Top Employee Advocacy Statistics You Should Know

Employee advocacy is an effective way to boost your brand awareness and reach and keep your employees engaged and empowered — without a high cost. By encouraging your employees to act as ambassadors of your brand, you can expand your reach exponentially.

Check out the following statistics to learn why employee advocacy is a must-have strategy for your brand growth and see how impactful it can be.

Employee Advocacy ROI

Employee advocacy has a huge return on investment. First of all, it’s free — there’s no cost to encourage your employees to share their positive experiences. 

But it’s also impactful. The effectiveness of employee advocacy stems from the trust your employees have cultivated with their networks. With 88% of people more likely to trust a friend or family member’s recommendation over other information, you get a lot of bang for your buck. 

Plus, employee advocacy initiatives increase web traffic by 11% and result in 6% more leads.

Advocacy Through Social Media on Mobile

Social media continues to be a ubiquitous part of daily life and business, so the vast social landscape is ripe for employee advocacy. Because social media can be accessed from anywhere — especially given the fact that use of social media platforms' mobile apps is only projected to increase — it’s an excellent way for employees to spread the word in real time.

Not only does mobile let employees share instantly, but it also allows customers to view content and engage right away. It’s instant publicity. And with most social media platforms seamlessly integrating with mobile devices, it’s easier than ever.

A majority of the population, from baby boomers to Gen Z, use social media, and in a recent survey, 80% of Gen Z respondents said they used TikTok to network.

Social Engagement by Platform From Employee Advocacy Efforts

All successful employee advocacy programs leverage social media, but there are several platforms to consider, each with unique engagement statistics and employee advocacy best practices.

With over 830 million users, LinkedIn is the largest professionally focused social media platform, allowing users to engage more with other professionals than with brands.

X (formerly Twitter) offers short-form updates in real time, fostering brand visibility and content during timely events such as product launches, major conferences, or big announcements. Per their own data, there's an opportunity for marketers to reach an audience of 372 million. 

Another popular platform is Instagram, which focuses on photos and videos, providing a more personable look at an organization’s culture and showcasing employees’ experiences. And it works: Company-generated Instagram Stories have a 15% to 25% swipe rate.

Facebook, owned by Instagram’s parent company, Meta, is the largest social media platform. When employees share content with their networks, the reach can be massive, as Facebook has over 3 billion monthly users.

Employee Advocacy and Brand Awareness and Trust

One of the major benefits of employee advocacy is how it impacts brand awareness and trust. According to LinkedIn's guide to employee advocacy, employees average 10 times the connections on social media than their company has followers. Moreover, posts shared by employees generate 561% more reach than those published by the company itself. 

Adding to the increased reach is the fact that 86% of consumers state they’re more apt to trust user-generated content than brand-sponsored content. It turns out that customers find a business’s employees to be three times as credible as the CEO. 

These employee advocacy stats show that while C-level thought leadership has a time and place, employee-generated content makes your branding more authentic, meaningful, and wider-reaching.

Employee Advocacy’s Role in Recruitment

One of the biggest roles employee advocacy plays is in the recruitment process. Employee referrals are well known as a top source of strong job candidates, and what better way to generate referrals than consistent employee advocacy? Strong employee advocacy can actually reduce recruiting costs while attracting more qualified candidates.

Employee advocacy also impacts job seekers' perception of your company. At least 75% of job seekers assess a company’s brand prior to filling out an application. What’s more, 55% of job seekers say they’re likely to give up on a job application upon reading a negative review of the company.

With 86% of HR workers feeling that recruitment is increasingly like marketing and 77% of job seekers factor in employees' experiences when applying, it’s clear that employee advocacy is a crucial part of your recruitment strategy.

Impact on Employee Engagement and Retention

A robust employee advocacy program doesn’t just attract outsiders to your company. It can increase engagement and retention of current employees, too. Organizations with formal employee advocacy programs see a 26% increase in retention.

Such programs can increase employees’ sense of pride in their workplace and help them feel recognized for contributing to the company’s success, which in turn can grow their loyalty. And it’s a positive loop: Engaged employees are more likely to promote the company organically.

Influence on Sales Conversions

Many business-to-business decision-makers vet a company by its thought leadership, with 60% of customers sharing that a company’s thought leadership builds credibility. It’s likely, then, that businesses looking to purchase a product or service will benefit from reading content from your employee advocates.

Plus, employees who leverage their social networks for sales see 45% more sales opportunities and are 51% more likely to hit their quotas. In fact, 78% of “social sellers” actually sell more than their peers who don’t leverage social media. While employee advocacy can happen both on and off of social media, there’s no question that public-facing employee advocacy can increase sales.

Employee Network Reach and Expansion

When assessing the importance of employee advocacy, consider how it can impact the growth of your overall network. As noted, employees have 10 times the social media connections than their companies have followers. Moreover, the more employees share content, the more opportunities there are to grow the reach through reshares, comments, and other interactions.

When employees share content, it sees much higher engagement than the same content shared by the company’s own channel. It also likely receives engagement from a broader audience because employees bring diverse networks and enable connection with audiences the brand itself may not have engaged on its own.

Harnessing the Power of Employee Advocacy

Whether you’re looking to attract and retain high-performing employees or close record-high sales, a strong employee advocacy program can skyrocket your engagement and brand recognition, not to mention your ability to recruit top candidates.

If you’re hoping to learn more or simply view successful employee advocacy examples, SocialHP’s team of social media experts can help you harness the power of employee advocacy and transform your business.

To get started, book a demo and learn how we can help you achieve broader reach and higher engagement today.