Social media is often seen as just a channel for organisations to build their corporate brand with the ultimate goal being to generate more leads and in turn more sales. But social media can also play an essential role in many other facets of the business, including building your company’s employer brand, and in essence making you a hot ticket when it comes to attracting talent.

So what is an employer brand? Aim for Brilliance describes it as “the reputation of a company or organization as an employer–and the focus of employer branding is to enhance the overall image of the brand in order to attract prospective top talent and increase employee retention”.

These days there are a number of areas of specialty where demand is high and supply is low. This leaves the talent pool holding all the power, and companies having to differentiate themselves from their competitors. And it isn’t always about who offers the highest salary.

There are a number of ways in which an organisation can lift their employer brand in order to get more candidates knocking at their door. Here are my top 5 suggestions of where social media can drive results.

1. Create and promote a video showing life at your business

You don’t have to spend a lot of money to put together a short video that showcases the working environment at your organisation. You should think about what visual cues set your company apart from others and be sure to include these.

For example, at MYOB we invested in state of the art, inspiring & collaborative offices; so when it came to creating a careers video it was important for us to feature these. The video has been shared far and wide on social media, is featured on the careers webpage, and is also used as a recruitment tool that is sent to prospective employees.

2. Use Instagram to take the inside of your business outside

There are lot of reasons for organisations to be active on Instagram, and one of them is definitely the opportunity for taking what goes on behind offices walls out to the masses. You could recruit a small team of employees to regularly share their experiences in photo format – just make sure you’ve set guidelines for what is appropriate to share and what’s not. You could even put a stream of your Instagram photos on your Careers Page of your website to get more reach.

PR firm Sweaty Betty do a great job of using their Instagram account to share highlights from the office, and they are often inundated with comments from people who want to work for them.

3. Start a company blog

If you don’t already have a blog for your organisation, having one is another way for you to open a window into your business. Your content plan could include highlighting company achievements, celebrating employees, and reviewing internal events and activities.

Getting your employees involved in writing the content is another opportunity to show that your organisation is social and considers its employees its number one asset.

4. Educate your employees to be online advocates

There is nothing better than hearing it from the horse’s mouth, so why not activate your workforce to get social and start sharing your story for you.

At MYOB we offered training to staff on a wide range of social media topics, including how to maximise your LinkedIn presence, and both introductory and advanced Twitter sessions. Give your staff the know-how and freedom to share their stories and also encourage them to engage with your brand online.

A great way to demonstrate their pride in the organisation is when employees like, share, and retweet your social content where relevant and appropriate. Give them the skills and licence to go for it!

5. Get yourself a LinkedIn Careers Page

This one is a bit more of a financial investment, but purchasing a LinkedIn Careers Page for your organisation gives you a place to house all of this content, such as videos, testimonials, photos, SlideShare decks, and alike.

It also puts it before approximately 5 million Australian LinkedIn members, so a far broader audience than you’d otherwise have. LinkedIn offer some great advice on how to get the most of our Careers Page, see their 5 Steps to Creating Best-in-Class LinkedIn Careers Pages.

How important is your employer brand to you? Are you finding it difficult to stand out from other companies when it comes to attracting talent? What other social media ideas can companies use to showcase themselves as top employers? Comment below!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Lauren Ridgway

Lauren is the Social Media Manager for the National Australia Bank (NAB). Previously heading up social media for technology company MYOB and the University of Melbourne, Lauren has a spent the last ten years in digital marketing, communications and content strategy. Lauren's work has been featured in Mashable, Wordpress Top Blogs & Smart Company. Also a qualified workplace trainer, she regularly delivers workshops, webinars, and speaks at conferences.