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How to Use Social Media for Employer Branding
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Book a free demoThe polls are out and the candidates have spoken. Organizations that seek to hire new employees are now facing new challenges; candidates are researching their employers a lot more thoroughly to weigh their options, and the exchange of value has never been more apparent.
Fortunately, organizations that think about their employer brand are already on the path to success. But is it really all that important?
Why Do Employer Branding?
In an earlier blog, we touched upon the importance of Employer Branding for brands that are present on social media, and how some of our customers are building their employer brand.
In this post, we’ll expand on its importance and give you some concrete steps you can take in creating an Employer Brand that will attract future employees for you.
According to CareerArc, candidates are more in-the-know than ever. Just 20% candidates would still apply to your company if they find you have a bad rating. On what platform you ask? The internet is vast and full of rating platforms for companies, the most obvious of which you already know.
The usual suspects like LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor are all great platforms to find out if your employer is well-rated, well-represented, and popular among candidates. Indeed and Glassdoor show reviews by current and former employees of companies which can make or break their employer brand.
And it’s not just those two platforms. Millennials, who are more likely than Gen-Xers to review and share their negative opinions about things, can take to social media to voice their opinions. From working conditions, to salaries, to company culture and practices, there’s little that can remain confidential in the age of social media.
Employee treatment is also affecting buyers’ behavior, and big brands have had to see their reputations driven into the ground because of questionable working conditions.
So a good employer brand is not only a nice-to-have, it has become a must-have because of the trends shown above. Though it’s not all bad. Investing in an employer brand allows organizations to recruit a lot easier and to recruit employees that are a good fit for the company. Which has a direct positive influence on employee retention.
Building an employer brand is also a great way to communicate your Employee Value Proposition. Because in this day and age, if you successfully communicate to your ideal candidates what’s in it for them, then they will look for you, rather than the other way around.
How do you build your Employer Brand on Social Media?
To signal your employer brand to your target audience successfully, other than just job posts, through your content, you need to show a combination of different things.
Employee testimonials
The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Social proof means that the words that you speak actually have some worth. And your current employees giving a positive review to your organization as a place to work is the best kind of content that you can push on your social media. Your candidates might be able to visualize what working at your company might be like better through the words of your employees, who they might be able to see themselves in.
Example: Inquest
Office & Workplace
Depending on the industry, having a good workspace is definitely something you should show off on social to attract the right candidates. Often the office space itself can motivate people not just to join an organization, but to then keep them motivated on the job.
Often a new office might be a good reason to give a video/picture tour of the place. As with social proof, this helps people visualize themselves in that office space, surrounded by the facilities and people that make working at your organization joyful and stimulating.
Example: Boston Consulting Group
Perks & Benefits
When it comes down to the same job offered to a candidate by two companies, what does a candidate look at to come to a decision? They try to assess what’s in it for them in both the options, and opt for the better one. Often that can look like the added perks & benefits that they might receive at your company. Having that EVP to offer is great, because then you can use your Employer Brand to talk about it on your social channels. Here’s an example of an executive posting about job perks at the company Black Rifle Coffee Company.
Training & Development
Giving your employees a chance to grow and develop as professionals is probably the best thing you can offer to them. Therefore it is one of the strongest sources of value to your EVP. There are a few ways you can communicate this on your social media. You can post on your own, and to really drive credibility also provide the resources to your employees to post it on their channels.
Companies like Google and McKinsey do this really well. Of course having their own training programs helps, but effectively communicating them is just as important.
When an employee completes a certification program, they find an easy link to share that certificate on their social channels, especially LinkedIn, which not only strengthens their profile, but the employer brand of the company too.
Even if your company doesn’t carry out its own learning programs, enabling an employee to pursue a training can encourage them to talk about it on their socials and thanking you for enabling it, as shown here:
Company Culture
This falls under the radar all the time, but a company’s culture is of immense importance to employees current and future. As talked about in the beginning of this article, bad employees voice their opinions about being treated badly, or witnessing a company culture that lacks respect among other things, it can badly affect your employer brand.
First things first, building a company culture of respect and trust which is conducive to growth and learning should be a priority at any organization.
After ensuring such a culture, it’s important to know how to talk about it. You don’t have to win competitions at it but it doesn’t hurt to be recognized for having a company culture that people love. Rogers Communications does this well as shown below and shares its achievements to signal a strong employer brand to prospective employees.
Recognition
As social beings, we need validation from our friends, family, and mentors for our achievements. In the workplace too the importance of such recognition cannot be understated. Specialist in behavioral science, Dr. Ashley Whillans from the Harvard Business School, summarized this issue concisely in a 2019 article, writing “What really matters in the workplace is helping employees feel appreciated.”
Recognition can surely keep current employees at a company longer, but it is also really useful for strengthening your employer brand. McDonald’s for instance keeps its employees' achievements in mind and gives them a shout-out on its social channels to validate them as well as signal to future employees about what they can potentially achieve at the organization.
Recruitment Campaign
Your recruitment campaigns should be an amalgam of the elements talked about above, followed by a clear and simple call to action for people to apply. Consider the whole journey of your target audience;
- the Awareness phase where they first find out about your company
- the Consideration phase where they think about working at your company
- finally the Decision phase where they apply to a job at your company
For the Awareness and Consideration phases you can use the best of all the elements mentioned above, and then in the Decision phase post jobs, vacancies, and how they can apply.
But of course, you can get really creative with your Recruitment Campaigns. You’ll find some good examples in this article.
Summary: Creating an Employer Brand
It is important because it
- Helps to recruit
- Helps retain existing employees, reduces turnover
- Helps convey the EVP (what’s in it for them)
On social media, the following content types will help strengthen your Employer Brand:
- Employee testimonials (Social proof)
- Office & Workplace
- Perks & Benefits: flexible working hours, tuition reimbursement, gym membership, free lunch etc.
- Training & Development
- Company culture: Values
- Recognition & Validation
- Creative recruitment campaigns
Willow helps businesses create their employer brands on social media by helping them implement the strategy presented in this article. Try Willow for free today to use social media to grow your employer brand.