When organizations think about brand influence, attention often turns to external channels. Social media, earned media, influencers, and consumer advocacy tend to dominate conversations about how influence is built and maintained. Employees are rarely at the center of those discussions, despite being closely tied to how organizations communicate and reinforce their brands.
PRGN explored this question in its 2026 Global Survey on Brand Influence. Nearly seven in 10 respondents (68%) view employees as one of their brand’s most trusted messengers. More than half (54%) say people generally have very high or extremely high levels of trust in employees.
But while organizations place considerable trust in employees as communicators, their role in shaping brand influence appears more limited. Employee advocacy ranks below social media, consumer advocacy, earned media, influencers, AI platforms, paid media, and owned media when respondents assess the channels with the greatest impact on brand influence.
The findings in the 2026 report point to employees as an underutilized trust asset—one that may play a larger role in brand influence than current priorities and channel rankings suggest.
Employees Play an Important Role in Brand-Building
Organizations today are focused on building alignment around the brand. Two-thirds of respondents (67%) say employees understand their organization’s brand promise. The same percentage say they actively use internal communications to build trust and engagement among employees, while 64% report that internal communications reinforce the external brand promise.
These findings show that employees remain closely connected to how organizations communicate and reinforce their brands. The 2026 Global Survey on Brand Influence also highlights a measurement gap: While organizations report strong results around brand understanding and internal communications, fewer respondents (57%) say they measure how connected employees feel to the brand’s purpose. That difference suggests organizations may know more about how well employees understand the brand than how deeply they connect with it. In a survey where employees are consistently viewed as trusted messengers, that distinction may be worth closer attention.
Employees Remain Part of the Influence Conversation
The employee findings did not emerge for the first time this year. PRGN’s 2025 survey identified employees as the most trusted stakeholder group and ranked employee advocacy among the more influential channels for building brand influence.
The 2026 results reflect a broader influence landscape. Employee advocacy remains part of the influence landscape, but it no longer occupies the same relative position it did in last year’s findings. Respondents cite a growing range of channels that shape influence, including social media, consumer advocacy, earned media, influencers, AI platforms, paid media, and owned media.
Employee-related themes also surfaced throughout the 2026 research. Respondents pointed to employee ambassadors, employee branding, internal communications, and organizational culture as overlooked drivers of influence. As one survey respondent put it, “Every employee is an ambassador. Supplying them with the tools to communicate the brand story is vital.”
The qualitative responses extended beyond employees alone. Respondents identified employees, local communities, and smaller niche groups as key drivers of brand influence, noting that these ambassadors are often undervalued compared with larger influencer campaigns. Building strong external relationships and empowering internal advocates were viewed as important ways to strengthen influence.
Together, those responses point to a recurring theme in the research. Respondents repeatedly identified employees and employee-focused activities as areas that may deserve greater attention.
Closing the Gap Is a Clear Opportunity
Influence is no longer confined to a handful of channels or tactics. As PRGN’s research shows, it is increasingly shaped across a broader network of interactions, relationships, and touchpoints.
The employee findings stand out in that environment. Employees are widely viewed as trusted messengers, organizations continue to prioritize internal communications and brand alignment, and respondents repeatedly identified employee-focused activities as overlooked drivers of influence.
Taken together, the findings suggest that employees occupy an unusual position within the influence landscape. Organizations recognize their credibility, invest significant effort in connecting them to the brand, and continue to identify them as an underutilized source of influence, but employee advocacy remains secondary to many external channels in how influence is evaluated and prioritized.
As organizations rethink how influence is built, measured, and sustained, that gap may represent one of the clearest opportunities identified in the research. In an environment where influence is increasingly distributed across channels, stakeholders, and touchpoints, organizations that make better use of trusted internal advocates may be better positioned to strengthen influence over time.
