Employee Advocacy asked people to share. ALG gives them a reason to.
Employee advocacy and ALG look similar on the surface - both involve people sharing on behalf of a company. The mechanics underneath are completely different.
This isn't a takedown of EA. Many teams have built real programs with real results. ALG is a different motion with a different architecture - and understanding where they diverge helps you decide which one fits.
Activated at a completion moment - employees, attendees, community members, partners
What they share
Company content
Pre-written posts, blog links, product announcements
Their own experience
A credential earned, an event attended, a milestone hit - their story, their voice
When
Random Tuesday
Whenever the queue fills up or a manager sends a reminder
The Belief Window
Immediately after a completion moment, when sharing feels natural
Why they do it
They were asked
Obligation, manager pressure, gamification points
It serves them
Credentials, professional visibility, recognition, economic access
Unit
The individual
One person, one post, one notification
The cohort
A group sharing the same experience - cascade effect amplifies each share
Distribution
LinkedIn only
Single platform, ephemeral posts
Signal ecosystem
LinkedIn, reviews, forums, communities, blogs - persistent and compounding
Compounds?
No
Decays through burnout. Participation drops over time.
Yes
Each cycle's participants become the next cycle's advocates. The loop feeds itself.
The test
How many shared?
A number you can report once
Would they still share if you removed your name?
A rate you can compound forever
Who shares
Who is doing the sharing - and did they choose to?
Employee Advocacy
Employees, prompted by a platform or manager. The pool is fixed to your headcount.
ALG
Any participant - employees, event attendees, community members, partners. The pool grows as participation grows.
What they share
Is it the company's story or theirs?
Employee Advocacy
Company content - pre-written posts, blog links, product announcements. The employee is the distribution channel.
ALG
Their own experience - a credential earned, a milestone completed, an event attended. The company benefits as a side effect.
Timing
When does the sharing happen?
Employee Advocacy
Whenever the content queue fills up. Disconnected from any real moment or emotion.
ALG
At the Belief Window - the brief period after completing something real, when sharing feels like self-expression, not obligation.
Motivation
Why would someone actually do this?
Employee Advocacy
They were asked. Manager pressure, gamification points, team obligation. Motivation is external.
ALG
It serves their own interest - credentials, professional visibility, economic access. Motivation is intrinsic.
Compounding
Does it get easier or harder over time?
Employee Advocacy
Harder. Participation decays through burnout. The same ask gets staler every week. Programs plateau or die.
ALG
Easier. Each cycle's participants become the next cycle's advocates. Repeat advocates share more, reach grows, conversion improves.
The test
How do you know which one you're running?
Employee Advocacy
You count shares and report the number. The number goes up when you push harder, down when you don't.
ALG
You ask: if we removed our company name from the share, would the person still want to post it? If yes, you're running ALG.
The bottom line
Employee advocacy turns your team into a distribution channel. ALG turns your participants into a growth engine. One is a tactic you manage. The other is a motion that compounds.
The real question isn't which to choose. It's whether you want a number you report quarterly, or a rate that improves every cycle.