The Real Influencers in Your Company Are Already on Payroll

The Shift from Corporate Voice to Human Stories

There’s a quiet shift happening on social media.

The top-performing brand content isn’t coming from the brand itself.

It’s coming from employees.

Marketers, account managers, engineers, even interns.

They’re sharing real moments and pulling back the curtain on some of the biggest companies in the world.

And guess what - it’s working!

Scroll through TikTok or YouTube Reels.

Which posts make you stop and watch?

The “obviously this is an ad” video from the verified brand account?

Or the “day in my life as an intern at Big Company” video?

Let’s look at two examples:

@pepsi

Not all heroes wear capes. Some wear koozie holsters.

@blazerera

A day in the life as a Deloitte intern #internship #summer #job #deloitte #big4 #corporate #dayinmylife #intern

Pepsi (2.9 million followers) brought in 9,487 views on the video above.

An intern at Deloitte (2,157 followers) racked up 947,900 views on her day in the life video.

And that’s something no brand campaign can replicate at scale.

We’re entering the era of employee-generated content (EGC), and the smartest brands are building systems around it.

Ready to create your system? Read on for my free 30-day guide to building your EGC system.

The Breakdown: Why EGC Works

Let’s be blunt.

If your team needs approval to post a TikTok but your CEO can tweet unfiltered, your content strategy is broken.

People trust people.

And in 2025, consumers and candidates don’t care about overproduced videos or heavily edited content.

They care about brand proof.

Are you allowing your team the freedom to grow your business?

Everyone is watching:
- Customers
- Future employees
- Investors
- Competitors

Why this matters:

• 48% of Gen Z and Millennials have applied to jobs they found via social media

• 50% of employed Americans say they’d share company content if given the chance
  (Source: CareerArc / Harris Poll – see visual below)

When employees share their real experiences, it:

• Humanizes your brand

• Builds credibility faster than paid media ever could

• Drives actual outcomes: hiring, engagement, and pipeline

But if you don't systematize it, you'll never scale it.

How to Build a High-Leverage EGC System in 30 Days

Last week I was asked how I would create an EGC system, so I broke it down.

Here’s the 4-week roadmap:

Week 1: Identify your internal creators

• Find 5–10 employees already posting on LinkedIn, TikTok, or IG

• Prioritize those who create content naturally and speak well

• Titles don’t matter here, look for great communicators across the org

Week 2: Set lightweight brand guardrails

• Publish a 1-page EGC Guide: voice/tone, disclosure reminders, do/don’t list

• Share examples of what good looks like (and what doesn’t)

• Encourage creativity, don’t overengineer it

Week 3: Spotlight and reward the best

• Feature top-performing posts in internal channels

• Celebrate creativity in town halls, emails, and team retros

• Provide simple incentives: shoutouts, swag, leadership visibility

Week 4: Track, compare, scale

• Measure EGC performance vs. branded posts

• Monitor job board clicks, referral activity, and inbound candidate quality

• Double down on what’s working and refine with feedback

The Toolbox: Sprinklr for Real-Time Brand Intelligence

You can’t scale what you don’t track.

But how can you track all of this content when it doesn’t come directly from your account?

Before you activate 100 creators inside your org, use a tool like Sprinklr to help you monitor:

• What content’s working

• What’s going off-brand

• What’s catching fire across your category

Use it to:

• Surface employee posts gaining traction

• Track share of voice vs. competitors

• Spot sentiment shifts and category trends early

👉 Explore Sprinklr →

Curated Signal: Employees as Influencers

Forbes - Employees As Influencers: The Rise of Employee-Generated Content

“From office fit checks to lunchtime chats – the content offers a behind-the-scenes look at the people who work at the brands their followers love. Often, the content has nothing to do with the actual product.”

Translation: your internal team is your most underutilized distribution channel.

Wrap Up

Your people don’t just represent the brand.

They are the brand.

If you want to build trust, create reach, and drive meaningful engagement, look to your team.

Start enabling them to speak.

Your employees already influence your brand, whether you enable it or not.

So ask yourself this:

If you don’t trust your employees to post, why would a customer trust your brand?

Until next time,
Mac

When you’re ready, here’s how I can help you:

1. Further reading. Check out my articles written for modern marketers.

2. Foster & Co. services. I work with marketing teams inside agencies, growth-stage startups and public companies.

3. Share CMO 3.0 with your team or network – Know someone who’d benefit from smarter marketing insights? Send them this link and help them level up.