Explore how Daniel Kushner, CEO of Oktopost, leverages employee advocacy to drive authentic engagement, measurable results, and B2B growth.
Daniel, you have 20 years in B2B marketing. Could you share your professional background and how your experiences from your career eventually led you to co-found Oktopost?
My career has always centered on technology and marketing, and I’ve been fortunate to work with fast-growing B2B organizations during times of significant change. Early on, I noticed that B2B marketers, with little effort, were able to measure business impact on traditional tactics such as email marketing, trade shows, and webinars, while social media was void of measurable outcomes.
It was clear that B2B companies needed a way to measure the business impact of social media with the same sophistication as other marketing channels. That realization led me to co-found Oktopost: a platform designed not only to schedule posts but also to prove business value, connect marketing and sales, and empower employees as trusted voices in their networks. The vision was simple: to help B2B organizations thrive in digital marketing by making social media a measurable and strategic driver of growth.
Do you currently encourage employees to share company-related content on their personal or professional platforms?
Absolutely, and not only do we encourage it, we also enable it. Executive and employee advocacy is embedded in our culture at Oktopost. Every employee has access to resources that make it easy to share content on LinkedIn, Facebook, or any platform where their professional networks are active. We don’t see advocacy as extra work. It is part of how we represent the company. We offer the same resources and technology to our customers as well.
It is important to emphasize that advocacy is not about blindly promoting corporate messaging. Advocacy includes thought leadership topics, industry research, customer success stories, and company news. We encourage employees to share their perspectives across various content types, helping them build their professional digital footprint on social media. When people bring their own insights to the content, it becomes authentic, and that authenticity is what drives trust and engagement.
How confident are you in the authenticity of brand representation through those individual shares?
Very confident, because authenticity does not come from perfect messaging. It comes from people. When employees share content, they do not simply replicate the brand voice. They adapt it to their own networks, adding context and commentary that strengthen the message.
Consider this: if you read a white paper on a company’s page, you might skim it. But if a peer you trust shares that same piece with their perspective, saying, “I found this especially useful for this challenge,” you are much more likely to pay attention. That is the advantage of individual voices.
What strategies do you use to empower your workforce to act as brand ambassadors?
Empowering employees begins with providing them with education and training. When people understand both the purpose and the value of advocacy, they are far more likely to embrace it. The second layer is access. We make advocacy simple by providing easy-to-use tools that curate and organize content in line with strategy. Instead of spending time figuring out what to post, employees can focus on adding their perspective, their opinion, their experience. When they see their contributions matter and they have the freedom to adapt messaging, participation grows naturally.
Finally, empowerment is cultural. Advocacy cannot feel like an assignment handed down from leadership. It has to feel like a shared responsibility that people want to be part of. We celebrate employee contributions, highlight success stories internally, and ensure leadership leads by example. When executives are visibly active on social platforms, it sends a strong signal that advocacy is not a marketing tactic but part of how we tell our story as a company.
Have you seen measurable increases in visibility or engagement as a result of advocacy efforts within the organization?
Yes, the results speak for themselves. Posts shared by employees consistently receive higher interaction, leading to more impressions, click-throughs, and engagement.
The impact goes beyond visibility. Advocacy has helped generate inbound leads, accelerate sales cycles, and strengthen customer relationships. For example, when a customer success manager shares a client’s success story, it not only highlights the value of our platform but also builds trust with that client. Advocacy has become one of our strongest growth drivers.
In your experience, does content shared by individuals within the company generate more engagement than posts from official brand channels?
Without question. People trust people, not logos. Data shows that shared by individuals generates far more engagement because it feels relatable and trustworthy. A brand channel is often seen as promotional, while an employee’s post is valued as a genuine recommendation.
This does not mean that brand channels are unimportant. They provide consistency and authority. But impactful amplification occurs when employees join the conversation.
How do you ensure that what’s being shared aligns with your brand voice and values?
It is about balance. Employees are familiar with our messaging and values, but we encourage them to personalize their approach. That way, the brand is consistently represented while the employee’s authentic voice comes through. We provide clear guidelines, not scripts, around what good advocacy looks like. This gives employees confidence that they are representing the brand responsibly while still being themselves.
What challenges have you encountered when trying to activate internal advocates?
The biggest challenge is initial hesitation. Many employees worry about saying the wrong thing, or they underestimate the value of their own voice. Some also feel they do not have time to engage on social media.
We overcome this with education and leadership by example, which we call executive advocacy. When executives actively share and demonstrate the impact of advocacy, they set the tone for the company and encourage employees to do the same. Once employees see the personal benefits, such as greater visibility in their industry or stronger professional networks, they often move from hesitant to enthusiastic.
Do you believe that voices from within the company contribute to positioning your brand as a credible industry thought leader?
Absolutely. Advocacy humanizes the business. A corporate post might highlight a trend, but when an engineer or marketer shares their personal take on that trend, it positions the company as one filled with experts, not just a company with a product.
Thought leadership today is less about polished reports and keynote speeches and more about ongoing conversations and opinions based on experience. These are strongest when they come from those who are doing the work. Internal voices are the most powerful proof of credibility.
What advice would you give to B2B marketing leaders who are just beginning to explore employee advocacy programs?
For marketing leaders starting with employee advocacy, setting it up correctly is critical. Set clear goals, make participation simple, and choose technology that works for both managers and advocates. It should be easy to use, show employees what others are sharing, and integrate with tools like Slack, Teams, Outreach, and email so advocacy fits naturally into the workflow.
Running the program means maintaining steady participation. Momentum can drop, so it is important to refresh content, incorporate gamification, and recognize top advocates to keep energy high. Company-wide recognition and periodic campaigns help re-engage employees and bring new participants into the program. Work with your executive team to lead by example, because when executives advocate, employees are more likely to follow their leadership.
Measurement is where advocacy proves its value. Track participation and engagement for gamification and recognition, but also focus on business impact. The right technology should provide clear reporting to show how advocacy contributes to reach, engagement, pipeline, and sales. With the proper setup, advocacy can quickly become a core part of your B2B marketing strategy and a key driver in every campaign you launch.
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A quote or advice from the author:-
Keep advocacy easy, keep it engaging, and measure the results. With executive support and the right technology, advocacy turns from a marketing tactic into a company-wide growth engine.
Daniel Kushner, CEO at Oktopost
Daniel Kushner is a B2B marketing strategist, entrepreneur, and author of The Social B2B Organization. He is best known as the CEO and Co-Founder of Oktopost, the only social media management platform purpose-built for B2B companies. With over two decades of experience leading go-to-market teams in global tech organizations, Daniel brings hands-on expertise and a passion for helping marketers prove the business impact of social. Outside of work, you will find him tinkering with things that carry a voltage LinkedIn.
