The Trust Advantage Amplify + UpContent in the AI Era
AI has woven into every stage of the buyer journey from how prospects research solutions to how they evaluate vendors. Yet even as technology advances, there’s a growing paradox: trust between buyers and sellers has never been lower.
In a world where anyone can generate content in seconds, audiences are becoming more skeptical about what (and who) they can rely on.
That’s where employee advocacy and the right content strategy come in. In this webinar, Hootsuite’s Heather Blackwell and Zander Iles, along with UpContent CEO Scott Rogerson, explore how combining Hootsuite Amplify with UpContent’s curation engine helps marketing and sales teams build trust at scale without adding headcount.
They dig into why many advocacy programs stall (lack of fresh, relevant content, inconsistent participation, and weak attribution) and show how a smarter content mix, blending third‑party articles with brand content, can dramatically lift engagement, credibility, and measurable revenue impact.
Below, you’ll find the full transcript of the session, where the team walks through real examples, best practices, and a practical look at how Amplify and UpContent work together in the day‑to‑day to keep advocates active, audiences engaged, and leadership confident in the ROI of advocacy.
Transcript
Heather Blackwell
Wanted to start out with a welcome to everyone and thank you for joining us today. Today's session is called The Trust Advantage: Amplify + UpContent in the AI Era, and we picked that title deliberately.
We’re in a moment where AI is everywhere in the buyer journey, and yet trust between buyers and sellers has never been lower. That’s a paradox — but it’s also an opportunity.
Over the next half hour, we’re going to walk you through why your advocacy program is one of the most powerful trust-building assets you have right now. We’ll talk about where programs get stuck, how Amplify and UpContent solve those problems, and ideally, by the end of today’s session, you’ll see exactly what this looks like in your day-to-day work.
Quick round of introductions so you know who’s talking today. I’m Heather Blackwell, Director of our Account Management Team at Hootsuite in North America. I work directly with our Amplify customers, helping them get value out of their advocacy programs, and I’ve worked with customers across many industries over my 10+ years at Hootsuite.
Joining me is Scott Rogerson, CEO of UpContent. Scott and his team built the content curation engine that powers a lot of what we’re talking about today.
And last but not least, we have Zander Iles, our Strategic Solutions Consultant at Hootsuite. Zander lives in the product day-to-day and is going to walk us through what this actually looks like in action.
Between the three of us, you’ll get a mix of strategy, content expertise, and a hands-on view of both products.
One quick housekeeping item: we do have Q&A active throughout the session, so feel free to submit questions as we go. We’ll leave time at the end to address them live.
Scott Rogerson
Thanks, Heather. Excited to see some familiar names in the attendee list today.
Of course, this wouldn’t be a webinar in 2026 unless we talked about AI — but I think this conversation is a little different from what you may be hearing elsewhere.
One of the biggest shifts we’re seeing is that while everyone is using AI in different ways, buyers are becoming more skeptical at the same time. A recent survey showed that 94% of buyers are using AI in some capacity, but only 45% trust the sellers sending them messaging.
That gap in trust is significant.
One conversation that stood out to me was with a customer in professional services and insurance. She talked about all the ways their sellers were using AI for content and video creation, but she asked an important question:
“Why should clients spend time consuming what we create if we aren’t willing to spend time creating it ourselves?”
Trust is becoming a critical differentiator — both at the brand level and at the individual level.
People want to know:
- Who am I talking to?
- Why should I trust them?
- Can they solve my problem?
- Can they become a long-term partner?
That’s why helping employees build authentic digital presences and showcase expertise has never been more important.
At the same time, marketers are under enormous pressure:
- More brands and business units to support
- Smaller teams
- Greater demand for measurable results
And one of the biggest reasons advocacy programs fail is simple: employees run out of meaningful content to share.
If there’s nothing valuable or relevant for them to post, participation drops quickly.
Leadership also expects more than impressions today. They want attribution and measurable business impact.
Ultimately, marketers are being asked to do more with less — and that’s exactly the gap we’re aiming to solve with Amplify and UpContent together.
Scott Rogerson
For organizations already using employee advocacy or social selling programs, many of these challenges probably sound familiar.
What we consistently see in successful programs is that content shared by individuals performs dramatically better than content shared only by brands. Engagement on employee-shared content is often significantly higher because audiences trust people more than corporate accounts.
When Heather shares something on LinkedIn, it feels more authentic because audiences know it passed through both the company’s filter and her own judgment.
That trust has real business impact.
We also see benefits beyond social engagement:
- Better search visibility
- Stronger referral credibility
- Improved talent acquisition
- More qualified candidates
- Faster hiring cycles
And importantly, all of this can happen without additional paid spend.
The most successful programs blend:
- Company-created content
- Third-party industry content
- Original employee perspectives
That mix consistently drives stronger engagement and better adoption.
One of the biggest misconceptions is that introducing external content will reduce engagement with branded content. In reality, we see the opposite.
Employees who receive a healthy mix of curated external content and branded assets actually share more company content overall and engage more consistently over time.
Heather Blackwell
I think this is a great segue into talking about the “what’s in it for me” factor.
Sustainable advocacy only works when everyone benefits:
- The organization
- The employee
- The audience
For the company, success means:
- Brand reach
- Web traffic
- Applicants
- Pipeline
- Revenue
For employees, advocacy helps build personal brands, expand networks, and create career opportunities.
And for audiences, the expectation is clear: they want content that is useful, authentic, educational, and engaging — not just another corporate broadcast.
When all three groups benefit consistently, advocacy stops being a campaign and starts becoming a habit.
But programs often get stuck in four areas:
- Adoption — getting employees to use the platform
- Activity — maintaining consistency over time
- Engagement — making content worth sharing
- Attribution — proving business impact
Those four factors determine whether advocacy programs succeed or fail.
Scott Rogerson
One of the biggest drivers of adoption is fresh content.
If employees log in one week and then return later only to see the exact same content, participation drops quickly.
People need to feel like there’s ongoing value for them personally.
That’s why curated third-party content matters so much. It gives employees more choice, more relevance, and more opportunities to share content that aligns with their own audiences and interests.
We consistently see that when organizations introduce curated external content:
- Employee posting increases
- Adoption improves
- Engagement rises
- Company-created content actually performs better
It’s not about replacing branded content. It’s about creating the right mix.
Heather Blackwell
Before we move into the live demo, I want to share one final customer example.
A Canadian insurance and financial services firm implemented this blended advocacy approach and saw measurable business impact — including a 4% increase in assets under management.
The key was combining:
- Branded content
- Curated third-party content
- Employee advocacy
- Compliance-friendly workflows
That mix helped advisors confidently share valuable content with prospects while also driving stronger engagement and lead generation.
And importantly, it generated enough impact to get the CFO’s attention.
Zander Iles
We’ve talked a lot about company value today, but another critical factor is ease of use for employees.
The easier the experience is, the more likely employees are to stay engaged and continue participating.
From the employee perspective inside Amplify, users can:
- Browse a diverse mix of content
- Filter by topic or network
- Search for relevant material
- Discover new content streams
One especially important area is curated industry news powered by UpContent.
This allows employees to share:
- Industry insights
- Market trends
- Third-party thought leadership
- Relevant news articles
—not just corporate assets.
That variety helps employees engage their audiences more authentically.
Another common question is:
“If employees share third-party content, how do we retain traffic and attribution?”
That’s where Hootsuite’s call-to-action banners come in.
Even when sharing external articles, organizations can layer branded CTAs and attribution tracking onto the experience so traffic can still connect back to measurable business outcomes.
Amplify is also available on desktop, iOS, and Android, making participation simple regardless of where employees work.
Scott Rogerson
One important thing to note is that for most customers, administrators spend very little time manually managing this process.
The system continuously learns:
- What content performs well
- What employees engage with
- What audiences respond to
That allows organizations to automate much of the curation process while still ensuring content remains relevant, compliant, and valuable.
Ultimately, the goal is simple:
Find and share content you’re interested in.
Everything else is designed to support that experience behind the scenes.
Heather Blackwell
Thank you, Scott, and thank you, Zander.
The Hootsuite and UpContent teams would be happy to continue the conversation and answer any additional questions you may have after today’s session.
Please feel free to reach out to the individual who invited you — typically your account manager or customer success manager.
Thank you again to everyone for joining us today, and we look forward to connecting with you soon.
