Employer branding starts internally by working from the inside out. Establishing the right culture for employees will allow your businesses values to shine through to future employees and prospective customers. The foundation of a brand needs to be robust and built with culture in mind. You want your employees to be engaged and truly invested in the business. Starting with an authentic culture will set your branding out on the right footing.
What do I mean by branding from the inside out? Well, it goes back to defining your company’s mission statement and making it known at your organization. Sharing your mission will enforce to your employees that they’re doing something bigger than just working to earn a paycheck. It gives their day-to-day tasks a purpose. Being open about financials and how the company makes money will also encourage your employees to be more invested in the brand.
Get HR & Marketing to Partner Up
Bringing the marketing and human resources departments together will be highly advantageous for your company. The two can share their expertise and capabilities to tackle internal branding easily. HR will be able to note which employees may be good candidates for being brand advocates, and marketing can advise on social media marketing tactics. By joining forces in a strategic collaboration, the two can work together to attract the talent you want.
Consider Google’s employer brand. After seeing The Internship with Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, any technology oriented person would likely love to work there. Their employees have access to amazing perks (pods for napping, free food, etc.) and they’re encouraged to “do cool things that matter,” which brings us back to showing your employees the value they add to your company.
Starbucks is another noteworthy brand that understands employer branding. Their staff shares why they love working for Starbucks in social media with #sbuxjobschat. Starbucks uses video to show a behind-the-scenes look into some of the jobs and how they are giving back to communities. Prospective recruits see these posts and are intrigued to work for Starbucks because it’s about more than just selling coffee.
Dell offers social media training to their employees through a program they call SMaC U (Social Media and Community University). The training is available to all of their 110,000 employees and once becoming certified they have access to special events. They’re also working to enhance career advances and increase employee retention. You can see the activity of Dell’s employees on Twitter by searching the hashtag #iwork4dell.
Organizations that help their employees to grow in their careers, not just in their current job, will attract higher qualified individuals. This could be offering in-person training, access to online courses, or even contributing to their college funding. Showing that you are invested in them will encourage a reciprocation in the form of hard work and dedication.
Encouraging Employees to Advocate for Your Employer Brand
According to Edelman’s Trust Barometer, 60% of people will trust a person like themselves, and only 37% trust the CEO. Letting your employees have a voice on social media will make your brand more likable. People are not attracted to machines, and that is often what poor brand accounts are akin too… Very little personality and a regurgitation of content from their website.
Encouraging employees to advocate for your brand adds a human touch. Employee Advocacy can be informal. You don’t need to create a whole program to reap the benefits of activating your workers on social media, but you must have content. As long as your employees know the basics and what content they can share, the brand will benefit. Providing training or even just directing employees to free resources about social media is recommended for greater success.
Listening to Your Industry
Social listening is an important way to keep tabs on brand reputation. Between review sites for products or employers, and social media you can gauge brand sentiment. You’ll see what’s working for your brand as an employer and likely discover some needed improvements from your employees’ less filtered perspectives.
Use content marketing to solidify your employer brand. For employees to advocate for you, they must have content to share. Read our B2B Content Marketing Strategy Guide (no form required!) if your content needs a boost. This guide will show you how to formalize your content plan thereby driving online awareness.
