Employer branding, yes, it’s very important and you probably figured that out by now. If you didn’t, let us be very clear: employer branding is here to stay! It’s not a marketing hype or buzzword, no ma’am (or sir). Your employer brand is equally important as your brand in general.
Let’s create a baseline: what are you doing at the moment about your employer brand? Nothing? Not likely, but possible, however unnoticed you might have been doing something about it! Check out these 10 Employer Branding Stats You Need to Know to see why you need to invest in your employer brand. Are things making more sense now? Good! Then it’s something we’re going to work on! Read on, dear friend.
1. Stories to tell
So, you’re aware of what you’ve been doing and what you’ve been lacking in doing. Now, what kind of stories do you want to tell? Is your brand in general ready for some more clarification? Or are you stepping up and finally creating actual visions, missions, and values. Whatever the reason, the stories should be human. If you’re creating a fairytale, no one will buy what you’re selling. People want to feel connected with your story, that’s how it sticks!
2. Social media skills
Are you visible on social media? Let us tell you right now if you’re not: that’s totally OK. As long as you have at least a few, or one channel where you provide excellent content on. Quality over quantity is the key since the number of posts on a channel are sometimes absolutely ridiculous! You don’t want to post because you have to, but because the content is good. Hallelujah.
3. Hand it over!
Get your employees involved by simply giving them access to one or more social media channels. Yes, some guidelines on what to post (and especially what NOT to post) could be handy, but not necessary. If you completely trust your employees, there’s no need for extra restrictions, so you should just let them be! That’s right, we’re referring to a good old Beatles-song, but there’s definitely some truth in there!
4. Visuals = life
Whether it’s in videos, images, boomerangs, snaps, stories, all shapes and sizes count! As long as the content is visually OK – hear, hear: no need for perfection! Behind the scenes snaps with a bit of a shaky hand can be the best kind of content, since it’s genuine. I’m sure we’ve mentioned it before, but here it is again: you’re NOT a fairytale, so don’t strive to become one.
5. Create culture
Yes, you have some people involved, great job! This will immediately give your employees a creative boost, with some team building and cooperation included as well. Here’s where the magic happens, because where do you start? With your own personal story! Your cool kids will be enlightened by each other since they’ll figure out things they never knew about each other. Here’s to some proper bonding! (But also create some cool content, obviously)
6. Look back & improve
So, once you’ve done all the above, it’s time to evaluate! You’ve given your employees some freedom to post content, but how did it perform? This circle of improvement should be repeated every now and then. Just so you know where you are with your employer brand. Wait, what? Yup, you’ve heard it right, you already nailed it! Without even mentioning it too many times, you already started developing or improving your employer brand – hoorah!
7. Final thoughts
To conclude: these simple & low budget tips should help you to improve your employer brand. As a bonus point, you’ll encourage your employees to work together, share their own personal stories and strengthen your teamwork in general! Just hand it over already!
