Your guide to measuring employee advocacy

Traditional employee advocacy programs often rely on surface-level metrics – things like shares, likes, and post counts. While those numbers tell you something, they don’t get to the heart of what matters in trust-driven advocacy: are employee voices actually shaping how people see your brand?

💡Read: How to encourage and empower employees to share real, unfiltered experiences

Key metrics for 2025: what to measure and why

To understand the true value of employee advocacy rooted in authenticity, here are the next-level metrics every program should prioritize – and how to track them:

1. Audience trust surveys (before & after)

What it measures: Whether your advocacy program is actually moving the needle on brand trust and perception.

• Run brief surveys with key external audiences before launching or expanding your employee advocacy program.
• Ask questions like:
  • How trustworthy do you find information shared by [brand] employees?
  • How well do you understand what [brand] does?
  • Would you be more likely to engage with content from employees vs. corporate channels?
• Repeat the survey every 6-12 months to track perception shifts.

Digital tools to help: Typeform, SurveyMonkey, or embedding quick polls on LinkedIn.

2. Linkedin influence scores (personal brand impact)

What it measures: How employee advocacy contributes to employees’ personal brand growth, which directly feeds into company credibility.

• Track changes in:
  • Follower growth – Are employees gaining industry-relevant followers?
  • Profile views – Are employee profiles being visited after they share content?
  • Post engagement from non-employees – Are their posts resonating beyond internal circles?

Why it matters: When employees become visible, credible voices in their field, it benefits both them and the brand. External audiences trust expert voices more than corporate channels.

Digital tools to help: LinkedIn Analytics, EveryoneSocial, Sprout Social.

3. Attribution modeling: from employee posts to pipeline influence

What it measures: Whether employee content plays a role in driving real business outcomes – from website visits to pipeline acceleration.

• Set up trackable links (UTMs) for key campaigns to identify when employee-shared content drives traffic.
• Combine CRM data with social data to see if prospects engage with employee content before becoming leads or customers.
• Track influenced deals – not just direct clicks, but cases where employee posts were part of a buyer’s research journey.

Why it matters: You’re not just measuring awareness, you’re proving that trust-driven content contributes to real business impact.

Digital tools to help: HubSpot, Salesforce, Oktopost, or Bambu.

4. Sentiment analysis: how authentic does your content feel?

What it measures: Whether the content employees share feels genuine and credible to the audience – not forced or overly corporate.

• Use AI-powered sentiment analysis tools to scan employee posts and audience comments.
• Track how often words like “authentic,” “honest,” or “helpful” show up in relation to employee content.
• Pay attention to qualitative feedback in comments — are people thanking employees for insights, asking questions, or sharing their own stories in response?

Why it matters: Positive sentiment and conversational responses are strong indicators that your advocacy program is building real connections, not just driving clicks.

Digital tools to help: Sprinklr, Brandwatch, or Talkwalker.

Connecting the dots: building a full measurement ecosystem

The most successful employee advocacy programs don’t rely on a single metric. Instead, they build a layered measurement approach that captures both hard data (traffic, leads, influence scores) and soft signals (trust, sentiment, conversation quality).

Here’s an example of how a holistic measurement dashboard might look:

Making measurement part of the culture

Measurement shouldn’t just be a marketing exercise – share these insights back with employees. When employees see how their posts directly contribute to both their own career growth and the company’s success, they’ll be more invested in the program’s success.

Some ways to close the loop:

• Monthly advocacy dashboards – Share high-level results with all employees, not just marketing.
• Spotlight success stories – Show how specific employee posts helped shape conversations, influence deals, or spark media coverage.
• Tie results to personal brand growth – Celebrate employees whose advocacy led to speaking invitations, podcast appearances, or external recognition.

💡Read: 5 ways you can use Haiilo Insights & Analytics to increase engagement and prove ROI

The bottom line: measure what matters

Trust-driven advocacy isn’t about going viral – it’s about building long-term credibility for both the brand and the employees behind it. When you combine authentic storytelling with clear measurement, you get the full picture: real voices, real impact, real trust.

In 2025 and beyond, the most successful advocacy programs won’t just count likes, they’ll measure trust earned, influence built, and connections formed.

How can Haiilo help?

Haiilo Advocacy makes it easy for employees to share authentic insights and experiences – the kind that today’s audiences actually believe.

What Haiilo does for you

• Gives employees content they want to share – not corporate scripts
• Makes sharing fast, fun, and natural (no marketing degree required)
• Keeps everyone on-brand with simple, clear guardrails
• Tracks the real impact – not just clicks, but trust and influence

The result?

✅ More credible voices in the market
✅ More trust with your audience
✅ More engaged employees

Marketing is more believable when it comes from your people. 

Haiilo helps you turn employee voices into your most valuable marketing channel.