Thinking in Public
Brands should be investing in the employee influencer. That's money well spent.
Someone on the floor, filming in the store, holding the new item up to the camera, trying it on right there. Real footage, from someone who's there and knows the product.
Filmed the day it hits the floor, still half in the box.
On a real body, under the store's own lights.
Whatever that employee would tell a customer standing there.
It's cheaper than an agency, and it converts better. It's someone who works there, telling you what's new.
Marks & Spencer launched its Insiders programme in 2018. It has 19 employees posting about the products on TikTok and Instagram, with a combined following of more than 300,000, according to Drapers. The content is unscripted. M&S gives them a theme, such as holiday or wedding, and they post what they like.
M&S's marketing director told Drapers that 30% more customers choose to shop through to M&S.com from an Insider's post than from a conventional influencer post. That is M&S's own figure.
In June 2026 Starbucks announced a TikTok pilot that shares ad revenue with select baristas who already post about the brand. Starbucks says its employees post at three times the rate of employees at similar-sized chains, as Marketing Dive reports.
Picture a clothing store that asks one salesperson who already likes the camera to film each new delivery. A phone on a shelf, no script, no agency. After a month the store has a face its customers recognise.