‘Online branding’ is a term you might have heard a fair bit over the past few years. While it is most often referred to for its potential to convert customers and increase revenue, it also holds another incredibly important but often-overlooked power; helping you to nail your recruitment process.
Here’s how online branding plays a huge role in attracting the right potential employees to your workplace.
A brand is a first impression
Your online branding is the equivalent of walking up to a potential employee, saying “hi, nice to meet you” and shaking their hand. 52% of job-hunters say they will check out a company’s social media pages before applying to a role – so, with this in mind, the message you’re sending across your social platforms and website needs to be showing your brand in its best light!
Putting your best foot forward on social profiles such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and your website is essential for any online company. You want people – whether it be consumers or prospective employees – to be able to get a feel for who you are as a business and what it would be like to work for you. If all they can find is a few boring images – or, even worse, nothing at all – when looking for your brand online, it’s safe to assume you’re losing a huge chunk of applicants.
Are you appealing to the right employees?
Every business has a different workplace culture, and it’s important that the people you recruit are able to fit in and become a part of the team. And, of course, every employee wants to enjoy going to work every day. So, it only makes sense that your online brand should be attracting the right kind of professionals to your recruitment process.
Let’s say you’re a digital marketing agency looking to hire creative, hard-working employees who are passionate about online business and wanting to be a part of a close-knit team. Your online branding needs to showcase this – and trust us, it’s not as hard as you might think. You can simply post photos of teambuilding activities on your social media platforms, or establish a young, vibrant tone of voice across your website. Showing your team culture is the best way to make the right people say, “I want to work there!”.
Stand up for what you believe in
It’s 2018, and people want to work for a company they are proud of. Businesses aren’t merely considered corporate entities anymore; we now look at them for what they are, which is incredibly influential teams of people who do more than just sell products or provide services.
Think about brands like Google and Apple – these are all companies who have incredibly identifiable branding when it comes to ethical and social matters. They are known for their outstanding facilities and their dedication to taking care of their employee’s wellbeing.
While your business may not be at the level of Google or Apple, you can use your branding to show what you believe in as a company. Whether that’s a steadfast commitment to the mental health of your employees, going above and beyond to ensure your team enjoy a good mix of work and play, or simply creating an inspiring, fun workplace for your team - take the part of your business that makes you stand out and make it work for you as part of your branding.
Use your employees to help promote your brand
Candidates love to hear from people that have either worked or are currently working at your organisation in order to assess its cultural fit. That’s why platforms such as Glassdoor (www.glassdoor.com) are so popular for job seekers. So, it only makes sense to harness the internal thoughts and opinions of your employees to express your brand and culture. Create an internal campaign for your employees to express what it means to work in your company. Nothing is more powerful than hearing the opinions from the people you are going to work alongside.