Stanley for Business
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Sprout Social Employee Advocacy alternative
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Stanley for Business vs. Sprout Social Employee Advocacy

The main difference

Sprout Social Employee Advocacy (formerly Bambu) is a platform your team has to keep running: curating content, writing messages, and pushing them to employees. Stanley for Business just runs, feeding each employee ideas and finished LinkedIn posts in their own voice.

  • Stanley for Business: we run the program, and AI drafts each post in the employee’s voice. Approve posts if you want to. $59 per seat a month.
  • Sprout: your team curates content, writes messages, and pushes them to employees. Add-on priced by quote, on top of a Sprout plan.
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Last updated October 7, 2026. Sprout details checked against Sprout’s public pages that day.

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Quick verdict

Stanley for Business or Sprout Social: which should you choose?

It comes down to who does the work. Sprout needs an admin to keep it going. Stanley for Business runs it for you.

Choose Stanley for Business when

  • You want authentic posts created by each employee, in their own voice.
  • You want posts checked against your brand guidelines before they go live, if you choose.
  • You want the program run for you, not by your social team.
  • LinkedIn is the channel that matters, whatever your company’s size.

Choose Sprout Social when

  • You want company messages fed to employees for them to reshare.
  • Your social team has time to curate that content and push it out.
  • You’re already all-in on Sprout’s suite.
Side by side

Stanley for Business vs. Sprout Social Employee Advocacy

CriterionStanley for BusinessSprout Social Employee Advocacy
Who runs the program
✓Strong fitStanley for Business runs campaigns, briefs, and rewards, and can publish for employees
~PartlyYour team curates content, writes messages, and pushes them to employees [3] [7]
What employees publish
✓Strong fitAuthentic, original posts in their own voice
~PartlyCompany content they reshare, with their own text or a suggested message [3]
Who writes the posts
✓Strong fitAI interviews each person, then drafts and formats posts in their voice; fully editable
~PartlyThe employee, with their own text or a suggested message; AI Assist offers up to 3 ideas for article Stories [3] [4]
Employee incentives
✓Strong fitOptional rewards tied to each post’s reach
~PartlyPoints for actions on a leaderboard; perks such as gift cards are up to you [8] [9]
Published price
✓Strong fit$59 per seat a month
~PartlyAdd-on by quote, on top of plans from $199 per seat a month [1]
Approvals
✓Strong fitYour admin or Stanley for Business approves; brand-guideline checks if you choose
✓Strong fitApproval for contributed Stories; can require approved messages [3]
Analytics
✓Strong fitImpressions per post and campaign, engagements, engagement rate, rewards, CSV export
✓Strong fitShares, impressions, clicks, engagements, earned media value, CSV export [6]
What really changes the result

3 key differences

1Authentic employee posts vs. company messages pushed down

Stanley for Business

  • An AI voice interview captures how each person talks.
  • AI drafts and formats original posts in that voice, checked against your brand guidelines if you choose.
  • Employees edit freely, or start a draft and co-create it with AI.

Sprout Social

  • Your team curates company Stories (links, photos, or videos) for employees to share [3].
  • Employees write their own text or use a suggested message. Admins can require approved messages [3].
  • Even Sprout’s Original Posts are internal-only [3].

2Who does the work

Key: your teamemployee + AIStanley for Business

StepStanley for BusinessSprout Social
PlanA quick campaign brief, with AI helpemployee + AICurate Stories and write messages [3]your team
RunCampaigns, briefs, and rewardsStanley for BusinessNewsletters, Slack and Teams pushes [7]your team
WriteAI drafts; the employee editsemployee + AIOwn text or a suggestion [3]employee
ApproveBefore anything goes liveyour admin or Stanley for BusinessContributed Stories [3]your team
PublishStanley for Business can publish for them, or they post from their own LinkedInStanley for BusinessPost now or send later [3]employee
ReportReach tracked; rewards issuedStanley for BusinessReports and leaderboard [5]your team

Sprout asks more of employees: they have to create the content they share. Stanley for Business proactively feeds each employee ideas and finished posts.

3Rewarding reach vs. counting activity

Stanley for Business

  • Optional rewards, tied to the reach of each post.
  • Impressions per post and per campaign.
  • Engagements, engagement rate, rewards, and a leaderboard.

Sprout Social

  • Employees earn points for actions on content, shown on a leaderboard [8].
  • Perks such as gift cards are up to you to add [9].
Stanley for Business result

Stan’s 30-day employee campaign, run on Stanley for Business

36 people took part and 22 published.

109published posts
613,479impressions
9,458engagements (1.5% rate)
$2,800rewards earned
Stanley for Business campaign dashboard for Stan’s 30-Day EGC Challenge on LinkedIn: 36 participants, 109 published posts, 613,479 post impressions, 9,458 engagements, 1.5% engagement rate, and $2,800 in team rewards, with a leaderboard ranked by impressions.
Stan’s campaign dashboard in Stanley for Business, cropped to the summary. Names and photos are blurred.
Pricing

Sprout Social Employee Advocacy pricing vs. Stanley for Business

Stanley for Business publishes one unit price. Sprout prices its advocacy add-on by quote, on top of a Sprout plan. List prices on October 7, 2026, before tax.

Stanley for Business

$59 per seat a month

  • Includes the AI voice interview, AI drafting and formatting, approvals, publishing, and analytics.
  • Optional rewards budget. The fee is added on top: 30% on the first $10,000 of rewards, 20% above that.
Stanley for Business runs the program

Sprout Social Employee Advocacy

Quote for the add-on

  • Needs a Sprout plan first. Standard is $199 per seat a month, billed annually [1].
  • The add-on is priced on top, by quote [1] [2]. Sprout sells add-ons per user per month [10].
  • Sprout’s partner agreement ties advocacy sales to purchased onboarding and implementation, also unpriced [11].
  • Sprout’s commissioned Forrester study counts $5,000 of internal labor to implement Sprout [12].
your team runs the program

You may see “$89 per user” quoted for Sprout’s advocacy add-on. That was Sprout’s Standard plan price in January 2022 [14]. Ask Sprout for a current quote.

Best fit

Who each one is best for

Stanley for Business

  • Companies of any size where LinkedIn drives awareness, pipeline, or hiring.
  • Marketing teams that want authentic, on-brand employee posts and a say on every post, without running the program.
  • Experts and executives too: Recruiting & Sales (Done-With-You) and Exec Social (Done-For-You) use interviews with human experts.

Sprout Social Employee Advocacy

  • Teams already all-in on Sprout’s suite for their brand channels.
  • Teams that want employees resharing company messages, with a social team that has time to curate and push them out.

When Sprout isn’t a good fit

  • You want authentic posts from your employees, not company messages pushed down to them.
  • You don’t want a lot of admin work curating content and keeping the program running.
  • LinkedIn is the channel that matters most to you.
Switching and getting started

Switching from Sprout, or running both

Replace Sprout’s advocacy add-on, or run Stanley for Business alongside Sprout’s suite. Either way, your employees get authentic LinkedIn posts in their own voice, without your team running the program.

  1. Share your company page. We write 3 posts for real employees within 24 hours, then walk you through them on a short call.
  2. Choose who approves posts: your admin or Stanley for Business.
  3. Each person does an AI voice interview of about 30 minutes.
  4. First posts can go live in as little as 48 hours from kickoff.

Prefer to start small? Begin with a 90-day pilot.

FAQ

Sprout Social Employee Advocacy: common questions

What is a good Sprout Social Employee Advocacy alternative for LinkedIn?
Stanley for Business, if you want authentic LinkedIn posts in each employee’s voice from a program run for you, not one your team has to keep running. AI drafts the posts, your admin or Stanley for Business approves them, and optional rewards are tied to each post’s reach. Sprout’s add-on suits teams already all-in on its suite that want employees resharing company content.
Is Employee Advocacy included in Sprout Social plans?
No. It’s an add-on, available on the Standard plan and up [1]. Sprout doesn’t publish the add-on price.
How much does Sprout Social Employee Advocacy cost?
Sprout prices the add-on by quote [1]. You also need a Sprout plan; Standard is $199 per seat a month, billed annually. Stanley for Business is $59 per seat a month.
What happened to Bambu by Sprout Social?
It was renamed Employee Advocacy by Sprout Social in October 2022 [13]. It’s the same product.
Can employees write their own posts in Sprout Social?
They can add their own text when sharing a Story, unless an admin requires approved messages [3]. Original Posts in Sprout Advocacy are internal-only. Stanley for Business drafts original LinkedIn posts in each employee’s voice.
Can we use Sprout Social and Stanley for Business together?
Yes. Keep Sprout for your brand channels, and let Stanley for Business run original employee posts on LinkedIn, plus company posts if you want.
Does Stanley for Business write the posts?
AI drafts and formats posts in each person’s voice, from an AI voice interview of about 30 minutes. Employees can edit everything or start their own. Your admin or Stanley for Business approves before posts go live. Employees post from their own LinkedIn, schedule posts, or let Stanley for Business publish for them.
How do Stanley for Business rewards work?
Rewards are optional and tied to the reach of each post. You set the budget. The fee is added on top: 30% on the first $10,000 of rewards, 20% above that.
How fast can we start?
First posts can go live in as little as 48 hours from kickoff. Not sure which program fits? Talk to our team.
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