So what is “employer branding”?

Employer branding is the term commonly used to describe an organization’s reputation as an employer. This refers to the value proposition to employees, as opposed to its more general corporate brand reputation and value proposition to customers.

In such a competitive employee market, it’s becoming more and more important – well-qualified people have a lot of job offers to consider. And one of the ways to get them interested in working for your brand is by standing out on social media and showing them your true colours.

Why should your company be active on social media?

1. Yes, they will look at your profiles. The time when only reviews matter is gone. Your corporate website won’t be the only thing reviewed anymore – applicants will look for information about your brand on the internet, including your social media presence. If your profiles are empty and not up-to-date, they can appear untrustworthy and unprofessional. And that’s the last thing you want for your brand.
2. Brands build a strong following to increase their reach. That’s why if you’re running your brand account, you should do the same thing. Even if it’s mainly for recruitment or brand awareness purposes. The more popular your page, the more popular your brand. Simple as that.
3. Social media boasts the easiest and quickest platforms for communicating with many professionals. And each and every day, they get a lot of offers from everywhere. With an outstanding strategy on social media, you will get noticed.
4. Rethink your strategy – showing off your projects, events, and corporate culture can make people want to work for you. Everybody wants to be in on the fun!
5. Thanks to social media, you can reach your target groups. If your recruitment process is very specific and you are looking for people with particular skills, social media might be the place for you. Using advanced targeting options and detailed data, you can precisely reach the candidates you want to.

Which platforms are best for employer branding?

• Facebook seems to be the natural choice for most. It offers advertising forms and options that help you find the perfect candidates. And thanks to its post forms, your content and strategy can be made more interesting, attractive, and engaging. That’ll help you reach more people who fit your target groups.
• Instagram is great for showing your brand’s human face or corporate culture. While it’s not the best platform for linking to job offers (limited options for that), it’s perfect when it comes to posting photos from everyday work life, events, or integration parties. So why not?

• Linkedin is unavoidable for brands who take care of their professional side. Filled in, updated on a regular basis, and interesting profiles are seen as business cards to many. Brands without a business presence on this platform may not be taken seriously – so they better take it seriously.
• Platforms such as Google+ or Pinterest can also be useful for your strategy – both for positioning purposes and content distribution.
• Glassdoor should play a very important role for your brand. This is one of the most opinion-forming platforms for brands interested in building an employer brand. But don’t let them be the only review site you focus on.

• • A corporate blog is great not only for SEO, but also for your expert performance. With any valuable content you produce, publish and share what you can.

How do you build and promote your employer brand?

• Quality over quantity. If you don’t have time for each and every platform, don’t try to be there at all costs. And never deliver information that won’t be seen as valuable. Focus on a few platforms and on the best possible performance
• Be trustworthy, professional yet friendly. No one likes to engage with a robot or machine – let alone work for them. Social media is great for presenting the human side of your company!
• Gain new employees… by showing off your current employees. Each and every employee has a story to share – and this could win the hearts of your audience. Let them be your brand ambassadors. Also, make the most of the fact that people love stories, so engage them by telling stories of your overall brand. Boost engagement by offering meaningful employee rewards. Recognizing employees not only builds loyalty but also showcases your company as a place that values and invests in its team.
• Build a team for building a brand. Employer branding activities on social media shouldn’t involve only your marketing or HR team. Let the CEO, CMO, CTO be involved as well – by writing blog posts or sharing their experience on platforms such as Quora. Each employee can offer a valuable input.

• Put a focus on social media, but don’t rely on it alone! Your social presence should work alongside a complex website and offline activities. Don’t forget about regular updates to your website – it’s still going to be one of the first things your potential candidates will see when researching opportunities.
• Analyse your performance and always improve it. Social media efforts can be measured in many ways and offer a lot of data to be analysed. Some metrics, such as engagement & reach (which directly impacts how many people see and interact with your brand) or responsiveness (important for customer service) should be crucial to follow, measure, and optimize. With Sotrender, you can identify content that delivers the best results and become a real social media lovebrand.

The sooner you become aware of the power of employer branding, the better for you and your brand. The other story is to turn your employees into happy employee advocates, which you can expect to see in our upcoming  blog posts.

What about your employer brand? Let us know in the comments, we’re awaiting your discussions!