Social media is a powerful recruitment marketing tool to help you connect with candidates on a more personal level. Here’s how to use it to your best advantage to promote your employer brand.
Leveraging your social media channels effectively enables candidates to gain an authentic snapshot of your organisation and culture, and provide deep, interactive content experiences. But using social media to enhance your employer brand requires some strategic planning.
Choose your channels wisely
Your organisation can’t be all things at once, so why try to be across every social media channel? In boosting your employer brand, choose the channels you are most likely to reach your target talent demographic. Here are some statistics to keep in mind.
Although the latest statistics show that Facebook (the most-used platform in Australia) has 15,000,000 users per month, the top demographic of users (6,100,000 of them) are actually users aged 25 to 39. This is compared to 4,100,000 users who are aged 40 to 55.
Another popular platform for recruiters, LinkedIn (which actually sits at number seven on the most-used list), also produces some interesting statistics. Out of the 5,500,000 monthly active Australian users, the largest user group are those aged 25 to 34, and over 57% of the total user group are women. The highest difference between male and female users also occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 310,000.
Create a content plan and post consistently
Build content with your employee value proposition (EVP) in mind. Your employee value proposition (EVP) should be succinct, honest and authentic (two attributes social media users value highly). You are then more likely to make a lasting impression on passive and active job seekers alike.
Because employer branding is on ongoing strategy, create a content plan that regularly incorporates employer branding content. Content ideas could include:
- Employee quotes
- Profile stories
- Organisational events
- Awards nights
- Pictures of your real team members.
(Tip: use social media scheduling tools to make content-sharing quick and easy.)
Be consistent in the execution of your employer branding social media strategy. Brands that post employer branding content sporadically (just like employers who only put ads out when they have a position to fill) often struggle to create a robust talent pipeline.
A continuous stream of consistent messaging will keep your employer brand top of mind for potential candidates.
Research has shown that nine out of ten candidates would apply for a job for an employer with an employer brand that is actively maintained.
Careers and values videos
Employer branding videos are fast becoming a critical recruitment marketing strategy. Not to mention, incorporating visual collateral and recognisable brand markers, like your logo and brand colours, also boosts your employer brand. In fact, a recent study found that people are 44 per cent more likely to engage with brands that post videos or images than brands that don’t.
Sites like Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat are all heavily video-focused, and YouTube in particular (number two on the most-used list), is incredibly popular with around 15 million Australians visiting the site every month. Interestingly, YouTube has also displaced Facebook as the platform of choice for Generation Z – with 89 per cent of Australians aged 14 to 27 visiting the site in an average four weeks.
However, video isn’t just about getting candidates excited about your employer brand. It can also bridge your content gaps through storytelling, and ideally, cover a wide range of topics in formats that are most likely to resonate with your audience. This means going beyond just employee testimonials in order to build an authentic employer brand, by offering real insights into the life of your organisation.
Empower your people
The power of referrals and word-of-mouth reviews can’t be underestimated, and there are no better advocates for your employer brand than your current, satisfied employees. Potential candidates also want to read content from real people, and employee-generated content is a powerful way to boost your employer brand, promote to your values, mission and benefits.
Encourage your team members to like, share and re-tweet social content, which not only keeps them informed and engaged, but increases the reach of your employer brand. Your employees have a number of connections on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook (to name a few) that can take your brand awareness to the next level. You can even encourage your team members to generate and share their own content! (Tip: it’s a great idea to share and promote social media guidelines or a branding pack to help your employees build their personal brand and get the most traction from their content.)
So … how do know your strategy is working?
The strength of your employer brand can be challenging to measure, however there are a few metrics that can help. These include:
- Tracking the growth rate of your channels over time, and comparing the growth rate before and after social campaigns are launched.
- Promoting candidate-centric social content and keeping track of how many interactions you receive in comparison to other content to create benchmarks and inform your strategy.
- Using and tracking UTM links with URL shorteners on social media to your website, in your call to action statements.
- Tracking the volume and percentage of website traffic from social media using Google Analytics.
- Setting up goals in Google Analytics to measure specific actions your incoming users are taking.
Building your employer brand via social media is crucial for organisation success and should be an intrinsic part of your overall recruitment marketing strategy. Not only are potential candidates checking your social media activity regularly, but so are your current employees!
A robust employer brand provides valuable insights into how your organisation treats employees and what it would be like to work with you. So don’t be left behind in the digital dust. Start building your employer brand and tracking results consistently.
How important is your employer brand to your organisation? Do you find it difficult to stand out from your competitors when it comes to attracting talent? Share a comment below and continue the conversation on LinkedIn.
With a career history of over 20 years in the marketing sector working for some of Australia’s top ad agencies, Kaye launched her own copywriting business, KK Productions, in 2014.
Her client list includes Australia’s largest retail travel outlet, the world’s largest insurance company and one of the country’s top retail stores; she has also written content for a variety of other sectors from recruitment, real estate and educational organisations to health and service-oriented industries. Kaye’s writing experience spans the full gamut of advertising and marketing copy. When she is not immersed in the world of writing, she loves reading, travel and bushwalking with her husband and dog, Barney.