I have been learning photography these days. Well, researching and learning more about photography has got me into this concept that ‘the best photo is capturing a moment right before something good is about to happen’. And for capturing that you have to be there, to be present and live in that moment and most of all be ready to ‘click’. The final product will be amazing, lively that captures the emotions and most of all authentic.

Maybe this is missing in your employer branding content because most of the content that is out there is either created by (made up) someone who wants to tell a story not knowing what it is like to ‘live in that moment’ or who doesn’t have the opportunity ‘to be present’ to capture the moment.

Now, How do we solve this problem? Have your employees who ‘live in that moment’ share stories with you. Name it a photo, video, blog or article whatever you want to call. Having more employee-generated content keeps your employer brand lively and authentic.

If you are a one-man Employer Brand shop like me, below are some ideas you can explore to create Employer Brand content that is authentic.

Launch and promote your Employee Ambassador program

My first bet would be to go big. Which is to launch and promote your employee ambassador program. Even if you don’t have a fancy employee advocacy tool start small organically. Conduct a search on your social media platforms to see who is already sharing content. They are your best folks who are looking forward to joining your ambassador program. Reach out to your employees who are mostly social media savvy, event/program coordinators, interns etc to start with. Ideally, you would like to get a mix of employees who are from every angle of the organization who can help share what it is like to be a part of/working at your organization. Nurture these groups by providing training/resources on social media/personal branding that will help them boost their passion and career. Your employees will feel empowered by getting an opportunity to share what it is like to be a part of the organization and help you with your employer branding efforts. You are off to a good start! 

Keep nurturing, promoting the program internally at any small/big company meeting, gathering, communications etc, have an executive sponsor from the leadership team to promote your ambassador program and recognize your employee ambassadors that way your employee ambassador program will go miles.

Promote your employer branding Hashtag:

This is a simple yet effective way. Your employees are already sharing content on their own social media platforms. It is just that you don’t see everything. Promoting your employer branding hashtag internally and letting employees know to add the hashtag/tag the location when they post will get more employee-generated content. Promote the hashtag and highlight it on the platforms where your employees notice it every day:

  • Adding it to your own signature
  • Have other recruiters/hiring managers/leaders to use it in their signatures.
  • Use in your internal newsletters, TVs in offices, Notice Boards, whiteboards in meeting rooms etc.
  • Have swags - Hashtag stickers, coffee cups, T-shirts and other swags with hashtags
  • Have props at company events: Instagram frames, photo booth props etc
  • Conduct a selfie competition with the hashtag

 

Create Allies 

If you are like me where you have regional/international office where you want to capture life at other offices then I would recommend creating allies. I started off creating partnership with recruiters at first. Then I branched out to Project coordinators, Admin staff who coordinates any company events internally at the office. This would help you get the first hand behind the scenes of company events, meetings or any gatherings as such. Have a group of employees who are interested in taking pictures from other office locations and send you. Your employees love this. They get excited to see the picture that they took is being promoted on the organization's social media platforms.  It takes a village to get content that is real and authentic.

Look at your internal calendar and plan ahead

Learning more about your upcoming internal company events and using it as a way to work ahead in reaching out to a few allies/event coordinator to get more photos and utilizing the above promotional resources would be a great way to get more people involved in. Having a photo booth at a company event with your hashtag and letting employees have fun with it and share their pictures on social media tagging you to your hashtag can pick up some momentum quickly.

Tap into your internal networking platform.

Some employees are highly active on your internal networking platforms. For example, Yammer/Slack/Jive etc. You will be surprised to see the engaging content that your employees share on your internal networking platforms with the safety of privacy. Reach out to those employees to see if you can reuse their content/pictures or a moment that they captured. 

Create a shared drive - Make sharing easy

Sometimes your employees don’t want to share everything on social media. Maybe they are not on social but want to help you. Creating a resource center (a shared drive - In a simple language) will help them to share pictures easily and will help you get it in an organized way. When I have content that is approved and ready for other recruiters/hiring managers to use, I use my shared drive to share it with my group. This way it is easier for them, everything in one place and doesn’t have to go through their email inbox searching for a piece of content. 

Tap into your Employee Resources Group

You may or may not have an established Employee Ambassador program. But tapping into your Employee Resources group (ERG) and having them to share their perspectives on what it is like to be a part of the ERG and how that helps them feel connected to the organization can help create some content that will help your diverse talent connect with the organization. For example: Sharing pictures of your organization supporting Veteran ERG group who provides mentoring and job-search advice for Veteran job seekers and their spouses can help attract more Veteran talent candidates. Sharing pictures of your employees celebrating Hispanic Heritage would help your Hispanic talent pool know that they could be able to find a group of friends at work who can relate to their background.

What are some of the tips you have to create employer brand content that is more real and authentic? Please share it with us!

 


Nisha Raghavan is the Talent Attraction and Employer Branding Specialist at the American Heart Association. Prior to this, she worked in the telecommunications and Media industry to help attract, engage and retain talent. She writes about her Global HR experiences at her blog Your HR Buddy!!  Connect with her on LinkedIn, Facebook & on twitter at @TheHrbuddy

Nisha will be joining Talent Acquisition Week, this January 28-30, 2020 in San Francisco as the Emcee for the Employer Branding Strategies Conference. Don't miss her!