Today’s job seekers consider various factors when deciding where to apply – company culture, compensation, and growth opportunities, to name a few. To help prospective candidates see what the organization can offer in these areas, it is critical to ensure employees share their experiences and provide their take on life inside the organization. A highly effective way to accomplish this is via content employees create and share across social media and other channels.
In a Glassdoor survey, 77% of job seekers considered a company’s culture before applying. Organizations can ensure prospective applicants receive a transparent and authentic view into organizational culture with the help of personalized, employee-generated content.
As the name suggests, employee-generated content includes videos, images, social media posts, or other content developed and shared by employees. It is one of the many ways employees advocate for their employer and share their experiences with their connections and followers. Employee-generated content puts employees in the position of acting as brand influencers uniquely qualified to share what it’s really like to work within the organization.
Current, former, and prospective employees can create and share valuable branding content across their network. Examples include:
Tip: 80% of people say a video about a job improves their understanding of the role. Employee-generated videos offer a visual description of the day-to-day of a role, providing insights that influence a candidate’s decision to apply.
Employee-generated content is a powerful vehicle for promoting the human side of an organization. It brings the employer brand and culture to life, helping organizations attract and retain talent more effectively.
Here are several reasons why organizations rely on this powerful tool to boost their employer brand and build a quality workforce:
A strong employee value proposition (EVP) is critical to the success of any recruitment program, as it describes not only what the organization expects of its employees, but also what candidates and employees can expect to receive from the organization in return. Employee-generated content helps to articulate the EVP by illustrating real employee experiences and organizational culture in action. It can showcase many of the benefits and realities of working in the organization, including:
In a recent Gartner survey, 54% of candidates said they trusted the organization to be honest with them during the hiring process. However, 44% did not feel that way, suggesting there is much room to improve the candidate experience.
By promoting what employees have to say about working for the organization, it’s possible to increase the level of trust candidates have in what they’re hearing. In fact, a LinkedIn survey found that candidates trust employees three times more than the company to provide information about what it’s like to work there.
Tip: Recruitment data and analytics enable organizations to measure improvements in the recruitment process, including the impact of improvements in the candidate experience.
Using a combination of advertising, social media content, and career site messaging, organizations can reach only so many potential applicants at one time. But when employees also generate content and share it with their followers on LinkedIn, Twitter, and other platforms, recruitment teams can reach even more people. The more employees post and share their experiences, the more branding messages can spread among individuals with limited awareness who might not have learned about the organization otherwise.
Organizations seeking to attract talent in a competitive job market can achieve better recruitment success by utilizing a diverse mix of media channels to promote employer branding content. Talent acquisition teams can build awareness and engage a broader pool of prospective applicants by taking an omnichannel recruitment approach that utilizes employee-generated content and brand messages within programmatic job ads, landing pages, and the company career site.
While it’s important to articulate the organization’s goals for diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB), it’s also beneficial to show prospective and current employees what organizational DEIB looks like in the day-to-day. Employee-generated content provides an opportunity to showcase employee voices and experiences from a diverse mix of employees. With content that helps others see who works in the organization, the types of roles they perform, and the career paths they follow, candidates can develop a clearer picture of how the organization will recognize and value the unique perspectives and experiences they have to offer.
Employee-generated content isn’t just for talent acquisition; it can also spread excitement among existing employees and help them learn from the experiences of their coworkers. When employees share their experiences and celebrate their accomplishments, they can take pride in being on the same team and become more motivated to do their best work. And it’s this boost in engagement and motivation that often makes employees less likely to consider leaving.
Content generated by employees can also go a long way in bringing teams together, even when they are dispersed across different job functions, time zones, and geographies. For example, employee content posted on internal Slack channels, the company intranet, and the company newsletter can boost collaboration and help to break down silos and communication obstacles between teams.
Given the benefits of employee-generated content, it’s not surprising that so many organizations have chosen to make it a part of their overall recruitment and talent management strategy. In a 2022 TINT survey, more than half (52%) of HR and communications teams said they relied on content generated by employees to achieve their goals.
Here are the many ways organizations can leverage this powerful recruitment marketing tool:
Attracting and retaining high-quality talent is good for everyone in the organization; it helps the organization reach its goals and ensures teams are staffed with capable and engaged employees. Therefore, it makes sense to help employees understand the value of sharing their experiences and show them how easy it is to do.
Some employees may feel uncomfortable posting on social media or just may not know what to say, so it can be useful to clearly articulate the kinds of messages the company is hoping to promote. HR and talent acquisition teams can provide the following support to help employees get comfortable with sharing their experiences on social media and other platforms:
Tip: Companies should offer opportunities for employees to submit content that the company can use, in the instances that employees don’t want the content to live on their personal social media pages. This way, they can still be brand ambassadors – but in their own way.
Some employees are very enthusiastic about sharing their experiences with their network and followers. By inviting them to join a network of other highly engaged employees also creating content, organizations can create a buzz around their various content generation initiatives and ensure the momentum continues. Employee resource groups (ERGs), mentorship program events, and leadership development programs are great places to recruit enthusiastic and willing employees.
Once the brand ambassador network becomes established, the organization can maintain engagement by organizing friendly content-creation competitions and forming new hashtags for ambassadors to use on social media.
Meeting prospective applicants where they are requires being active on the social media platforms and job boards they visit. Therefore, organizations should regularly share employee-generated videos and posts on platforms such as LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. It’s also helpful to keep employer profiles updated across social channels, and, where appropriate, comment on employee posts and respond to reviews on sites like Glassdoor. Another way to promote employee branding content is to enlist the help of company leaders. When leaders regularly share and post content, employees are likely to do the same.
Employer branding content generated by employees significantly increases brand visibility among prospective applicants and builds a more engaged and motivated workforce. By encouraging employees to get involved and share their content consistently across multiple channels, organizations can make greater progress in reaching their recruitment goals and becoming an employer of choice.
When it comes to generating modest video content, Jamyr stands out as a valuable solution. Jamyr is a comprehensive video platform that enables employers to procure videos directly from their workforce. Offering a user-friendly interface, Jamyr facilitates employees in crafting and disseminating genuine narratives. By streamlining the video content scaling process for recruitment purposes, the platform empowers companies to effortlessly connect, engage, and recruit a larger pool of qualified candidates.
If you're looking to start using employee-generated content in your recruitment strategies, the team at Recruitics is here to help! Recruitics’ talent engagement services help organizations execute an employer branding strategy that engages employees and attracts high-quality talent.
