Employee Influencers: Leveraging Employee Advocacy for Social Media Success

In today's digital landscape, organizations like to encourage employees to participate in employee advocacy by posting organizational content on their personal social media accounts. While engagement on official brand pages is often limited, content posted directly by employees typically generates stronger resonance with social media users. Employee advocacy thus involves a two-step process: Before content can reach and engage social media users, employees—acting as “gatekeepers”—must first post it within their own networks. Through two studies, this research explores how various visual-centric post characteristics influence both employees’ posting behavior and subsequent social media user engagement. Study 1 explores these effects within employee advocacy platforms, where organizations provide premade messages for employees to post, analyzing how different visual characteristics impact employee postings and social media user clicks. Study 2 focuses on LinkedIn, where content posted by employees may originate from the organization or be independently created. Using negative binomial regressions, both studies analyze which visual characteristics—such as format or image type—drive employee postings (Study 1 and 2), social media user clicks (Study 1), and social media user reactions (Study 2). The findings highlight key similarities and differences in preferences, offering actionable insights for optimizing employee advocacy strategies.