Employment16 Oct 2023
The role of Social Media in building and promoting an Employer Brand
After successfully crafting your Employer Brand with all its components, it's time to reach your target audience, i.e. your prospective talent pool. And social media is an ideal channel for just that.
One of the most utilised online channels, social media, is very effective in reaching the talent pool since most candidates and employees of various companies have a presence on social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. The beauty of digital content is that it can easily link prospective employees to other ‘owned’ online channels like your company’s career website or job portals, helping move the prospect through the hiring funnel.
Social listening is essential for organisations that want to build their Employer Brand since both positive and negative messages about the company need attention. Ignoring social media platforms where industry professionals mark their presence with thought-leadership content, may lead to the ineffective building and promotion of your Employer Brand. Many of the important conversations are happening on social. Are you adding your voice?
Why social media matters for your Employer Brand
Leveraging social media has become standard for building or promoting an employer's brand on social media. Current and prospective employees use social media to see and understand what an employer or organisation has to offer regarding its values, culture and future vision. When an employer has a strong presence on social media, it helps attract the desired candidates and even repels those that are not ideal.
Social media acts as a mirror where all external stakeholders can see the face of the organisation. It's like a channel between the organisation's internal workings and external people like suppliers, customers, prospective employees and Government. Strategic and consistent use of social media will help companies effectively build and promote their Employer Brand.
Social media can support viral content in terms of images, videos and blogs helps companies develop and promote their Employer Brand by creating authority within their industry and beyond.
Role of social media in building and promoting an Employer Brand
Social media is one of the best ways to build and promote your Employer Brand because it offers the opportunity for your content to spread organically. Beyond the benefits of ‘viral’ content, social media posting helps create authority among candidates and employees. Its beneficial role in Employer Brand building and promotion holds because of the following reasons:
Social media virality on platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter helps create and strengthen Employer Brand awareness.
Companies can strengthen their Employer Brand by giving voice to their employees to showcase their experiences on various social media platforms. This will help the organisation to showcase its work culture and brand story to prospective employees in an engaging and authentic way.
Social media can help companies showcase their employment experience without setting a foot in the door. Go ‘behind the scenes’ by sharing emotive, relatable and transparent content, which can shift how employers are perceived by their target talent pool in comparison with other employers. Your Employer Brand reputation gets amplified by regularly posting employee experiences in the form of videos, images and their true stories on different social media platforms.
Authentic, employee-centred, social media content can help companies build trust and credibility amongst candidates and employees more quickly and easily. The content is more relatable than corporate-led content. Think of word-of-mouth, we tend to trust people we know in our networks over corporations. The more real and genuine the content is, the more likely you are to build that trust.
Utilising social media through various platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter can help companies demonstrate their work culture to an external audience. The virality of social media can extend the reach of your Employer Brand to an audience that may not be directly exposed or actively looking for a role at your organisation. This can help build a loyal external following, while nurturing a passive audience of potential future employees.
Through its chosen platform, social media can help companies portray their work culture and values through regular social media presence. This will help the employer build a recogniseable Employer Brand position in the marketplace. Companies like Apple and Samsung have repeatedly demonstrated their work culture through social media which in turn builds their corporate brand as well.
The viral nature of social media helps companies get in front of people they might not directly deal with, thus reaching a more diverse network of candidates. When employers post genuine, emotive or story-driven content, it can cross borders, cultures and industry sectors. This exposes the employer to a much more diverse range of people including passive candidates who may not be looking for job, however fall in love with what you stand for as an employer and decide to make the move.
The vast majority of candidates and employees are on not just one, but multiple social media platforms. This is where people share their lives and increasingly interact with brands. Meeting the talent pool where they consume content is an opportunity not to be missed. Failing to do so may risk losing your next best cohort of employees who are unaware of your Employer Brand identity.
Social media can allow your current employees to become brand advocates who build the Employer Brand effectively in an authentic way. With permission and empowerment, many employees are proud to share their wins, ideas and even challenges by interacting on social media. This human-to-human connection builds trust more quickly than a corporation telling a story.
Tips for your social media Employer Branding strategy
Belong Creative has helped some of Australia’s most sought-after employers become trustworthy Employer Brands through social media. We guide your Employer Brand to attract employees, showcase your work culture effectively and create compelling branded people stories.
Here are a few general points every company should use to build a compelling Employer Brand on social media:
1. Use a genuine employee voice across social media platforms
2. Empower your employees to become employer brand advocates
3. Choose the right mix of social media platforms to nurture your talent needs
4. Respond empathetically and timely to social comments
5. Design content that is relatable to your target audience
Frequently asked questions
What social media platforms are ideal for Employer Branding?
Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) TikTok and Be Real may be suitable for Employer Branding depending on the type of talent you wish to attract. For example, experienced, white collar workers are more likely to be found on LinkedIn, while young, early careerists will be on TikTok and Be Real.
What is the role of marketing in Employer Branding?
The role of marketing in Employer Branding is to deploy a consistent brand message that gets amplified through social media and other marketing channels to bring awareness and association for your Employer Brand positioning. It’s all about reaching the right type of candidates in an effective and efficient way in the places where they hang out.
Why is social media important in recruitment strategy?
Through compelling content and messaging, social media helps companies attract a more suitable talent pool. Most employers are present on one or other social media platforms. Therefore it becomes necessary to use the right social media platforms to not only engage and attract a talent pool with similar values and beliefs and help candidates choose you as an employer over others. Social media can amplify an authentic employee voice, which is seen as more trusting over a corporate voice. This is why social media can help cut through and attract the right talent in an authentic way.
What are some examples of successful Employer Brand social media content?
While various corporates worldwide effectively use Employer Brand social media content, some of favourite companies to watch who do it well include Google, Spotify, Canva and Telstra.
