Social media is a great platform to build and support your employer brand. By far the most popular one being used today is Facebook, with its impressive 2 billion user base.
These days, it’s almost a requirement to have a social media presence, especially if you are looking to attract the best talent in this digitally savvy generation. Your potential employees often use social channels such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Snapchat to get to know a company and its culture.
These sites can be used as an opportunity to create and share content, which highlights just how good of a company you have, inspiring potential hires to join. Here are some tips on how you can utilize each platform to ensure you do social media right:
1. Facebook
Its impressive 2 billion user base makes Facebook one of the most important branding tools for your company. It has the largest potential reach of all social platforms and it’s very likely that one of the first things a potential employee will check is your company’s Facebook page.
Fill your Facebook page with engaging proprietary content and industry-related news. Post images and videos whenever possible to give potential hires an idea of what it would be like to work in your company. Facebook user demographic is varied, which is good, because you can target paid posts based age, location and other requirements.
After you’ve set up your Facebook Page, notify employees and encourage them to take part in online discussions or share content to improve page fan engagement.
2. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a popular social networking site for professionals. You can create a customized company page to showcase your organization, products or services and culture for free. Make sure you include the company details (address, website, company size etc), add a logo, and customized banner to your page, so that it looks credible and professional. You can add a ‘careers’ section tab and post your job openings there as well.
With LinkedIn, you can do a lot of things like upload office/project photos, feature your CEO, employees and blogs written by your staff members – all of which are useful content to push engagement among current and potential employees alike.
Your employees have the potential to be your biggest brand ambassadors, so make sure that they have listed the company as their workplace and that their profiles look professional, with similar-looking profile photos plus company bios.
3. Instagram
Most companies have a database of photos from past events, projects, employees, etc. A great way to repurpose these existing content is to create an Instagram account. Instagram thrives on regular posting of high-resolution images with great composition. Use this platform to push your creativity in promoting your company culture and job openings.
You can encourage your employees share the best things they love about your company and tag your company profile on Instagram. Use a company specific hashtag to collect all the related photos and videos in one place.
4. Twitter
You have a potentially wide reach with Twitter because it is an open platform that allows people to view your content without following you. To get good Twitter engagement, research on your potential audience and determine which content they will find interesting. Add a related hashtag so it will be easier for users to find your posts. You can use tools like HashTracking and Hashtagify, to help you find out which hashtags will resonate with your audience.
Search through Google Trends and #hashtags to help you identify influencers who are discussing certain topics. You can search for specific hashtags and filter by desired location, then connect with potential candidates who have shown a real interest in the field.
5. YouTube
Videos are much more interesting and engaging than words for most people. Take advantage of this trend by creating a YouTube channel for your company and put in time and effort into producing good video content.
You don’t need to have a huge budget to create a cool employer branding video as you can make videos with low production cost. You can use your smartphone to shoot employee interviews on why they love your company, or create feature videos on key employees using your point-and-shoot camera.
Potential employees will try to find out as much as they can about your company and videos would be a good way to give them a realistic expectation, while highlighting company values.
6. Snapchat
Snapchat is a great platform if you want to reach a typically younger demographic. You can use photos and videos and add fun emojis, stickers and filters to boost your company content.
However, you have to keep a regular flow of content on Snapchat as posts only have a maximum of 24-hour shelf-life.
Social media is an innovative way to reach your company’s fans, followers and potential employees. You need to employ slightly different strategies to connect with across different demographics, so it’s best to do prior research about your target audience.
Experiment with a smaller group of platforms that has your target audience. After you have these mastered this, diversify the other channels.
Do you have other tips on how companies can use social media to support their employer branding? Share them in the comments below.
Visit HireRabbit for tips on how to use Facebook and mobile career sites to improve your recruitment.
