Stop using employee advocacy tools

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It’s 2026 and some organizations are still using employee advocacy tools.

Please don’t!

It doesn’t work.
You’re hurting your brand.
And damaging your reputation.
Both of your company and your employees.

I know, this was never the intention. And, to be honest, it’s not even the tool’s fault.

Had the tool been implemented properly, had it been actually adopted, and put to proper use by employees, it could work.

But, in reality, it doesn’t.

Because employee advocacy tools are hardly ever implemented properly. And as a result, companies end up using their employees as free bill boards, asking them to cover their followers’ timelines with highly-polished, highly-unwanted marketing crap.

Not in any way authentic. Very low exposure and engagement rates. And frankly, a waste of time and energy.

So, what can you do instead?

Step 1 – Find a limited number of figureheads for your organization. Select the people that are highly knowledgeable and experienced in a topic your ideal clients care about.

Step 2 – Help these figureheads develop an overarching vision for the future and several key messages they can use as a baseline for their content.

Step 3 – Help them create great content. Storytelling 101. What does their target audience know, feel, and do? What do you want them to know, feel, and do? Craft a story to bridge the gap.

Step 4 – Encourage your other employees to amplify your figureheads’ content. By clicking Like. By sharing the link to your figureheads’ content with people in their networks that care about the topic. By adding their thoughts as comments to the figurehead’s content.

Step 5 – Consider to pay for (initial) reach, if you feel you’re not reaching your target audience. Tread carefully. A promoted pile of crap, is still crap. And most people hate crap.

Oh… If you suspect a company to use an employee advocacy tool, do this:

• Click this URL: https://www.linkedin.com/search/results/content/
• Add your suspect company as Author Company.
• Sort by latest.
• Scroll through the posts.
• See the exact same post more than 3 times? Usually with very low exposure and engagement rates. And a URL that’s not your average LinkedIn-link…

Yep, they’re using an employee advocacy tool. The URL usually gives away the tool they’re using.

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Thank you for reading MBD Spark #101, sent on February 5, 2026.