What You Don’t Know About Social Media and Your Employer Brand

As the economy picks up, employers may find themselves daunting over the fact that their employees could be receiving new opportunities right under their nose. 45% of workers say they would jump ship for a new job even if they are happy with their current position. So how do you retain great talent in this fast-paced and ever-evolving world of technology? Employer brand. You can not only retain great talent with a good employer brand but you can also recruit better.

You might be asking, How do I let all of these awesome people know about my awesome employer brand? Two words…social media. Currently, 76% of companies use social media to communicate their employer brand. In the 2014 Employer Branding Global Trends Study Report from ERE Media, respondents overwhelmingly pointed to social media as the preferred channel when asked to identify the main medium their company plans to use to communicate their employer brand. So what if you’re in that 24%? Or what if you just really believe social media isn’t beneficial to your employer brand? Here are a few things you need to know:

Increasing Brand Awareness

Without an online presence nowadays, employers are seen as old-fashioned or even unprofessional. To many, it would be a mystery as to why you wouldn’t want to express your company’s values and work environment for the world to see and for your current employees to be proud of. Employers who want to cut out the middle man of job boards, though, are now using social media to directly reach out and be seen by job seekers. This is a more personal approach and boosts overall brand awareness, as well as employer brand. Job seekers are looking for this kind of relationship; out of the ones using social media, 67% use Facebook.

Culture Matters

The best employer brands all have one thing in common: A clearly defined culture. Expressing your employer brand means letting fans/followers and everyone else know what it’s like to work for your company. This can all range from what’s keeping your employees engaged and differentiates you from competitors to what your walls and chairs look like. Job seekers WANT to know about your company culture and are researching it, whether you like it or not, and they’re using social media to do so. There are a plethora of networks to assess a company’s culture, but overall, Facebook is the top choice at 18%. Using other networks like Instagram to show off culture can be as easy snapping a team photo or a quick desk space inspiration picture. Posting this type of content can give job seekers a better idea of what they’re in for if they come to work for you and it can help current employees share what a great place they’re working for.

Active Ambassadors

If these other reasons aren’t enough to convince you, using social media as a means to boost your employer brand has one very awesome advantage. Ambassadors! Who are these ambassadors, you ask? They are the great people already working for you. What sends a better message to job seekers than current employees who are happy and engaged with their positions at the company? These ambassadors are the most credible source for your employer brand and it can be a great way to keep current employees engaged. Plus, job seekers want to know what your employees have to say. In fact, 45% of candidates want to see profiles of current employees on your career site. You can do them one better by getting employees active on social media by promoting what they do on a regular basis or how much they love working at your organization.

Given our new world of social transparency and growing economy, organizations can no longer afford to rely on recruitment advertising like job boards to build a positive employer brand image. Conversations are already happening on social media around your industry and about your brand, it’s up to you whether or not to jump in!

The Branchers

We build the best damn marketing campaigns on the planet. And we do it for industries and companies you might not identify as easy to market (right away). Working here takes a very special kind of person.