In this mastermind episode of Building Brand Advocacy, we break down the Advocacy Maturity Model, a strategic framework for diagnosing exactly where your brand sits on the advocacy spectrum and the precise steps to move from passive mentions to a fully activated community-led growth engine.

Think of it as your strategic advocacy playbook, the kind of session your brand team needs to align on advocacy as a core brand lever rather than a marketing afterthought.

Inside this episode:

• The 5 stages of brand advocacy maturity and how to identify which stage you're at right now

• Why most brands plateau at stage 2 and never break through to genuine brand love

• The structural shifts your team needs to make at each stage of the model

• How to turn community-led growth into a measurable brand asset

• The metrics that actually matter when tracking advocacy momentum

If you’re a marketing leader trying to restructure your team's advocacy strategy, this episode gives you the framework to stop guessing and start growing with intention.

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss an episode.

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Verity: www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

In this episode of Building Brand Advocacy, Verity sits down with Grace Andrews to unpack the real shifts happening in social right now and what forward-thinking brands are doing to stay ahead in 2026 and beyond.

Grace brings a sharp, strategic lens to one of the most underutilised growth levers in marketing today: employee advocacy. We go deep on why building brand growth from the inside out isn't just about brand culture but something much bigger.

We then go onto discuss how to build an effective and experimental content eco-system as well as understanding how to navigate YouTube as long form presence is growing within the digital landscape.

In this episode, we cover:

• The evolution of social trends shaping brand strategy in 2026

• A strategic framework for building genuine employee advocacy

• How to drive real brand growth through your people not just your paid channels

• Effective content experimentation strategies that actually move the needle

• Why YouTube is the deepest, most underrated content channel for brand building

• The trends smart brands are already preparing for in 2026/2027

CHAPTERS

00:00 Episode Trailer

01:30 Meet Grace Andrews

02:23 2024 Trend Check

06:52 Employee Advocacy Basics

09:20 Building The Employees Advocacy Infrastructure

14:52 Ownership And Founder Role

17:11 Incentivising Employee Advocacy

19:22 Building A Content Experimentation System

22:29Dummy Social Channels for Safe Testing

24:09 Case Study of the Shameless Network

28:48 YouTube vs Social Scrolling

31:29 Where YouTube Fits into Teams

33:48 Low Lift YouTube for Brands

35:30 Future Creator Brand Partnerships

Whether you're a founder, marketing lead, or brand strategist — this conversation will change how you think about where your next wave of growth actually comes from.

🔔 Subscribe to Building Brand Advocacy for weekly conversations with the people reshaping how brands grow.

CONNECT WITH GRACE

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/graceandrewsss/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@graceandrewsss

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@graceandrews7

FOLLOW US

Verity: https://www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

Subscribe: www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy

Instagram: www.instagram.com/building_brand_advocacy
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy

In this episode of Building Brand Advocacy, we're unpacking the seismic shift happening in marketing right now: is branded entertainment replacing paid ads?

We dig into why the smartest brands are investing in long-form content, storytelling, and entertainment-led campaigns, and how this changes everything from team structure to ROI measurement.

What we cover:

• Should brands have Global or local social media accounts

• The perfect niche to scale strategy

• Branded entertainment vs paid ads

• The Redbull playbook

Whether you're a founder, a marketing lead, or a brand builder trying to do more with less — this is the episode that reframes where your budget should actually be going.

🔔 New episodes every Wednesday — subscribe so you never miss an episode.

CONNECT WITH PAUL & VERITY

Paul: www.linkedin.com/in/paulkarcher/

Verity: www.linkedin.com/in/verityhurd/

FOLLOW US

Paul: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulkarcher/

Subscribe: www.youtube.com/@buildingbrandadvocacy

Instagram: www.instagram.com/building_brand_advocacy
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@building.brand.advocacy