LinkedIn’s sunset on employee advocacy tools: Strategies for B2B marketers

Harnessing the power of employee advocacy in B2B social media

B2B Social Media marketers are constantly seeking innovative ways to amplify their brand’s message and expand their reach on social media platforms. One strategy that has gained significant traction in the last couple of years is employee advocacy. This powerful approach transforms employees into brand ambassadors, leveraging their personal networks to share company content, insights, and values.

Employee advocacy is more than just a buzzword; it’s a game-changer in B2B social media marketing. Employees sharing company content typically receive 8 times more engagement than content shared through brand channels. Even more, employee-generated content can reach an audience of 561% larger than the content shared on official company channels.

As social media algorithms continue to prioritize personal connections over branded content, employee advocacy has become an essential tool for B2B companies looking to:

1. Increase organic reach and engagement
2. Build brand trust and credibility
3. Attract top talent
4. Generate quality leads
5. Enhance thought leadership

However, implementing and managing an effective employee advocacy program can be challenging without the right tools and strategies. This is especially true given recent changes to popular social media platforms, which have prompted many B2B marketers to reevaluate their approach to employee advocacy.

In this article, we’ll explore the implications of LinkedIn’s recent announcement regarding sundowning its employee advocacy features and discuss how B2B companies can adapt their strategies to continue leveraging the power of employee advocacy.

LinkedIn’s recent announcement regarding the discontinuation of the My Company tab and Employee Advocacy Analytics presents a significant opportunity for businesses to leverage Oktopost’s employee advocacy solution. This LinkedIn platform change will undoubtedly impact social media managers using LinkedIn for company pages and organic social media, prompting them to seek alternative solutions for employee advocacy.

This is the time to upgrade to a comprehensive employee advocacy solution

In light of LinkedIn’s changes, Oktopost’s employee advocacy platform emerges as an even more valuable tool for businesses.

Here’s why:

Seamless Transition: As LinkedIn phases out its employee advocacy features, Oktopost offers a robust and comprehensive solution that can easily fill the gap.

Enhanced Analytics: While LinkedIn recommends exporting analytics data before November 2024, Oktopost provides ongoing, in-depth analytics for employee advocacy efforts, safekeeping your data year over year on the platform.

Centralized Management: Oktopost’s platform allows social media managers to efficiently coordinate and manage employee advocacy programs across multiple social networks, not just LinkedIn

Increased Organic Reach: With Oktopost, businesses can amplify their content through employee networks, effectively increasing their organic reach beyond what LinkedIn’s native tools offer.

Advanced AI tools for Advocates: Advanced AI for Advocates gives employee advocates an easy way to create and fine-tune the content they want to share quickly and easily.

In B2B, having advocates who consistently share relevant and thought-provoking content can dramatically increase your brand’s social reach and credibility. The challenge has always been balancing authenticity with efficiency. Marketers need to empower their advocates to share meaningful content without turning them into full-time marketers.

Why choose Oktopost now?

LinkedIn’s decision to discontinue the Employee Advocacy tab has several important implications for companies using the platform for employee advocacy:

1. Loss of built-in advocacy tools: Companies will no longer have access to LinkedIn’s native employee advocacy features, requiring them to find alternative solutions
2. Need for data export: Organizations must export their Employee Advocacy analytics data in 2024 to retain historical performance metrics
3. Transition to external solutions: Companies will need to explore third-party employee advocacy platforms or develop their own systems to continue their advocacy efforts
4. Changes in admin roles on the company page: The curator admin role will be discontinued, with those users transitioning to analyst roles
5. Shift in content distribution: Companies will need to find new ways to curate and distribute content for employees to share.
6. Potential impact on organic reach: Without LinkedIn’s built-in advocacy tools, companies may see a decrease in organic reach through employee networks
7. Opportunity for more comprehensive solutions: This change opens the door for companies to adopt more robust employee advocacy platforms with additional features and analytics
8. Increased focus on alternative engagement methods: Companies will need to explore other ways to engage employees on LinkedIn, such as resharing employee posts and notifying employees of important company updates1.
9. Potential for improved cross-platform advocacy: By adopting external solutions, companies may be able to expand their employee advocacy efforts beyond just LinkedIn to other social networks
10. Need for updated employee advocacy strategies: Organizations will need to reassess and potentially revamp their employee advocacy programs to adapt to the new landscape
11. These implications highlight the need for companies to proactively plan for the transition and explore alternative solutions to maintain and potentially enhance their employee advocacy efforts on LinkedIn and beyond.

The discontinuation of LinkedIn’s employee advocacy features makes Oktopost an even smarter choice:

With Oktopost, you can ensure your employee advocacy efforts continue uninterrupted and gain access to features beyond LinkedIn’s basic offerings. You will be able to leverage employee advocacy across various social media platforms, including X, Facebook, Instagram, and more. You will maintain long-term access to valuable analytics and insights inside the platform.

By adopting Oktopost’s employee advocacy solution, you can mitigate the impact of LinkedIn’s changes and enhance your overall social media strategy and employee engagement efforts.