Why B2B brands are letting employees take the mic

Brand content is hitting a ceiling

For years, B2B marketing teams have invested in high-quality branded content, confident that polish equates to performance. But over the past year, that assumption has started to unravel. Across platforms—especially LinkedIn and TikTok—brand posts are being deprioritized, while individual voices are rising to the top of feeds.

A report from MSL Group found that employee-shared content generates eight times more engagement than brand posts. LinkedIn’s own internal benchmarking supports this. Senior leaders on the platform see engagement rates of around 6 percent, while most company pages sit between one and two percent.

The difference comes down to credibility and platform design. Audiences trust people more than they trust logos. Platforms are designed to amplify content from individuals. As those factors converge, employee-generated content (EGC) is no longer a marketing experiment. It’s becoming a more effective baseline than the brand voice itself.

What makes EGC work now

There’s a fundamental difference between asking employees to re-share a brand message and encouraging them to create their own. EGC works best when the content feels personal and unfiltered—built on real experience, not repackaged messaging.

At iScanner, a mobile document platform, the marketing team found that externally produced user content underperformed significantly when compared to how-to videos created by employees. One explainer video on PDF editor features, posted on TikTok by a staff member, drove over 250,000 views. According to the brand, employee-created product videos consistently delivered 30 times more engagement than polished user testimonials.

The best-performing content tends to be simple and rooted in subject matter. Event takeaways, technical explainers, and product walkthroughs remain staples. What’s changed is who delivers them. When the voice comes from an insider, the information feels more reliable. That holds especially true for industries where knowledge is a differentiator—consulting, cybersecurity, data tools, and workflow platforms among them.

LinkedIn is where credibility converts

Nowhere is the EGC shift more visible than on LinkedIn. The platform has become the default space for professional content, and it’s quietly prioritizing posts from individuals over companies.

At Omnisend, a brand manager with a modest 3,000 followers posted a reflection on her work. That single post reached over 31,000 people and earned nearly 60,000 impressions—most of which came from professionals in their target market. The same message posted on the corporate page reached fewer than 2,000 users, despite being backed by ad spend.

This pattern is playing out across B2B sectors. Individual contributors are getting more eyes on content than their brand pages can, even with paid support. The platform’s engagement model rewards relatability, speed and personality—qualities that rarely survive the layers of brand approval and editing.

EGC isn’t just for thought leadership

The model also holds on platforms with very different dynamics. TikTok, known for entertainment-first content, has become fertile ground for corporate humor, behind-the-scenes videos and cultural commentary—all through the lens of employees.

ClickUp, a project management platform, has built a recognizable tone on TikTok through skits featuring internal teams. The content centers on workplace tropes: tension between Sales and Marketing, project overload, chaotic team calls. These sketches land because they reflect real frustrations—and because the people in them actually work at the company. The result is a stronger connection between audience and product benefit.

This kind of content isn’t about showcasing leadership or product specs. It’s about making the brand relatable, which in turn makes it memorable. That relatability has strategic value, especially for companies looking to build awareness with younger professionals who are skeptical of overt marketing.

Revenue impact matters more than reach

Engagement metrics alone don’t make a strategy sustainable. For EGC to move from trend to budget line, it needs to drive business outcomes—and that’s starting to happen.

CBIZ, a professional services firm, structured its employee advocacy program to align with revenue goals. Using Oktopost to scale and manage the initiative, they attributed over $800,000 in influenced revenue to employee-led social selling in 2024. These were not isolated cases of virality. The returns came from repeatable behaviors: timely posts, expert commentary, and relevant interaction with prospective clients.

What made the program effective was that it didn’t try to make every employee a content creator. It focused on those already active on social platforms and gave them tools to post efficiently. When done well, this type of enablement shortens the distance between marketing and sales.

Employee content works best when it reflects internal reality

Employee-generated content can deliver strong returns, but it isn’t universally applicable. Its success depends on whether employees already have something meaningful to say—and whether the organization is willing to support that visibility. Forcing participation when teams aren’t active on social media, or layering content expectations on top of unclear brand messaging, tends to create confusion rather than connection.

B2B marketers should assess what’s already happening across the organization. Are subject matter experts sharing insights organically? Are those posts generating engagement from relevant audiences? If so, there’s likely a foundation to build on. But scaling EGC requires more than enthusiasm. It calls for internal trust, clear guidance, and a plan for measuring value without over-policing tone.

The companies getting it right are treating EGC as a strategic channel. They start with the people who are naturally close to the customer conversation, give them tools to share with confidence, and focus on quality over volume. For others, the opportunity may lie elsewhere—and that’s a valid outcome. EGC is a tactic, not a mandate. The real question is whether your employees are already shaping perception—and whether your marketing strategy is listening.