Your employees are your biggest untapped resource.
Employees are ambassadors for the brand they work for, and more and more, consumers are turning to the employees’ content to learn about a business and form an opinion about it. Employees shouldn’t be an afterthought in your PR plans; they should be an essential part of your strategy.
This comes as no surprise to the Media Minefield team, who has been on the leading edge of employee social media training and named this one of our 2026 PR predictions. Now we have the facts to back our claim.
Treat Employees as Influencers
A recent study shows that consumers trust employees more than brands. According to the Harris Poll research of U.S. adults:
- 78% say employee posts are more authentic than corporate accounts
- 74% are more likely to apply to a job with the company if they see real employee posts
- 70% are more likely to buy from the brand after seeing employee posts
Despite their influence, many employees don’t feel comfortable posting on social media about their career or company. That same study shows that 64% never post on social media due to fear, discomfort or personal boundaries.
Create Space for Employee Storytelling
Leaders need to open the door and create an environment where employees feel empowered and want to post about their insights and experiences. Executives can pave the way by posting themselves and modeling how to create a positive online presence.
Give employees the opportunity to share content that’s authentic to their experience and their role. Create experiences that showcase your company culture. Offer them opportunities to grow and learn new things. Share exciting new services or products with them first, and encourage them to share about it when you’re ready to announce publicly.
Mandating or incentivizing employee engagement on social media won’t get the results you’re looking for. If employees feel pressured, they won’t be authentic in their posts. Consumers can smell authenticity from a mile away, so you must empower your employees. If you’re not sure where to start, training sessions can give your team the tools they need to post with confidence.
AI Makes LinkedIn More Powerful
AI is changing the way your brand is found and perceived online. A recent study shows that LinkedIn is the second most-cited source across all AI search engines, falling only behind Reddit.
Not all LinkedIn content is cited by AI. The posts that are cited the most by ChatGPT and Google AI are posts from people. Make sure your post is long enough to share original ideas, educational content or practical advice. And please don’t use AI to write your posts. Even AI doesn’t like AI content!
Bottom Line:
- Employees are ambassadors for your brand; empower them to post on social media
- Executives lead the way and set an example with online engagement
- Provide opportunities and training to encourage authentic content from employees
- Use LinkedIn to spread your brand’s message via AI search