Pride Month & Employee-Generated Content in B2B

Pleasure Month has lengthy been a part of the company content material calendar. For years, many B2B manufacturers marked the event by updating logos with rainbow gradients or publishing polished social media posts expressing help. Nonetheless, audiences have gotten more and more discerning, significantly amongst youthful professionals. They count on greater than branded messages. They’re searching for significant tales, actual folks, and inclusive values that present up persistently, not simply in June.

That shift has impressed a brand new method: Worker-Generated Content material (EGC). By encouraging workers to create content material that displays their private connection to Pleasure Month, firms are shifting away from top-down messaging and towards a mannequin that fosters belief, belonging, and real engagement.

This evolution isn’t nearly optics. It’s a mirrored image of how firm tradition and worker expertise now play a much bigger function in shaping a model’s status and relationships.

From logos to lived expertise: how Pleasure Month messaging has modified

Historically, entrepreneurs have dealt with Pleasure Month like some other consciousness marketing campaign: construct a calendar, craft some inclusive messaging, replace the artistic, and publish. Whereas well-intentioned, these efforts typically missed the mark. A rainbow emblem alone doesn’t convey what an organization is doing to help the LGBTQ+ group behind the scenes.

This disconnect gave rise to the time period “rainbow washing”: a phrase used to explain surface-level company allyship that lacks significant motion. In response, many firms started to reassess how they show up during Pride. It’s not about stepping again; it’s about stepping aside so others can speak.

And when it’s your individual workers who’re taking the mic, the story immediately turns into extra human and relatable. Worker-Generated Content material (EGC) spotlights actual worker voices. Manufacturers can share that content material as a way to enter the Pleasure Month dialog in a means that’s much less scripted and extra honest.

EGC: a extra genuine approach to have fun

Employee-Generated Content (EGC) is content material that your workers create and share. It may very well be a LinkedIn put up about an worker’s journey popping out at work, a staff video explaining what allyship means to them, or a weblog put up reflecting on what Pleasure Month represents. Like Person-Generated Content material (UGC), EGC foregrounds actual experiences somewhat than polished, marketing-driven narratives. One other factor that these content material sorts have in widespread is that they supply an economical advertising channel that may yield a really excessive ROI. 

For Pleasure Month particularly, that ROI comes from the immediacy and sincerity that EGC affords. As a substitute of counting on exterior campaigns or polished model copy, organizations are highlighting the lived experiences of their folks. That is precisely the sort of belief and credibility you need your whole social media accounts to have.

For advertising groups, EGC provides depth to their content material advertising technique. Content material created by workers is cost-effective and scalable. Extra importantly, it resonates with social media audiences in a means conventional company content material typically doesn’t. It reveals that inclusivity is embedded into the material of the corporate, and it’s not simply one thing that you just borrow for the month of June.

What does employee-led Pleasure content material seem like?

So what does this shift seem like in motion?

EGC throughout Pleasure Month can take many varieties. Some firms arrange inside campaigns the place LGBTQ+ workers and allies share a “day within the life” on Instagram or LinkedIn. Others publish a collection of employee-written weblog posts about their experiences or invite staff members to document brief movies discussing what Pleasure means to them personally.

In some instances, workers are inspired to take the lead fully. They select the format, the subject, and the voice. The result’s content material that feels much less like a press launch and extra like a window into the folks behind the model.

This technique additionally fosters stronger worker engagement. When persons are trusted to share their tales, it indicators psychological security, which speaks volumes about firm tradition. For individuals who select to take part, creating content material is usually a level of delight in itself. And for these watching from the skin, it paints an image of a office the place variety and authenticity are greater than speaking factors.

Why EGC issues for manufacturers, audiences, and expertise

Past simply wanting good on social media, this type of content material creates actual worth. Manufacturers that function worker voices throughout Pleasure Month stand out as organizations that follow what they preach. That issues to patrons, followers, and particularly job seekers.

For professionals evaluating new roles, employee-generated content material offers a extra correct view of what the corporate stands for. It’s simple to say “we worth inclusion,” but it surely means extra when workers are visibly, voluntarily affirming that in their very own phrases. These phrases construct belief internally (by displaying workers really feel protected and supported) and externally (by proving the corporate lives its values, not simply markets them).

Many firms have seen this shift positively influence their recruitment technique. Content material like “why I really like working right here as an LGBTQ+ worker” or “how my supervisor supported my transition” can resonate excess of a generic assertion about variety. It’s actual, and actual is what folks keep in mind.

This all matches right into a broader employee advocacy strategy, the place workers act as model ambassadors by their very own social channels. And within the case of Pleasure Month, that advocacy sends a robust sign about inclusion and belonging.

Shifting Pleasure ahead, one EGC story at a time

In a local weather the place many firms are retreating from public Pride messaging due to fear of backlash or politicization, Worker-Generated Content material affords a extra grounded, values-driven path ahead. It permits manufacturers to take care of (and even deepen) their dedication to inclusion, not by performative gestures, however by empowering actual folks to talk from the center.

Encouraging workers to create and share content material about their experiences isn’t only a advertising technique. It’s a step towards deeper belonging, stronger engagement, and extra human manufacturers. 

In case your staff is investing in authenticity, Oktopost might help you scale it. Book a demo to see how we flip worker voices right into a strategic content material benefit.