10 May 2018|employer branding

5 Tips for Your Employer Branding Strategy

5 Tips for Your Employer Branding Strategy

Large and small businesses rely on their company branding and reputation for attracting new business. But did you realize that a company’s employer branding is also important?

According to a study by Glassdoor, 69% of those searching for a job are more likely to apply if the company manages its employer brand: responds to reviews, updates their profile, shares updates on the culture and work environment, etc. This means your employer branding strategy is equally as important as your customer branding strategy. Why? Because with excellent branding, your company will have a higher chance of hiring talented workers; not only that, but you’ll also have a higher rate or retaining excellent workers.

So, what can you do to improve your employing branding? Let’s take a look.

Tips to Improve Your Employer Branding

1) Know and understand your employer brand: So, just what is your employer brand? If you’re a top executive or in HR, you can probably rattle off all the facts and figures of your business. But what about your employer brand? Employer brand is based on a communication strategy: you’ll need to organize facts about your company’s values, future goals (such as growth, etc.), your company’s work culture, etc. This will take time. Once you have this information organized, you’ll be able to put it to good use. You’ll be able to see how you rank compared to competitors and then find and fix areas where your company may need to improve.

2) Define your message: Once you’ve gathered the information about your company’s values, goals, etc. now it’s time to fine tune your message. Create an authentic message, using a tone of voice that fits your brand. This not only lets employees, but future job candidates know what to expect. Keep your message consistent across all media—from social media, to brochures and your website and video content, advertising, etc. This helps to reinforce your employer brand.

3) Listen to your employees: Do you know how your employees feel? What do they like about your company? What needs to be improved? You can find out by using employee surveys—they’re a good way to find out how your employees are feeling, etc. It’s a good idea to include open-ended questions on the survey—this will give your employees a way to explain exactly what’s on their minds. Another tool you can use is Glassdoor. This site allows employees to leave reviews and comments about the company they work for. You can also find reviews on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIN, Twitter and Indeed, among others.

4) Use social media: Through the use of social media, you’ll be able to both internally and externally project your company’s message and improve your employer brand. Create visibility for specific pages on your website (ex. your company blog, career pages, etc.). Social media is a great way to be involved, project your employer brand and trigger actions (such as attracting applicants to a specific job opening, etc.).

5) Don’t forget your blog: Create engaging content, consistent with your company’s message and voice. Make content useful, relevant and educational and the number of blog readers will grow. You can post news and other updates about your company, discuss your company’s work place culture and more. And remember, all content you create for your blog can be shared through the social media channels you use. The blog articles can also be repurposed into newsletter updates, used as guest articles on other sites and more. Make your blog work for you, utilizing it to improve your company’s employer brand.

Additional ideas for Your Employer Branding Strategy

Now that you’ve decided on an employer branding strategy and have begun to use it, you may find you need other methods to reach your strategic goals. Here are some additional ideas you can use to improve and promote your business’ employer brand:

Utilize career development and training: these help your company to retain top talent. By offering ways for your employees to improve their work or even work their way up the ladder, there’s a higher chance they’ll want to stay on board, rather than leaving for a new position with a competitor.

Make your company stand out: do this by showcasing what you have to offer in the way of employee benefits, working environment, work culture and more. Doing this helps your company to stand out in a crowded market by showing the value you have to offer new employees.

Employee recognition: find ways to recognize employees for their great work and show them they’re valuable to the company. Not only will your employees turn into a promotion channel (by encouraging others to come work for your company), but they’ll also provide positive company reviews that can attract new candidates.

Measuring your efforts: how do you know if your employer branding strategy is working? Again, be sure to check sites where your employees may be leaving reviews about the company. Continue to make use of surveys to see if your efforts are improving your employees’ responses. And don’t forget to check on social media metrics and learn if your company’s reputation is strengthening as you’d like. With these metrics, adjust your employer branding strategy as needed.

As you can see, it takes a bit of work to get organized, but employer branding is an important part of finding and retaining good employees. Once you have your strategy planned, follow it and keep adjusting your strategic steps as you measure your company’s employer branding efforts. You’ll see your efforts pay off in the long-term with better and happier employees.