Use the Leaderboard as a behavior-shaping tool, not just a scoreboard. Segment advocates into fair groups, set a competition cadence, and allocate points to drive the actions that matter most each quarter.
Prerequisites
- Admin access to the Advocacy module
- Access to create additional Leaderboards (verify by creating a new Leaderboard and saving it)
- A rough map of your advocate base by team, seniority, and region
Map Your Advocates
Before you configure anything, decide who is competing against whom. A fair, well-segmented Leaderboard keeps competition motivating rather than discouraging.
Work through these questions:
- Who are my advocates, and how many sit in each department? A 50-person Marketing team and a 5-person SDR team should rarely share one Leaderboard.
- Should I run one Leaderboard or several? This depends on your package and how distinct your audiences are.
- Are executives or senior leaders taking part? If so, give them their own Leaderboard. They are motivated differently and should not compete with the wider team.
Common Segmentation Models
| Leaderboard | Who it groups | Why it works |
|---|---|---|
| By function | Sales (SDRs, AEs, AMs, CS), Marketing, HR | Each function shares similar content and motivation. |
| By region | EMEA, AMER, APAC | Keeps time zones and local content fair; fuels friendly regional rivalry. |
| Executive | C-suite and senior leaders | Protects executives from competing on volume with full-time advocates. |
Do not pit teams of very different sizes against each other on a single ranking. If you must, switch the headline metric from total points to average points per active advocate so smaller teams can still win.
Choose Your Competition Cadence
Decide how often a competition resets. Each cadence trades momentum against fatigue:
| Cadence | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Weekly | Short bursts around a launch or event | Burns out quickly; high admin effort |
| Monthly | Sustained momentum with regular resets | Can feel relentless without theming |
| Quarterly | Most programs (recommended) | Needs mid-quarter check-ins to stay visible |
Run quarterly competitions. A quarter is long enough to build habits and short enough to keep a clear finish line, and it maps neatly onto marketing and sales planning.
Give Each Competition a Theme
A named theme makes the competition memorable, gives you a communications hook, and signals a fresh start. Rotate the theme every quarter so the program never feels stale.
Example Themes
Use these as inspiration when planning your own competitions:
- Sports bracket — Group advocates by department (for example, AEs vs AMs) or into random groups of 5–20 advocates. Set a monthly team goal (for example, reach 1,000 points). Teams that hit the goal enter a prize draw.
- Season with playoffs — Run a full season with playoffs and a finals week. Recognize a Top Contributor based on the most accepted suggestions over the year.
- Awards night — Create categories such as Editor of the Year (edited all posts before sharing), Top Brand Impact (most conversions generated), Influencer of the Year (highest monetary value of Influenced Opportunities from Salesforce), Global Reach (highest reach), and Rising Star (new advocate who joined the Leaderboard and became active). Physical trophies add extra motivation.
- Sprint hackathon — Let subject-matter experts write their own posts in Oktopost and submit ideas. Reward top participants with a prize of their choice within a set budget.
Tie the theme to the season or to a flagship company moment (a conference, a product launch, or year-end). It gives the competition a built-in story and makes recognition feel timely.
Allocate Points to Shape Behavior
Points tell advocates what matters this quarter. The default points are a starting point. Change them deliberately, and revisit them each quarter as your goals shift.
Match your quarterly goal to the action you reward most:
| If your goal this quarter is… | Reward this action more | Behavior it drives |
|---|---|---|
| More content shared | The first share / Share action | Volume and reach |
| More personalized posts | Edit a post before sharing | Authentic, non-duplicate copy |
| More ideas from advocates | Suggested content | A bottom-up content pipeline |
| Higher-quality suggestions | Suggested – Accepted content | Quality over raw volume |
| More amplification of the brand handle | Repost actions: like, comment, repost | Corporate-channel lift |
| More conversation in comments | Events > Comments | Spark-style discussion threads |
| More website traffic | Link clicks | Demand and pipeline signal |
Make the point gap obvious. Give a noticeably higher score to the one or two actions you want to focus on that quarter, and lower the rest. If every action is worth the same, the Leaderboard signals nothing and advocates default to the easiest behavior.
Set Up Your Leaderboard
Option A: A Single Leaderboard
- Turn the Leaderboard on.
- Adjust the points so they reflect this quarter's focus (see Allocate Points to Shape Behavior above).
- Announce the theme and the point changes to advocates.
Option B: Multiple Leaderboards (By Department)
[Screenshot: Advocacy module showing the Leaderboards tab and Advocate Fields navigation]
- Turn the Leaderboard on.
- Go to Advocate Fields.
- Find the Department field and select Update Options.
- Keep the default regions if they fit, or replace them with your own (for example, Sales, Marketing, Product). You can also rename the fields if that suits your structure.
- Go to the Leaderboards tab at the top of the module.
- Open All Leaderboards and select New Leaderboard.
- Build the Leaderboard against the relevant Advocate Field value (for example, one per region).
Keep It Fresh
A static Leaderboard loses its pull. Each quarter, introduce something new:
- Re-weight the points toward a new priority.
- Rename the competition with a new theme.
- Add a new recognized action, so advocates have something new to chase.
- Vary the rewards. Alternate between status (shout-outs, badges) and tangible prizes.
Recognize more than the top three. Add side awards for Most Improved, Most Consistent, and Rookie of the Quarter so mid-table advocates stay motivated. Consider a private view for individual rank and a public view for team standings, so lower performers are not discouraged in front of peers. Prepare a slide deck when announcing new competitions to advocates.
Further Reading
- 10 expert-backed tips for building an unstoppable employee advocacy movement
- How our summer-themed employee advocacy competition boosted engagement at Oktopost
- Gamifying employee advocacy: Inside BioCatch's Social Media World Cup
- How we ran our holiday employee advocacy competition at Oktopost
- How we ran The Okties employee advocacy competition at Oktopost