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What Is Employer Branding?
Your employer brand is the way people see your company as an employer. Think of it as a business personality that affects how employees and job seekers view your organization. When done correctly, employer branding can help you attract the best talent and increase employee engagement—not to mention loyalty. Employer branding includes your company’s values, culture, and reputation in the job market.
Do You Need an Employer Branding Strategy?
A robust employer brand involves taking tangible steps to improve recruitment outcomes while nurturing employee satisfaction, engagement, and overall company growth.
Attracting Top Talent
In a recent survey, 77% of respondents consider a company’s reputation before responding to a job listing. This highlights the importance of an organization’s culture, which is often considered more important than pay.
Also, consider the power of Yelp reviews. Diners are likelier to visit a restaurant with glowing reviews and 4.5 stars. The same is true for highly skilled candidates. They tend to apply for jobs where past and current employees have shared positive reviews on job boards.
Additionally, a strong employer brand reduces candidate ghosting by encouraging applicants to prioritize your company as a potential employer.
Productivity and Retention
Employer branding directly influences employees by shaping their perception of the company as an employer.
According to Gallup’s research, only 23% of employees actively engage at work. A strong employer brand can enhance job satisfaction, engagement, and loyalty by creating a positive work environment. Unlike hostile workplaces, it encourages employees’ pride and belonging, ultimately contributing to their well-being, productivity, and retention.
How to Build an Employer Branding Strategy
Building an effective employer branding strategy involves several steps, including defining, communicating, and managing your company’s reputation as a great workplace.
Pinpoint Your Employer Value Proposition
Developing an employer branding strategy involves defining your employer value proposition (EVP). It’s a statement that describes what makes your company unique and desirable as a workplace. Your EVP communicates the benefits and opportunities employees can expect, like career growth, work-life balance, company culture, and other perks.
We created a guide that shares everything you need to know to create an effective employer value proposition.
Define and Identify Your People
Define your ideal candidates by emphasizing their professional backgrounds, career aspirations, and values.
Then, research to discover where your target audience is most active, both online and offline.
This includes identifying social media platforms, professional groups, and offline events like industry conferences. Your work will help you tailor your messaging effectively, ensuring you reach your desired candidates through the most impactful channels.
Audit Your Current Employer Brand
It involves evaluating how internal employees and external job seekers perceive your organization.
Send out employee surveys for an internal assessment to gather insights on employee satisfaction and their perception of company culture. It will help identify strengths and areas for improvement.
Regarding external assessments, collect feedback from recent candidates and monitor company reviews on sites like Glassdoors to understand external sentiment.
After you have collected the information from both assessments, the data will help you make strategic adjustments based on needed improvements. Remember to continuously monitor your company’s impact to adapt to market conditions and changes in perception.
Develop a Content Strategy
Crafting a content strategy for your employer brand means putting together materials that showcase what your company is all about—its culture, values, and the perks of working there.
Kick things off by pinpointing the main things you want people to know about your workplace. Create a mix of blog posts, employee stories, and testimonial videos and share them on your site and social media pages.
Ensure your content resonates with the people you want to attract and retain by emphasizing career advancement, a healthy work-life balance, and your company’s role in the community. Keep things organized with a content calendar to stay on schedule with your posts. And don’t forget to get your audience involved—encourage them to interact and share their thoughts to build a lively and engaged online community.
Leverage Your Employees
Your employees make the best brand ambassadors. Encourage your team to share their real-life experiences and showcase what makes your workplace special.
Platforms like LinkedIn and Glassdoors are great places for employees to share genuine stories that shine a spotlight on your company. This broadens your reach and lends credibility to your brand, as potential hires see firsthand accounts from your current staff.
Align Across All Touchpoints
Making sure your employer brand shows up consistently across all touchpoints is key. Whether in job ads, interviews, onboarding, or everyday internal communications, every interaction should echo your company’s values and culture.
Remember, it is all about creating a unified experience that builds trust and reinforces what you stand for with both potential and current employees.
Wize Words
By engaging in intentional strategies to build and improve your employer brand, you can increase your company’s productivity, add to your pool of talented candidates, and lower employee turnover. All of this good stuff creates a positive culture that prioritizes your team and fosters a sense of belonging.
Frequently Asked Questions
Measuring your employer branding boils down to a few areas. Internally, keep an eye on employee engagement scores, how long people stay, and overall staff satisfaction—these can tell you a lot about how your team feels about your company. On the outside, look at how many qualified folks are applying, how quickly you fill positions, and how many offers get accepted. The data shows how appealing you are as an employer.
Business leaders can boost employer branding by building a positive company culture that mirrors the organization’s core values. It’s also essential to listen to and use employee feedback to make improvements. Investing in professional growth and well-being shows you’re committed to your team’s success and happiness. Plus, keeping your employer value proposition clear and consistent across all touchpoints—from hiring to daily communications—helps solidify your brand’s identity and appeal.
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