When Social Media Meets Employer Branding: Your Guide to Doing It Right

When Social Media Meets Employer Branding: Your Guide to Doing It Right

Why does social media matter for employer branding? You know your company is a great place to work but does everyone else? Social media is the perfect platform for telling your company s story and showing what your culture is all about in an authentic, visual way that speaks to both your current team and potential employees. As an added bonus, a strong social media presence can help you meet goals like defining your employer brand, driving employee engagement, and staying top of mind for candidates. What channels do you really need? There are a ton of social channels you could be engaging on so many, in fact, that it can be overwhelming (and become another full-time job!). So where do you begin? Start by looking at where people are already talking about your company online and asking your employees what their favorite social media sites are. Once you ve gathered this information, pick two or three channels to focus on and commit to growing them for at least three months. This will give you time to develop a voice and figure out which channels feel most authentic to your company. people like, comment, share, view, or click on your content). You can keep an eye on your reach through direct metrics like follower growth and impressions (the number of times your content is displayed in someone s feed). Success is about more than how much site traffic or how many likes you can generate from social. How do you know when it s working? Success on social is best measured as a combination of reach (how many people see your content) and engagement (how many Your social presence can influence how open a candidate is to outreach from your recruiting team, how likely they are to complete your interview process, and how excited they ll be to join your team. 2

Some Inspiration for You T-Mobile @tmobilecareers Asana teamasana Taco Bell Taco Bell Hewlett Packard @hpcareers T-Mobile Careers shares Asana keeps it Taco Bell s LinkedIn HP Careers takes a range of content on authentic on feed mixes company followers inside their Twitter from relevant Instagram sharing news and team wins, company culture around articles to behind- photos of their to engage candidates the globe using a number the-scenes photos, new hires, team and celebrate current of dedicated hashtags like and they capitalize on volunteering, and employees. LifeatHP, HPMoment, trending hashtags like fireside chats. and HPProud. WednesdayWisdom. 5 s 1 Find your rhythm Posting too much is annoying, but post too little and your audience might forget about you! How do you find that just right balance? Every platform is different, but as a general guideline: On most channels (like Facebook and LinkedIn), 2-3 posts per week will keep your content feeling fresh, without risking an overload. Twitter can handle much more (1-2 posts a day is totally OK!), while you can use your own discretion on Instagram. The key is consistency. 3

2 Don t (just) self promote Talking about yourself on social media is fine, but be sure to mix it up! As a guideline, aim to post 2+ general stories for every 1 job you share. Share articles, stories, and tips about your industry, shout out organizations you support and/or admire, and throw in some fun posts to keep it light. Be a source you d want to read yourself! Job Posting Tip: Be sure to include any fun facts about the position not just the job title! 3 Tap your employees for ideas Not sure what to post or what s appealing to your audience? Get feedback from your existing employees! By keeping them in mind as key consumers of your content, you ll increase employee engagement and attract more people like them. Bonus: Encourage your employees to engage with your social channels and content. You can make a big wave with an entire team liking and sharing posts. Creating a dedicated hashtag for all your employer branding efforts is a great way to create a sense of community. Employees can use it to share their wins, team events, or even just fun day-to-day stuff at the office. (Example: Pandora uses LifeAtPandora to drive the conversation about their culture and beyond.) 4 Engagement, engagement, and more engagement Posting content your audience will want to like, comment on, and share is just one piece of the puzzle. To make sure they keep coming back for more, reply to their comments, like (or even retweet) their posts let them know you re listening! Hot Tip: Be helpful. See a question you can answer? Jump into the conversation with a direct reply. And feel free to ask questions, too. It s a discussion, not a speech! 5 Keep it real Mix professional images and custom content with casual snapshots (like bringing furry friends to the office) and employee stories (like a team 5k). Candidates want to know what the day-to-day is really like, and this is your chance to take them behind the curtain. Favorite Tool: Check out Canva s iphone app (canva.com) to combine your snapshots with professional graphics. 4

The Break Down: Your Cheat Sheet for Posting on Social Media Show is always better than tell use images and videos! Posts with images or videos consistently perform better than those with just words. We re talking 2X better. Specs Character Limits Posts Shared photo: 1,200 pixels wide x 630 pixels tall Video: Aspect Ratio 16:9 or 9:16, 4GB size limit Limit: 63,206 characters Ideal length: 40 characters minimum: 3 PRO TIP: Native videos play automatically in the feed. Timeline photo: 506 pixels wide x 253 pixels tall, 5 MB size limit Video: MP4 in H264 codec with AAC audio (upload from desktop) or MP4 or MOV (upload from mobile), 512 MB size limit, 2:20 max length Limit: 140 characters Ideal length: 120-130 characters minimum: 5 PRO TIP: You can add up to 4 photos to a single tweet. Shared photo: 1080 x 1080 pixels Story photo: 1080 px wide x 1920 px tall Ideal length: 125 characters or less minimum: 1 Video: 1080 px wide, 60 secs max length PRO TIP: Captions show see more after the first 3 lines. Shared photo: 350 pixels wide Limit: 1,300 characters Ideal length: Three lines of text minimum: 2 PRO TIP: Be sure to include your CTA before the cut off. 5