Building a strong employer brand on social media

Author: Claire Harrison | Managing Director | Harrisons

A strong employer brand is the foundation of effective recruitment. Your brand is what makes your company stand out to potential candidates. It communicates your values, culture, and what it’s like to work at your company.

Key Steps:

1. Define Your Employer Value Proposition (EVP): Clearly articulate what makes your company a great place to work.
2. Consistency Across Platforms: Ensure your branding is consistent across all social media channels. This includes using the same logo, colour schemes, and messaging.
3. Showcase Your Culture: Use social media to highlight your company culture. Share stories of employee achievements, company events, and behind-the-scenes looks at your workplace.

Understanding your candidates and building personas

To attract the right candidates, you need to understand who they are and what they want. Creating candidate personas helps you tailor your recruitment strategies to meet their needs.

Steps to Create Candidate Personas:

Gather Data: Use surveys, interviews, and analytics to gather information about your ideal candidates.

1. Define Characteristics: Identify their professional goals, challenges, online behaviour, and preferred social media platforms.
2. Segment Your Audience: Create different personas for different roles or departments to ensure your messaging is relevant.
3. Developing Candidate Personas

Beyond just skills and qualifications, candidate personas should include professional and personal goals, motivations, challenges, and online behaviour. This deeper understanding allows for more targeted and effective recruitment strategies.

Creating content that your candidates want to consume

Content is king in social media recruitment. The content you share should be engaging, informative, and tailored to your audience.

Types of Content to Share:

1. Employee Stories: Share testimonials and stories from current employees. This can include “a day in the life” videos, employee takeovers, and interviews.
2. Company Culture: Highlight your company’s values, mission, and culture through posts about company events, community involvement, and employee achievements.
3. Job Openings: Regularly post about job openings, but make sure to highlight what makes these positions attractive. Include details about growth opportunities, work-life balance, and company benefits.

Developing effective paid social media campaigns

Paid social media campaigns can significantly boost your reach and engagement. They allow you to target specific demographics and ensure your job ads are seen by the right people.

Best Practices:

1. Targeted Advertising: Use the targeting tools available on platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram to reach your ideal candidates.
2. Eye-catching Visuals: Use high-quality images and videos to grab attention. Real photos of your workplace and employees work best.
3. Compelling Copy: Write clear and engaging copy that speaks directly to your candidate personas. Highlight the benefits of working at your company and include a strong call to action.

Measuring success and optimising strategies

To ensure your social media recruitment efforts are effective, it’s crucial to measure your success and continuously optimise your strategies.

Key Metrics to Track:

1. Application Rates: Measure the number of applications received through social media.
2. Engagement Rates: Track likes, shares, comments, and other forms of engagement on your posts.
3. Cost-per-Hire: Calculate the cost of hiring a candidate through social media versus other recruitment methods.
4. Time-to-Hire: Measure how long it takes to fill a position using social media.

Case studies

HiPages Group: HiPages effectively uses Instagram and LinkedIn to showcase their company culture and attract talent. Their Instagram features real content highlighting employee achievements, while LinkedIn offers a more formal look at their leadership team and employee testimonials.

Hydro Chem: Hydro Chem uses a traditional voice but maintains consistency across multiple channels, including Facebook and YouTube. They focus on their people and community achievements, providing a glimpse into their company culture.

Leveraging targeted recruitment advertising

Think like a marketer, not just a recruiter. Create campaigns that maximise your ad spend, attract more candidates, and build your employer brand.

Social Media Ads vs. Traditional Job Ads:

• Social Media Job Ads: Target candidates during their leisure time on mobile devices. Use eye-catching visuals and language that speaks to their needs and desires.
• Traditional Job Ads: Focus on detailed job descriptions and requirements. They’re effective for candidates actively looking for jobs.

Examples of successful social media campaigns

McDonald’s Snaplications: McDonald’s used Snapchat to target teenagers with a fun and engaging application process, resulting in thousands of applications in just a few days.

EasyJet’s Empty Nesters Campaign: EasyJet targeted over-45s with a campaign highlighting the benefits of working for the airline now that their children have grown up, leading to a significant increase in new hires from this demographic.