I’ve audited a lot of advocacy programs over the past years. They all make the same mistake: they design for one type of participant and expect everyone to fit.
It never works.
Some companies aim too high. They expect every participant to create original content, post weekly, and build a following. It’s the best way to burn out 80% of the participants before you even get started.
Others aim too low. A few likes and shares, and some additional followers on the company page. The people who want to create get bored and disengage.
Either way, participation drops, skepticism grows, and the program dies.
Richard van der Blom and I spent a long time looking at this problem. Why do most programs fail to sustain engagement beyond the first quarter? The answer turned out to be people, not content or tools.
The result is a framework we call VIBE.
Four levels of advocacy
Voice. Influence. Boost. Engage. Four levels of participation, each with expectations that match what people are willing and able to do.
Voices are the thought leaders
These are people with deep expertise who are building serious professional authority. They create in-depth content, speak at events or star as a guest on a podcast, and develop and share original perspectives. Typically, you can find them on LinkedIn with 2-3 major pieces of content per week.
The mistake I see companies make is assuming Voices are always executives. They’re not. It could also be the specialist who solved complex problems or the consultant who built innovative processes. Expertise lives throughout organisations, and what sets these people apart isn’t their title. It’s that they’re willing to invest.
Influencers are the brand ambassadors
This level consists of professionals who create original content regularly but aren’t aiming to become industry voices. They share project successes, add perspectives on trends, and bring context when they share company content. Typically, they are active on LinkedIn by engaging with other people and sharing two to four original posts per month.
Boost, aka the engagement advocates
People who amplify what others create, with thoughtful comments, strategic shares or a simple like. They spend some time on LinkedIn, mainly engaging with what their colleagues have posted.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking this level isn’t important. Engagement Advocates are a substantial percentage of your program, and algorithms favour quick engagement. When Engagement Advocates interact with posts from Thought Leaders and Brand Ambassadors, they multiply visibility.
Engage, the potential promoters
This level has two groups in it:
- The internal promoters, who won’t post or comment, but will repost content if you ask them to.
- The external promoters, such as partners, stakeholders, and collaborators.
Both serve the same strategic purpose, but they differ fundamentally in relationship, activation approach, and management.
External engagement carries more algorithmic weight than internal engagement. On LinkedIn, a reaction from someone outside your organisation is valued roughly 1.6x more than a reaction from a colleague. This makes external promoters disproportionately valuable for reach and credibility, even at low activity levels.
Your partners, clients, and industry peers are worth more to your program’s reach and credibility than another ten employees hitting the like button.
But you can’t manage external promoters through an advocacy platform. They’re not employees, so you can’t assign them content or add them to a dashboard.
External promotion is relationship-based. It works through co-creation, strategic planning, shared events, and content that serves both parties. The moment it feels transactional, credibility is gone.
People choose their own level
One principle that makes VIBE work is that people choose their own level, based on their capacity and motivation.
Force people into roles they don’t fit, and they either burn out or check out. Create clear levels with appropriate expectations, and people find where they belong. The VIBE framework accepts people where they are and gives room to grow to the next level.
For example, an Engagement Advocate might experiment with creating content and move to Brand Ambassador. A Brand Ambassador develops confidence and steps into Thought Leadership. But only when they’re ready and only because they want to.
How each layer builds on another
We’ve tested this, and ignoring it is why many employee advocacy programs fail.
Without Voices, there’s nothing original to share. Without Boost and Engage, even strong content gets limited reach. Without the external track, you’re missing the highest-value trust signals. Each layer makes the others more effective.
I noticed that many companies are putting all their energy into creating more Thought Leaders. That’s the wrong focus. The real opportunity is activating the Boost and Engage levels that make existing content travel, and building the external relationships that give it credibility.
Two questions for your next review
If you’re running an advocacy program, I’d suggest you look at two things.
- Are your participants in the right level? Are you expecting Engagement Advocates to create content they don’t want to create? Are your Brand Ambassadors bored with activities designed for beginners?
- And the harder one: have you mapped your external promoter ecosystem, or are you running a purely internal program and missing the most valuable engagement you could get?
The companies I see winning at advocacy aren’t the ones with the most creators. They’re the ones where every type of participant contributes at the level that works for them. That’s when the whole system compounds.
Sounds interesting? Let’s have a chat about how you can improve your next employee advocacy program.