Can Generative AI Help Employee Advocacy?

Insights from Jess Spar, Senior Vice President, Head of Social Media and Influencer Marketing 

TL;DR: The rise of generative AI in 2023 introduced numerous innovations, yet one overlooked area is its potential for employee advocacy. Despite challenges such as compliance and low motivation, AI solutions for content generation and personalized incentivization prove valuable. Overcoming hurdles in resourcing and measurement, generative AI can be a cost-effective ally in the success of social employee advocacy programs. 

2023 was a remarkable period of growth for generative AI, as the tech made significant strides and became more widely available for commercial use. Brands entered the race to explore new tools to create a competitive edge, making headline after headline from AI-based fashion games to personal shoppers.  

However, one area of opportunity that has flown under the radar is AI for employee advocacy. While perhaps not the “sexiest” form of marketing, employee advocacy can be crucial to the success of a company — not only from a recruitment standpoint, but also for awareness, brand sentiment and even conversion. Content shared by employees not only drives seven times higher engagement than a brand’s own channel — it drives eight times higher conversion as well. 

"The evolution of employee advocacy hinges on the strategic alliance between human initiative and AI innovation," said Jess Spar, senior vice president of social media and influencer marketing. "By embracing scalable content generation, companies can revolutionize their social advocacy programs, increasing both brand influence and employee satisfaction." 

So why don’t more companies leverage employee social advocacy programs? Despite some impressive stats, around one-third of companies still do not have a social media employee advocacy program. Some of the top challenges to implementing a social media advocacy program may include: 

Compliance 

Challenge: Many companies, particularly in regulatory industries, have strict limitations regarding tagging employees on social media and what they can post. 

Solution: Work closely with your legal, HR and social teams to determine what regulations are needed, and where there may be some flexibility to update social media policies. A clear guide to “Do’s and Don’ts” and approval processes can also be helpful, as well as interactive training sessions for employees and a governance council at the helm of AI safety. 

Of note, as AI offerings increasingly come under consideration, it’s important to have clear policies around leveraging AI. Companies will want to consider tools that protect sensitive or proprietary information, as opposed to leveraging open AI solutions. 

Low Employee Motivation and Program Adoption 

Challenge: Employees may not participate without proper incentivization, leading to low adoption and high attrition rates. Additionally, employees may find it adds too much work to their plates if they’re having to source and write their own material. 

Solution: Leverage an employee incentivization program — incentives such as financial rewards, leadership opportunities and internal awards may boost participation. AI platforms such as CoreCentive can take this one step further by personalizing the incentivization experience for each individual employee.  

Additionally, leveraging AI to help generate content at scale can be a huge win for encouraging employees to join the program. 72% of engaged employees said they would post company content if it was pre-written for them, indicating that this is one of the biggest pieces to solve for. 

KWT Global leverages Stagwell Marketing Cloud, the technology arm of its parent company Stagwell, to offer bespoke generative AI solutions tailored to specific needs. This can include taking a piece of source content and generating iterative content at scale (think 30+ pieces of content) based on defined personas, an employee’s submitted sample content or their LinkedIn presence.  

This reduces the load on the employee, making it easier for them to participate enthusiastically. It also allows for content to be differentiated across participating employees, reducing content redundancies in feed and making the content still feel authentic to each employee. While the process should still involve a process for human quality assurance (particularly from a compliance standpoint), there are significant efficiencies the AI solution affords. 

Resourcing, Technology, and Budget Restrictions 

Challenge: Many companies may not have the resources to manage an employee advocacy program and help produce content at scale. While social tools such as EveryoneSocial can help streamline, they can come at a prohibitive price-tag, and compliance audits may lead to delays in adoption.  

Solution: Working with an agency can help drive cost efficiencies and address compliance concerns. It will also reduce the time internal employees need to spend on the program, and you can stand to benefit from their vendor relationships. If a tool is contracted through the agency, companies can leverage the vetting process of a trusted partner to navigate bureaucracy as well as potential resourcing or tools management challenges internally. 

AI can also potentially help with the project management aspect for employee advocacy execution, with tools such as Taskade automating many of the tasks involved, even including reporting. Many AI tools, such as Stagwell Marketing Cloud’s bespoke solutions, will also sync with a company’s existing social media management tools such as Khoros or Meltwater. Stagwell Marketing Cloud also offers a proprietary AI tool, Trendsetter, which helps identify content ideas around trending topics. 

Measurement 

Challenge: Proving the success of employee advocacy programs can be challenging. Brand sentiment, for example, may not necessarily correspond to a single datapoint. 

Solution: Measuring success will rely on the program’s main objectives — whether it’s increasing brand awareness, sentiment, conversion or even internal metrics such as employee satisfaction or increased recruitments.  

Defining key objectives and setting a benchmark prior to program implementation will be important for determining program success over time. Ensuring that the program ties back to key business objectives (and the goals of internal stakeholders) will help ensure leadership buy-in. 

Making it happen 

While generative AI won’t solve every piece of the social employee advocacy program, it can certainly provide cost-effective solutions at scale that will help streamline efforts and make a strong case for implementation. Paired with a dedicated team to lead the process from both the technology side and the execution side, as well as internal stakeholders to champion the program, you may just have a recipe for success. 

KWT Global offers social employee advocacy program strategic advisory and AI-powered solutions for employee content development at scale in partnership with the Stagwell Marketing Cloud. Reach out to learn how we can support your business objectives.