How to communicate your employer brand
Your employer brand already exists. It exists in the interactions you have with potential hires, with candidates, employees and alumni. How you shape it is in your hands.
While shaping a brand can sound abstract at first, a lot of it just comes down to effective communication. Here are our five top tips for communicating your employer brand.
1. Know your audience
Is the first rule of marketing and it can be applied to employer branding too. As well as making use of different channels for different types of candidate (for example different messages and communications tools are needed to attract graduates versus senior hires), we also need to plan out different types of communication for:
- Your shop window (e.g. careers pages, employee videos)
- First engagement (e.g. employee videos, games, screening)
- Ongoing dialogue (e.g. live chats, online events).
Map out your target talent populations and available communications channels for each group at each stage of the recruitment cycle.
2. Consider how we consume content in the digital age
The way we consume content and make decisions as consumers has been transformed by the digital age. We’re more likely to listen and trust peers rather than the voice of an organisation, we want to be able to carry our self-directed research in our own time before we engage with a company, and we’re demanding about getting answers to our questions immediately.
These trends can equally be applied to employer branding. So, once you’ve identified the demographics of your target talent populations, consider how the range of channels you’re going to use will appeal to each of them. Given that 89% of job seekers say their mobile device is an important tool for job search, are you ensuring that you’re using the correct channels that your audience want to use?
3. Make use of storytelling
Successful and compelling stories make your company more appealing to employees. They effectively promote your employer brand while giving prospects a peek into their future work environment and what they can expect from their day-to-day activities.
Storytelling is central to the concept of influencer marketing which is highly effective in the digital age. In fact 90% of people with access to the internet trust recommendations from social media influencers.
Stories help scenarios to look real and authentically convey employee experience. Harver’s Chris Pateman talks more about the art of storytelling and offers some ideas for the right channels to tell them.
4. Create a conversation
Applicants want to join the debate. They want to be part of a conversation, not just broadcasted to. “Candidates don’t want to be told things, they want to be shown things, to have inspiration to cling on to. They need to interact in order to be able to connect – which builds rapport and loyalty.”
Channels including live chats, online events and social networks facilitate two-way conversation. For more ideas on creating conversations, look through our 9-step guide to candidate communication.
5. Branding is internal as well as external
Employee branding efforts require a company to turn their gaze towards the inner workings of their own organisation too. In the same way that brands strive to connect with their customers on an emotional level, employer branding allows staff to feel like their experience is part of a greater whole, rather than detached and disinterested in organisational goals.
Key to success is ensuring you configure the right candidate journey through the best channels looking at what works best for each individual, each organisation – and even each role.
For more on improving your candidate experience and employer branding, read our 10 best practices to implement now.
