The 7 Best Places to Promote Your Employer Brand
A survey from Universum reveals that, among the World’s Most Attractive Employers, 86% said that employer branding was a top priority – a 15-point jump compared to the previous year’s survey.
It’s no secret that the talent market is tight in the post-pandemic world. So, as the war for talent intensifies, employers need to do everything they can to go the extra mile and promote their employer brand. It’s important that companies leave a lasting impression in the minds of both potential and current employees.
One of the best ways to do that is to ensure your employer brand is clearly communicated across the right external and internal channels at every stage of the talent lifecycle.
In this article, we’re sharing the seven best places to promote your employer brand, to ensure your organization is always top of mind for top candidates who have the skills your organization needs.
1. Your careers site
Your careers site is for so much more than just job listings. In fact, your careers site can actually be one of the most important tools you can use to promote your employer brand. And it is likely going to be one of the first places candidates will come into direct contact with your organization.
The candidate experience starts from the very moment that an individual arrives at your career site, so it’s crucial that you provide a good experience right from the beginning. You should provide a top-notch experience on the employer brand side by making sure the content you share on your careers site is high-quality, but you also need to provide a good user experience on the technical side. Make sure that your careers site is mobile-friendly and accessible.
And ensure any candidate who visits your careers site receives a warm welcome and is presented with the most relevant information including open roles, information about the company, photos of the team and other ‘nice-to-haves’ like employee interview videos.
2. LinkedIn company pages
It’s not just recruiters who use LinkedIn to research potential candidates. Candidates regularly research potential employers on LinkedIn when deciding whether or not they want to work for you. The first place they'll look is your LinkedIn Company Page – this needs to promote your employer brand effectively.
We’ll get into posting content on social media channels like LinkedIn a little later but, for now, let’s consider the LinkedIn company page itself. This should be a place where potential candidates can go to see what your organization is all about at a glance.
Your “about” section should provide a snapshot of who your organization is, and what you do. Your “jobs” section should show an up-to-date view of your current openings, and your “product” page should concisely explain what your organization sells.
But the best place to promote your employer brand on your LinkedIn company page is in the “life” section. This portion of your company page is specifically created for you to share what life is like at your company and it’s an ideal place to share employee testimonials, a video tour of your office, photos from the annual sales kick off, or whatever else you would like to highlight.
This section of your LinkedIn page will see lots of traffic from prospective candidates, so make sure you are putting your foot forward!
3. Employee referral programs
Happy employees are some of the most powerful tools your organization has when it comes to attracting new talent. And when employees are happy, they are more likely to recommend your company to their personal connections.
Every company should have at least some way for employees to refer candidates for open roles. And these employee referral programs should also be promoting your employer brand.
Having employees who are willing to refer their connections in the first place is already going to go a long way to help amplify your employer brand, and prove to candidates that your company is a great place to work.
But your employer brand needs to be on display at every stage of the employee referral and recruiting processes. Top candidates want to get a taste of what it’s like to work for a company before they sign an offer. Of course, the trusted friend who referred them will do some of the heavy lifting when it comes to showing that you are a good employer, but it’s important that the process is well thought out, and keeps the candidate in mind.
4. Your employees’ social networks
Employee advocacy isn’t a new concept, but it might be new to your employer branding strategy if you’re just getting started. A good employee advocacy program is a great way to tell prospective candidates about your company and why they should want to work there!
Don’t be afraid to ask your employees to consider posting content about their workplace on their personal social media accounts (and tag the company so others can easily follow your page).
The concept of an employee sharing a positive message about their employer on social media is very similar to that of a customer leaving a review for a product or company. Think about it – consumers are much more likely to trust the opinion of a real, verified customer than a company saying how great their product is.
The same is true for employee advocacy (and employer branding) – a prospective candidate is going to be more likely to believe and trust the content posted by an actual employee, as opposed to the company itself. Don’t underestimate the power of your employees here!
5. Company social posts
Employee advocacy on social media is one thing, but it’s important that your organization has a strong presence on social media as well. There are a lot of social networks you could use to promote your employer brand, but there are a few in particular that we recommend.
Most businesses have at least some presence on LinkedIn already. But this is actually an excellent place to share not only ‘business’ content, but employer branding content as well.
Many job-seekers (active or passive) utilize LinkedIn to grow their personal networks, apply for jobs, and ‘follow’ companies before they consider applying. By creating and sharing LinkedIn posts that give employees a window into what life at your organization is really like, you are already making a good impression – before they even submit their resume or CV.
Instagram makes it easy to showcase your employer brand. An app built specifically for photos, videos and sharing ‘stories’ in real-time is a perfect place to show potential candidates what life at your company is all about.
While LinkedIn has a reputation for being the more ‘professional’ social network, Instagram is much more ‘informal’ and gives employer branding teams the opportunity to have a little more fun with the content they share. Instagram is also a good place to reach millennial and Gen Z audiences with 28% of Instagram users being between the ages of 25 and 34, and another 25% are between the ages of 18 and 24.
Twitter is famous for their 280-character limit on posts, but that’s still plenty of room to put your employer brand on full display.
For employer branding teams, Twitter is a great place to interact with potential candidates. Users are much more likely to interact directly with a brand on Twitter than they are on other social networks like Facebook, for example. This makes Twitter an ideal place to amplify your organization’s employer brand.
6. TikTok
We know that TikTok is a social network, so it could have been part of the previous section, but we thought it deserved its own section.
TikTok currently has a whopping 1 billion users and is available in over 150 countries – making it the most downloaded mobile app in the world. The United States alone has over 210 million TikTok users.
This makes it an excellent place to showcase your employer brand – especially if you are looking to recruit younger talent.
Since TikTok may be a platform that your organization hasn’t used for talent marketing or employer branding yet, here are a few ideas to get inspired:
- Show a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s really like to work for your company. Show things like your different teams working together, your monthly all-hands meeting, and employees socializing on breaks.
- Encourage employees to share a day in their life at work on TikTok to highlight the work/life balance candidates could enjoy if they join your company.
- Recap internal events such as holiday gatherings, events celebrating diverse groups or even your organization’s efforts to make your office more sustainable.
The more authentic the content is, the better. Potential candidates want to see real people, in their real roles, in the real office – they want to see what it would really be like to work for your company.
7. Events & talent communities
Recruiting events (virtual or in-person) are great opportunities to promote your employer brand. Most of the people who attend these types of events are either actively seeking a job, or are actively looking to build their network.
Events (especially if they are held in person) are pretty much an ideal place to interact with potential candidates and allow them to experience your company culture first-hand. They can interact with current employees, ask questions about the business, and get a real feel for the company as a whole.
Events are also an excellent place to grow your talent community (which is another place to promote your employer brand). If you have a talent community that people can join if they are interested in working at your company, invite your event attendees to be a part of your talent community as well!
Your talent community is an important part of your employer brand because this is where you can really build relationships with candidates over time and keep them engaged. With the right tools, you can send them personalized job recommendations, you can add them to your candidate newsletter, and you can invite them to future events that you are hosting.
If you are looking for more ways to promote your employer brand so you can attract the best talent, we have an entire section on our website full of employer branding content that can help.