Whether you’re just getting started with employee advocacy or leading a seasoned program, one thing is clear: employee voices matter more than ever in recruiting.
Across the Rally community, we’re seeing the power of employee content to boost reach, build credibility and drive candidate engagement. Employee-focused content was the center of many winning entries in the 2025 Rally Awards from companies like ADT, UBS, Baylor Scott & White Health, Ascension and Credicorp.
But, we’re also seeing a shift. What worked a few years ago — templated LinkedIn posts and scheduled reshares — isn’t working as well today.
Because when everyone shares the same content, candidates can tell it wasn’t written by the person posting it — and that disconnect makes it feel less genuine and easy to ignore. The social platforms also tend to favor original content by giving those posts more impressions — making the “sharing” strategy less effective at reaching potential candidates in the first place.
If engagement with your employee advocacy content is low or enthusiasm is dropping off, it might not be your advocates — it might be the approach. Turning employees into a distribution channel can only go so far. Candidates, employees and the platforms themselves can see through it.
What if the goal of employee advocacy wasn’t just to amplify company posts… but to amplify employee voices?
In this blog post, I’ll show you the latest data proving the value of employee advocacy, how expectations are shifting and how to evolve your strategy to drive real engagement and recruiting results.
Let’s dive in!
Employee Advocacy Still Works, Just Not the Way It Used To
There’s no question that employee advocacy plays an important role in attracting talent. When employees share your content on social media, it expands your reach and adds credibility to your employer brand.
In fact, data from our Rally Inside Recruitment Marketing Platform shows that when employee ambassadors post content to LinkedIn, it generates 2x more clicks on average than posts from the company page. That’s why so many organizations have invested in tools, templates and training to encourage social sharing across their teams.
But while the value of employee advocacy remains strong, we’re seeing a shift in how well shared content is performing.
In 2024, LinkedIn posts shared through employee advocacy programs generated an average of 166 clicks, according to Rally Inside data. So far in 2025, that number is down 32%, to just 112. Still significantly better than the 43-click average for company posts — but the decline is noteworthy.
In 2025, employee-shared content still outperforms corporate posts on LinkedIn, averaging 112 clicks compared to just 49 — but the 32% year-over-year decline in EA post clicks highlights the need for more original, engaging content.
So, why is it getting harder to engage people on social?
Because much of the content looks and sounds like it was written by the company, not created by the employee.
The platforms see it too. LinkedIn sunset its Employee Advocacy features — including the “My Company” tab — in late 2024. The direction is clear: social platforms are prioritizing original content and real voices over mass resharing.
This is the era of influence. Leaders, recruiters and professionals across your company are building their personal brands — whether they mean to or not. Every post, comment and share shapes how others see them and the organization they represent. And especially in recruiting and Recruitment Marketing, where we’re the face of the company to candidates, we have a responsibility to not only share the company’s voice, but to bring our own voice to the conversation too.
It’s time to evolve how we think about employee advocacy — not as a distribution channel, but as a network of individual creators, each with their own story and impact.
What Employees and Candidates Expect from Employee Advocacy
Let’s be honest — we’ve all scrolled past a copy-paste LinkedIn post about company culture that just doesn’t land. We’re all too social savvy to fall for that. What engages us on social is not polished corporate announcements. We want to be informed and entertained.
Have you noticed just how much LinkedIn content is getting personal, with people sharing deeply personal stories about their health and their kids? This content is working right now. LinkedIn content with the word “child” gets 2x the engagement rate of average corporate posts, according to Rally Inside. Think about that for a moment. We’ve all known for many years that employee stories resonate. Now it’s the stories of our employees’ children!
The growing amount of personal content on LinkedIn reflects the general trend that people are more comfortable creating their own content and more interested than ever in building their personal brand, growing their networks and being recognized for their ideas and contributions.
This shift isn’t a risk to your employer brand — it’s a multiplier.
Personal branding is now one of the most powerful tools in talent attraction. A recent article in The Times spotlighted the rise of corporate influencers, noting that professionals who build a strong personal voice — especially on LinkedIn — consistently outperform company pages in reach and engagement. When individuals build trust and visibility, the employer brand gains momentum right alongside them.
We see this trend in the Rally community — and in my own metrics. Over the past 90 days, my personal LinkedIn posts have generated 5x more impressions than the Rally Recruitment Marketing company page, even though we post about many of the same topics.
That’s not a knock on Rally’s page or company pages in general. It’s a reminder that people follow people. And when someone shares content that feels honest, useful or celebratory, their network responds.
This dynamic shows up in our broader data too. Rally Inside found that company LinkedIn posts using words like “announce,” “award,” “congratulations” and “collaboration” consistently outperform posts about “sustainability”, “wellness” and “purpose”.
Company LinkedIn posts that highlight announcements, awards, congratulations and collaboration continue to outperform posts about abstract themes like purpose and wellness — signaling that personal content drives higher impressions than corporate themes.
This growing preference for personal, authentic content is a signal: employees want to build their own voice and reputation — and they’re looking for tools that make it easier. That’s why the next evolution of employee advocacy is about supporting content creation that benefits both the employee and the company.
How to Strengthen Employee Advocacy by Empowering Real Voices
Employee advocacy still starts with sharing — and for good reason. When employees post company content, it expands your reach and adds credibility in a way that branded content alone can’t.
But if your program is only focused on getting more shares, you’re missing a bigger opportunity.
The next phase of employee advocacy is about enabling employees to grow their reach, build their personal brand and share their own stories. That shift turns employee advocacy from a distribution strategy into a relationship-building strategy that still reflects well on your company and attracts talent.
Here’s how to get there:
1. Start by Auditing Your Advocacy Library
Most EA libraries are filled with job posts, blog links and branded graphics which are good for amplification, but not so much for originality. A modern content library should also include:
- Prompts that encourage storytelling
- Examples of great employee-created posts
- Tips for writing with authenticity and adapting to different platforms
2. Support Original Content, Not Just Sharing
Employees want to be recognized for their ideas and contributions. The right prompts can help them create content that’s both personal and on-brand. For example:
- “What’s something your team accomplished recently that made you proud?”
- “What’s one way our company has supported your career growth?”
- “What advice would you give someone applying for your role?”
These kinds of posts do more than engage — they build trust and credibility on both sides of the talent relationship. Bonus points if the employee includes a photo of them at work!
3. Measure What Matters — to You and to Them
Don’t just count shares or earned media value. Track the impact on recruiting.
For example, with Rally Inside, you can measure what matters in Recruitment Marketing:
- Who’s creating original content and sharing corporate content
- Which themes drive the most engagement
- What content brings candidates to your careers site and influences them to apply for jobs
But the most important metric? Whether employees feel their effort is worth it. Give them insight into how their posts are performing and contributing to talent attraction. When employees see the value both for themselves and how it’s helping the company, that’s what keeps them motivated to keep posting — more than any leaderboard ever could.
Putting Your Employee Advocacy Strategy into Action
The next era of employee advocacy isn’t about abandoning reshares — it’s about not stopping there. Sharing is still important and valuable. It extends your reach and increases employee engagement. But creating content? That’s what builds real connection between people.
When you empower employees to show up with their own voice — not just repeat the company line — you unlock something more powerful: credibility, visibility and influence. Seeing your employees being their authentic selves on social — that’s what will attract talent to want to work with them, and you!
