Why social media should be part of your employer branding strategy
If your business has a social media account, you need to be using this to communicate your employer branding strategy.
According to statistics, more than half of the world (4.95 billion people) use social media. So, if you don’t currently have social media as part of your strategy, then we urge you to reconsider.
Social media can be a very powerful tool, especially when building and managing your employer brand. If you’re not on any platforms, this means that a large percentage of your potential candidates aren’t seeing your content in their feed.
Which social media platform is right for your employer brand?
Ultimately, this is a question only you as a business owner can answer. You can determine the answer by asking yourself the following:
What platforms do my competitors use?
If you know that your business competitors are using certain platforms, this means they are already more ‘visible’ to potential job seekers.
We all know the phrase ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’!
What channels are my current team using?
This question is really important in understanding your current team. Once you have a better picture of their online activity, you’ll know that people of a similar demographic will likely be using those channels for the same purposes. Meaning that you’ll have the upper hand on knowing where your potential candidates are hanging out.
What do I have resource and capacity to manage?
Social media is a commitment and requires dedicated resource. One of the golden rules of social media is consistency – once you start, you need to keep it up.
Depending on the size of your business, you may choose to manage this in-house or outsource to a third-party. However, if you are using a social media partner to manage your channels on your behalf, you’ll need to do the leg work beforehand. You will need to create key messages as part of your employer branding strategy and communicate all elements that you would like your channels to showcase.
The four main channels that people use to promote their business are:
X (known to almost everyone as Twitter – Why did you bother Elon?!).
If you are heavily investing in video content, then YouTube and TikTok may also be right for you.
You can use all the social media platforms mentioned above to share employer branding content.
How does social media help to communicate your employer brand?
Social media has changed the way that we all communicate. It’s made it easier for users to feel like they’re part of a discussion, rather than just reading statements. This helps job seekers to understand if they have a ‘connection’ with your business.
Your employer branding content must be authentic, it is easy to see through false claims.
Did you know, employee voice is three times more credible than that of the CEO?!
Job seekers will want to see what your employees are saying, this is where platforms like LinkedIn come in handy. Asking your team to share case studies or testimonials gives potential candidates a great insight into life at your company.
Social media allows you to use a number of different methods to communicate your employer brand, in a range of ways. Creating a content calendar is a great way to map out exactly what you’re going to share on your social media pages.
By communicating your values, culture and mission online you are helping job seekers to make up their own mind about whether they would be a good fit. This will help in the argument of quality vs. quantity. The more you communicate about your company online, the less likely you will receive masses of unsuitable applicants.
Want to know more about how to understand your employer brand and how to apply employer branding? Keep an eye out for more blogs or follow us on social media using the links at the bottom of this web page!