It’s official, 2017 will be the year of the employer brand. A whopping 80% of talent leaders agree that their organization’s employer brand has a “significant” impact on its ability to attract and hire great talent.
So, as the war for talent intensifies, employers need to do everything they can to promote their Employer Brand and to create a lasting impression in the minds of both future and current employees.
And one of the best ways to do that is to ensure your Employer Brand is communicated across as many channels as possible, both external and internal.
Today, we’re listing the best places you can build and promote your Employer Brand to ensure your organisation is always top of mind for the best candidates:
1. Your Career Site
Thought your careers site was just for job listings? Think again! Your careers site is actually one of the most crucial tools you can use to promote your employer brand - it’s likely to be one of the very first places potential candidates will come into direct contact with your organisation.
For a job seeker, there’s nothing worse than arriving at a company’s careers site only to be greeted with outdated information, bad design/user experience, or the words “No job openings.”
It doesn’t exactly give a very good first impression of the company now does it? Especially when you consider that the candidate experience starts the moment a candidate finds arrives at your careers site.
So, ensure any potential candidate visiting your careers site is greeted warmly and presented with the most relevant information including open roles, information about the company, photos of the team and other nice-to-haves like employee interview videos.
[su_note]Here's a complete breakdown of everything the Perfect Careers Page is made up of in this handy infographic![/su_note]
2. LinkedIn Company Pages
It’s not just recruiters who use LinkedIn to research potential candidates.
Candidate regularly research potential employers on LinkedIn when deciding whether or not they want to work for you. The first place they'll look is your LinkedIn Company Page - this needs to promote your Employer Brand effectively.
Creating a great Company Page that attracts followers is hugely valuable. Take a look at a few of these data points: (from LinkedIn's Global Talent Trends Report):
Followers of your LinkedIn Company Page are 3 times more likely to apply to your jobs, 81% more likely to respond to your InMails, and 10 times more likely to share your content with their followers (who could also be potential candidates).
Sounds great right?
All you need to do is ensure your Page is up to date (branding images, company information etc.) and regularly updated with relevant content.
According to LinkedIn the most engaging Company Page updates are inside views of how your business works, employee interviews, industry news employment tips and employee/event photos. Basically, you need to publish content that helps your audience to get to know you better.
At Social Talent, we use our LinkedIn Company Page to share our exclusive blog content, motivational quotes, images from events, information as to when our employees are speaking at events, office life, industry news and industry humour. It’s updated every single day at least twice a day, so followers always have something new to engage with.
3. Employee Referral Programs
Employee referrals are the top source of hire for virtually every company, accounting for almost three quarters of all positions filled in an average year.
Candidates who are referred into the company through an employee are also 4 times more likely to result in a hire than a candidate who applies directly through a careers’ site.
This all means that creating a strong internal brand that encourages referrals is just as important as external branding.
By establishing and promoting an employee referral program within your organisation, it encourages current employees to really think about the positives of working for your organisation, and then spread the word to their network.
Even if the employee doesn’t have a specific person in mind, the right incentive might lead to social media posts and other forms of sharing on a large scale. Which brings us to the next best place to build and promote your employer brand.
4. Your Employees' Social Networks
Nobody is more influential when it comes to communicating a company’s brand than the employees themselves.
Think about it: who knows more and is perceived as knowing more about the company, its culture, and what day to day life is like than the people who live it on a daily basis?
Any messaging that comes from these folks is going to be considered credible, so make the most of this inherent audience trust: encourage and facilitate your employees to share positive brand messages on the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
Just search Instagram or Twitter for #nprlife or #lifeatca to see what the recruiting teams at NPR and CA have managed to foster with their employees.
Bottom line: Employees that feel empowered are more likely to promote a positive brand message. Help your staff understand the vital role they play in attracting and retaining talent: let them know that they are, indeed, ambassadors for your employer brand.
5. Instagram
Instagram now has over 500 million active users, and boasts some of the most engaged followers in the world. And guess what, you can take advantage of that when you promote your employer brand.
When it comes to Instagram, users want to catch glimpses of a world they would otherwise have no access too. That’s why celebrities like Kylie Jenner and Taylor Swift do so well on the platform – they give fans a literal snapshot into what it’s like to live in their world through their accounts and fans flock to catch a glimpse.
So when setting up your company Instagram account, you need to ask yourself; “Who is your audience and what do they care about?"
One corporate account that do this very well is Burberry.
Unlike its other high-end competitors, Burberry uses its account to post cool images of London (where the company is based), along with backstage pictures from photoshoots, fashion shows, magazine shoots etc. And while they do post the occasional merchandise image, they don’t flood their account with picture after picture of clothing.
At Social Talent, we like to use our Instagram account to capture office life and life on the road at events. So if you’re looking for some initial inspiration on what to post, check it out.
6. Employee Intranet
As Gallup reports that just 41% of employees feel they know what their company stands for, it’s clear that the communication of employer brand requires as much focus internally as externally.
Deploying an intranet and using it as a communication platform to define values, obtain employee feedback and set out your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) with information about benefits, events and initiatives can prove tremendously valuable – especially when striving to build brand ambassadors within your existing staff.
An employee intranet can also help to inspire staff to contribute more actively to projects and initiatives. By logging into a common space every day, they’re regularly connected to each other and to your organisation’s mission.
7. Snapchat
Along with other visually based social media channels like Instagram, SnapChat is slowly but surely becoming an incredible vehicle on which to present and show off your employer brand to potential candidates.
“By telling stories that showcase how a company operates and what makes it special, brand awareness is created. When those stories focus on things potential candidates desire in an employer, it becomes Employment Branding.” - JT O'Donnell, Founder & CEO - WorkItDaily.com
Successful Employer Branding relies on great storytelling, and “Snapchat is very much built for storytelling” (SnapChat influencer Branden Harvey). With growing popularity amongst all demographics (particularly millennials), it's a great vehicle to relay your brand story to potential candidates.
One of the remarkable things about Snapchat is their user engagement. The average user now spends an average of 25-30 minutes a day on Snapchat, while 41% of all 18 to 34-year-olds living in the United States can be reached via Snapchat.
This all means that, if used correctly, it's a great way to promote your Employer Brand and generate candidate interest. (If you want ideas on how to get started, take a look at these 6 brands that are using Snapchat effectively).
If you're looking for other tactics and tools to improve your team's Employer Branding results, take a look at the Beamery Academy. It's stuffed full of actionable ebooks, courses and whitepapers that will help you take your team to the next level.
