How to Get Started with Apostle: A Step-by-Step Guide to Success

The power of social media has transformed the way brands connect with their audiences. Yet, many businesses struggle to break through the noise, engage their employees, and create authentic brand advocacy. That’s where Apostle comes in. Apostle isn’t just another social media tool. It’s a complete platform designed to help businesses scale their social media presence by turning employees, ambassadors, and stakeholders into active brand advocates.

Starting with Apostle is an exciting journey that will empower your organization to amplify its voice across social media, engage employees in a structured way, and measure the real impact of advocacy marketing. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, this guide will walk you through the steps to get started, optimize your program, and ensure long-term success.

Not sure if your organization is ready to start? Take a look at our Social Strategy Readiness Model to see where you stand and how to take the next step.

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Why Apostle Matters: The Power of Employee Advocacy

Think about the last time you made a purchasing decision. Chances are, it was influenced by a recommendation from a friend, colleague, or online review rather than an ad from a brand. That’s because people trust people more than they trust companies. Research consistently shows that employee shared content achieves significantly higher engagement rates than content shared by corporate pages alone.

Apostle helps businesses tap into this trust factor by turning employees into authentic brand ambassadors. Instead of relying solely on your company’s official social media channels, Apostle allows you to distribute content through the personal networks of your employees, partners, and advocates, giving your brand a much wider reach.

By doing so, Apostle enables companies to:

• Increase brand awareness without additional ad spend
• Enhance employer branding by showcasing company culture authentically
• Improve engagement with content that feels personal and relatable
• Boost credibility through peer-to-peer recommendations

Now that you understand the why, let’s get into the how.

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1. Setting Up Your Apostle Account

Getting started with Apostle is easy and guided. A Customer Success Manager from Apostle will personally give you access to your personalized Apostle dashboard and walk you through the platform. They will also assist you with a basic setup to ensure everything is configured correctly from the start.

Once you have access, you can configure the Apostle platform to match your company’s branding and preferences. This includes:

• Connecting your business pages on LinkedIn, Facebook, and other social media platforms
• Setting up brand guidelines to ensure all content aligns with your organization’s tone and messaging
• Customizing content templates to streamline post creation and ensure brand consistency

At this stage, it’s also essential to integrate Apostle with your existing tech stack, such as marketing automation tools, CRM systems, or other social media management platforms. Doing so ensures a seamless workflow and keeps your systems aligned from the start.

Once your settings are in place, you’re ready to start crafting your content strategy.

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2. Building Your Content Strategy

A strong content strategy ensures that your brand message is clear, consistent, and engaging. Without a structured approach, your advocacy efforts may feel scattered and ineffective. Here’s how to establish a rock-solid foundation.

Define Your Content Pillars

Your content pillars are the key themes that define what your company wants to communicate. These could include:

• Industry insights and thought leadership to position your brand as an expert
• Company culture and employer branding to showcase what it’s like to work at your company
• Product updates and innovations to highlight new developments and features
• Customer success stories and testimonials to share real-world impact and client experiences
• Events and milestones to promote important company moments

By defining these pillars in Apostle, you can ensure your content remains focused and purposeful. Additionally, employees can subscribe to specific topics based on their interests and expertise, ensuring they receive content that is relevant to them and their audience.

Create a Content Calendar

A well-planned content calendar helps maintain consistency and engagement. Use Apostle’s scheduling tools to:

• Plan and schedule posts weeks or months in advance
• Ensure content is shared at optimal engagement times for each platform
• Rotate different formats, such as articles, images, videos, and infographics

A structured calendar not only streamlines your workflow but also ensures employees always have fresh, engaging content to share.

With your content strategy in place, it’s time to bring your team on board.

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3. Inviting and Onboarding Your Team

A strong content strategy is only effective if it is actively shared by the right people. That’s why inviting and onboarding your team is one of the most critical steps in setting up Apostle.

Selecting Your First Advocates

We recommend rolling out Apostle in phases rather than inviting the entire company at once. Begin with a core group of highly engaged employees including leaders, managers, and enthusiastic team members who can set the tone for the rest of the organization. This approach helps build momentum and ensures a smoother adoption process.

A great place to start is executive profiling, where leaders and managers with strong networks and influence are the first to get involved. Having executives and key stakeholders on board early increases credibility and encourages wider participation.

Hosting a Structured Onboarding Session

Once your first group is selected, hosting a short onboarding session is essential. This should cover:

1. Introduction to Apostle and how it benefits both the company and employees
2. A step-by-step guide on how to access, customize, and share content
3. An overview of the content strategy and how employees can subscribe to relevant topics
4. Q&A and engagement tips to make participation as easy and valuable as possible

Expanding Gradually

After successfully onboarding your initial team, you can gradually expand the program by:

• Encouraging employees to invite their colleagues to join
• Using Apostle’s sign-up page feature for a streamlined recruitment process
• Mapping employees to content categories to ensure the right people share the most relevant content

A well-executed onboarding process ensures long-term engagement and maximizes the effectiveness of your advocacy strategy.

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4. Measuring Success and Scaling Your Program

Your Apostle journey doesn’t stop once your team is active. It’s important to track progress and optimize along the way.

Use Apostle’s built-in analytics tools to measure:

• Engagement metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and impressions
• Top-performing content to identify what resonates most
• Employee participation to see who is actively sharing content

With these insights, you can adjust your strategy to maximize impact. If engagement is strong, expand your program by inviting more employees and external ambassadors. Scaling gradually ensures sustainability and continued success.

To dive deeper into measuring impact and driving measurable results, check out our Performance-Driven Plan, where we outline how to combine employee advocacy with local heroes and paid advertising for maximum success.

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Final Thoughts: A Fast and Impactful Start

With Apostle, success happens quickly. Within just a few weeks, you will see increased engagement, more social media activity, and a stronger brand presence, all driven by the people who know your company best: your employees.

The process is simple, structured, and designed for immediate results. Once your content strategy is in place and your team is onboarded, you will start seeing the benefits of employee advocacy right away. Your company will gain more visibility, better engagement, and a trusted voice in your industry.

With Apostle, you are not just implementing another marketing tool. You are building a movement within your company.

👉 Talk to Sales and see how Apostle can transform your brand today! 🚀

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