Semrush
An employee advocacy program was designed and launched at Semrush by Anastasiia Yashchenko, Co-Founder of Brandlifts. In just 6 months, 9M organic impressions were generated through employee-generated content — with no paid amplification — and website traffic was increased by 20%.
The challenge
Untapped reach sitting inside the company
Semrush is one of the most recognized names in the SEO and digital marketing space — but like many SaaS companies, its organic social reach was largely confined to brand-owned channels. The collective reach of its employees on LinkedIn remained entirely untapped.
The task was to turn that latent network into a structured, measurable content engine — one that felt authentic to each participant, was backed by data, and could drive real traffic back to the business. All without paid promotion.
The solution
Employees as organic media. Structured to scale.
Anastasiia Yashchenko built a content-sharing infrastructure, implemented an analytics framework, and introduced an incentive system to sustain long-term participation. Employees were treated as media channels in their own right — not megaphones for brand messaging, but credible voices with audiences worth cultivating.
Rather than asking employees to post ad hoc, a full content system was put in place — ready-to-share content was delivered to the group weekly, performance insights were shared, and participants were equipped to grow their own LinkedIn presence over time.
Program highlights
A library of ready-to-share employee-generated content was produced and distributed to program participants — reducing friction and ensuring a consistent, on-brand presence across LinkedIn without requiring participants to write from scratch.
Each week, analytics were reviewed and shared with the group — covering which formats were performing, what was driving reach, and where engagement was strongest. Data was turned into clear, actionable guidance for participants.
A structured incentives program was designed and introduced to sustain participant motivation over time. Recognition, milestones, and rewards were built into the program cadence — keeping engagement levels high beyond the initial launch period.
Curated learning resources were delivered to participants each week — covering LinkedIn best practices, content formats, personal brand development, and algorithm behavior — empowering each advocate to grow their own audience alongside the program.
Results
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