, and confidence they need to contribute in ways that strengthen the whole brand?
Employee advocacy works best when the Page and your people are part of the same strategy.
After all, LinkedIn is a Team Sport.
Cheers!
Michelle J Raymond
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