Hi social pro 👋

Employee content has gone from a scrappy side project to a real budget line, with Starbucks and Gap both now giving staff ways to earn from their posts. But once there’s money behind it, views alone won’t tell you whether it’s working.

This week we’re looking at what the comment section can tell you instead, with four questions to ask of your employee content - from whether it still feels genuine to whether it’s actually getting people through the door.

Let’s get into it 👇

— Brett

From the feed: How to tell if you’re employee content is actually working

Employee-generated content has been around for as long as employees have had phones. What's changed this year is that brands have started putting real money and structure behind it.

Starbucks signed up as the first brand to pilot TikTok's new Custom Creator Networks, grouping its barista creators into a network it can send creative briefs to. It builds on the Green Apron Creators Program, which already lets Starbucks employees earn extra money by posting about their jobs. Meanwhile in July, Gap Inc. opened its creator affiliate program to employees across Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta, so staff can now earn commission on the content they post.

Once EGC becomes a budget line, it has to justify itself like any other. Views and follower growth will tell you whether employee content is being seen. But they won't tell you whether people trust it, whether they like the people in it, or whether it's getting anyone through the door.

Luckily, the comment section can answer all three. Here are the four questions to ask of it.

1. Are people connecting with the employee, the brand, or both?

Comments on employee content tend to mix two kinds of reaction. Some are about the person: their personality, their sense of humor, how good they are at their job. Others are about the brand: the product they're making, the store they're in, the company they work for.

Both are good news, but they mean different things. If almost every comment is about the employee, the audience has found a person they like, and that affinity may not carry over to the brand. If people talk about the employee and the product in the same breath, the content is doing both jobs at once.

Picture a fashion retailer whose store associate posts styling videos. A comment section full of praise for her taste is great for her following. A comment section where people ask which store she works in and whether the jacket comes in other colors is great for the brand. Separating the two is the first step in understanding what your employee content is actually building.

2. Does it still feel real now that it’s paid?

The appeal of employee content has always been that it feels unpolished and genuine. Paying people to post puts that at risk, and audiences are quick to notice when something starts to feel like an ad.

Comments are the clearest early warning. Look for people saying the content feels forced, scripted, or written by a marketing team. Watch the positive side too. When people talk about an employee's personality, their humor, or the small details of their day, the authenticity is still there.

Tracking the balance between the two over time is especially useful for brands moving from organic EGC to a paid program. If comments about authenticity start to turn after commission kicks in, the brief is probably too tight.

3. Are comments turning into visits and purchases?

sales data. People ask which store a video was filmed in, whether a product is still in stock, or where they can find the thing the employee is holding.

When a Staples employee - now known as Staples Baddie - went viral on TikTok, people flooded her comments with proof they'd visited a store because of her. One commenter admitted they'd never thought about going into a Staples until her videos.

A view count can't show you that. Tracking comments like these, and how often they appear, gives brands a much closer read on whether employee content is driving footfall than reach ever will.

4. What do people love about each employee?

Not every employee connects with audiences in the same way. One might be loved for their humor, another for how much they know about the product, another for showing what happens behind the counter.

Tracking comments across each person's content shows what audiences respond to in each of them. Picture a brand with six store employees posting regularly. One gets comments asking for more product tips, while another gets comments from people who just want their commentary on a busy shift. Those are two different strengths, and giving both employees the same brief wastes one of them.

What the comments tell you can help every employee play to their strengths, instead of squeezing everyone into the same format.

Keeping what makes it work

Employee content works because people trust people more than they trust brands. As more brands put budgets behind it, the risk is that the things that made it work in the first place, like personality, spontaneity and the sense that nobody from marketing is involved, get lost along the way.

The comment section is where you'll see that happening first, and where you'll see what's working well enough to do more of. Your employees bring the content, and Siftsy shows you how it's landing.