LinkedIn’s change in persona from being a networking platform to a personal branding platform was something the world didn’t see coming. Which is exactly why LinkedIn has become the favorite digital channel for business.

Rewind to a year ago, founders and CEOs took over the platform for founder-led content. But now, scroll through LinkedIn and you’ll notice more employees sharing insights, experiences, and behind-the-scenes perspectives than ever before.

People across teams, consultants, engineers, project leads, marketers, are showing up with their own voice, their own perspective, and their own way of explaining what they do.

There’s a reason for that - people pay attention to people in a way they don’t with company posts. A well-written update from an individual often travels further and lands better, than a polished brand message.

So naturally, more businesses are starting to explore it. But this is also where things get slightly unclear.

Because while the idea sounds simple, the way it’s often approached feels forced, inconsistent, or difficult to sustain.

What is EGC and what does it look like

Unlike UGC (user-generated content), employee generated content is not a campaign or a format. It’s just how a business is portrayed through its people, and it can take many forms. It could be:

A project manager sharing what went into delivering a complex piece of work.
An engineer breaking down a technical challenge in a way others can understand.
A consultant reflecting on a client conversation or a recurring industry problem.
A team member documenting small, everyday moments that rarely make it onto a company page.

Most often, these posts aren’t as polished or overly structured as the typical ‘personal branding’ posts. And that’s exactly where its value comes from.

These pieces of content come from conversations and ground reality of that particular person. That’s what makes it different from traditional brand content.

Where brand content is usually designed to represent the business as a whole, Employee Generated Content reflects how the business is actually experienced within.

You start to see:

how people think
how they approach their work
what they notice, question, or care about

And over time, that builds a much clearer picture of the business than a set of static brand messages ever could.

It also changes how a business is understood before a conversation begins. Instead of encountering a brand through a single, controlled message, people come across multiple perspectives, each adding a layer of context.

They begin to recognise:

the depth of expertise behind the work
the way problems are approached
the thinking that sits behind decisions

Where most companies get EGC wrong

Once businesses recognise the value of EGC, the next instinct is to ‘roll it out’, and that’s where things start to lose their shape because it is like trying to involve everyone at once.

On paper, it sounds like a strong idea because more voices = more visibility, but the reality is it often leads to hesitation, inconsistency, or silence.

Not everyone is comfortable sharing their thoughts publicly, and not everyone needs to. And when participation feels expected rather than natural, the content reflects that.

Then there’s this question of control.

To maintain consistency, many businesses introduce guidelines, approvals, or pre-written templates – and again the intention makes sense.

But the result is often content that feels overly structured, overly cautious, and difficult to distinguish from the brand's voice it was meant to complement.

Another pattern that shows up is ghostwriting everything. Posts are written centrally and then distributed across employee profiles with minor tweaks. While this creates activity, it rarely creates connection.

Because the voice, the perspective, and the nuance that make these posts valuable in the first place are missing.

And finally, there’s the expectation around outcomes. Most often, EGC is often treated like a campaign, with targets, timelines, and immediate performance expectations.

But it doesn’t work that way. It builds gradually, through consistency, familiarity, and repeated exposure to how people within a business think and communicate.

How to do EGC and the best practices

If you’re looking to get started with employee generated content, the goal isn’t to build a full system from day one. Give the chosen people the right conditions and let it take shape naturally.

#1. Start with the people who are already inclined to share.

There’s usually a small group within any organisation that is curious, expressive, or comfortable putting their thoughts into words. That’s where this works best in the beginning.

#2. Give directions but don’t get everything scripted.

It helps to provide clarity on what kind of content is useful - experiences, learnings, observations - but without prescribing how it should be said. The more rigid the structure, the more it starts to lose the very quality that makes it effective.

#3. Make it easy to sustain.

One of the reasons this falls apart is because it becomes an ‘extra task’ along with their other work responsibilities. Instead, anchor it in what’s already happening. Guide the employees to write when:

a project completed
a challenge solved
Had a conversation worth reflecting on and such.

When content comes from real moments, it’s easier to maintain, and far more relevant.

#4. Support the process, even if it’s informal.

Not everyone needs a full content plan, but a bit of guidance goes a long way. this could be as simple as:

helping shape ideas
giving feedback
or even encouraging consistency without pressure

The role of the business here isn’t to control the output, but to enable it.

#5. Give it time. This isn’t something that shows results in a few weeks.

What builds over time is familiarity, and the growth might not be obviously visible. People begin to recognise names, perspectives, and ways of thinking. And that recognition tends to carry forward into conversations, enquiries, and opportunities.

For a long time, marketing has been built around control. Carefully written messaging, structured campaigns, and a clearly defined brand voice that remains consistent across every touchpoint.

EGC sits slightly outside of that system. Because it introduces something that is harder to standardise. Different people bring different ways of explaining the same work, different levels of clarity, and different styles of communication. That lack of uniformity can feel uncomfortable at first, especially for B2B businesses that are used to maintaining tight control over how they are presented.

But that is also where its strength lies.

In an environment where most communication is carefully constructed, what feels real tends to stand out. Over time, this changes how a business is perceived, not through a single, controlled message, but through repeated exposure to how people within the organisation think, speak, and approach their work.

That kind of familiarity is difficult to replicate through traditional brand content alone.

If you’re thinking about doing this, it helps to think of it less as a content strategy and more as a reflection of how your business is willing to be seen. Because what people respond to is not just what you say, but how consistently it feels like it comes from a real place.

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Employee Generated Content (EGC): Where to Start (and What Most Get Wrong)