[Episode Ninety-Four of ‘The Employee Advocacy and Influence Podcast] 🎧
In this episode, Lewis Gray and Elliot Elsley sit down with Zach Blew, a Talent Brand and People Programs Leader formerly of Meta and Glassdoor. Zach reveals the playbook used to launch a thriving advocacy program at Meta, focusing on the transition from a pilot to a global, mature strategy that drove measurable hiring results.
Key Takeaways:
- Why your employees’ collective reach is likely significantly larger than your corporate page following.
- The importance of a strategic pilot to gather feedback and prove adoption rates.
- Why don’t you need a massive production budget to create content for employees to share.
- How to cater to different levels of social media enthusiasm, from on-the-go sharers to executive thought leaders.
Employees as the Most Underutilized Marketing Channel
Zach Blew argues that most companies are sitting on a goldmine of untapped reach: their own workforce. While corporate pages often struggle with organic reach, employees’ collective networks frequently exceed a company’s direct following by a significant margin. Zach emphasizes that in an era of AI-generated noise, the human-centric voice of an employee carries a level of authenticity that a brand account simply cannot replicate. For marketers, this means shifting the focus from corporate broadcasting to empowering individual voices to reach buyers and candidates where they already spend their time.
Proving Hard ROI
Zach shares the importance of moving beyond vanity metrics like “likes” to track hard business outcomes. At Meta, the team collaborated with recruiting analysts to add source codes and tags to employee shares, allowing them to map a candidate’s journey from a social post to a job application. In addition to tracking cost-per-click, this methodology enables leaders to see exactly how an employee’s thought leadership drives high-value actions, such as career site visits and referral bonuses.
Overcoming the Myth of the "Content Problem"
Zach directly challenges the common objection that companies lack the resources to create enough content for an employee advocacy program. He asserts that most organizations don’t have a content problem; they have a distribution problem, since employees already capture photos at events and sales kickoffs on their phones. Furthermore, LinkedIn is currently deprioritizing flashy and polished corporate productions in favor of raw, creator-style content from individuals.
Ready to start your own employee advocacy program?
Whether you’re exploring employee advocacy or considering DSMN8 as your platform, we can help you get started with confidence.
Learn More About Employee Advocacy:
Selina Sher Gill
Selina has a Master's Degree in Marketing and Brand Management, and is DSMN8's Digital Marketing Executive. She's a pro at creating and editing video content, using these skills to create short-form social media videos and edit the Employee Advocacy and Influence podcast.
