Boost Employer Branding on Social Media With This Proven Strategy

For companies looking to recruit better candidates, retain current employees, and reduce marketing costs, having strong employer branding is a must. After all, it’s no secret that the current job market favors employees, making it competitive for companies that are seeking qualified employees (and retaining their current workforce).

But with so many companies vying for attention on social media platforms, how do you make your company stand out and leave a lasting positive impression? How can you leverage your employer branding on social media successfully?

We’re going to show you how to boost your employer branding on social media with our five-step employer branding strategy, plus we’re including some excellent employer branding examples for inspiration.

But before we dive in, let’s define employer branding and see why it works on social media.

What Is Employer Branding in HR?

Employer branding is your company’s reputation with your employees and how you market your company as a great place to work. For Human Resources (HR), employer branding in recruitment is all about creating a positive perception of your company. From your brand’s mission and values to company culture, to employee benefits and perks; it’s everything that makes your company a desirable place to work and benefits your employer branding.

Employer branding activities should show why your company is the best choice for current and future employees. The best employer branding campaigns are those that attract but also retain top talent. In fact, if a company actively invests in an employer branding strategy, it can reduce turnover by 28%.

Now let’s see what social media has to do with it.

Why Employer Branding on Social Media Is a Surefire Move

Simple: 4.76 billion people used social media worldwide in January 2023; that’s 59.4% of the total global population! If you want your brand to be seen, you need to be where your target audience is. In today’s digital age, social media is one of the key actionable employee branding initiatives in a company’s branding strategy. Here’s why: 

• 79% of job seekers use social media for their job search.
• 84% of organizations use social platforms as a recruiting tool.

Job seekers and employees (at the moment) have the upper hand in the job market. With more job choices than ever, it’s the company that needs to do everything it can to communicate its value proposition and attract top talent.

Strong employer branding on social media can increase engagement and productivity, improve employee morale, and contribute to positive company culture. These are all factors which can affect whether an applicant applies.

In fact, according to Glassdoor, 75% of candidates are more likely to apply for a job if the company is actively dedicated to managing its brand image; and 86% of women and 67% of men wouldn’t work for a company with a bad reputation.

Did you know that having a strong employer brand can reduce the cost per hire by up to 50%? That’s just one more reason to boost your employer branding on social media.

By using social media as a tool for building and maintaining a strong employer brand, you’ll attract the best candidates for your organization while connecting with current employees on a more personal level and in a more interactive way.

Now that you know the importance of employer branding on social media, let’s discuss our five-step employer branding strategy.

The Five-Step Employer Branding Strategy

An employer branding strategy is a roadmap for how to showcase your company’s work culture. It should reflect the daily work life at your organization, how your employees feel working there, and make it easy for followers and future employees to interact with your brand.

Ideally, your employer branding social media strategy should also include the top three things people look for when vetting a company. According to Capitalize, these are:

• Salary data (66%)

• Company culture (63%)

• Overall employee rating (50%)

The more transparent you are, the more authentic you will appear to current and potential employees. (More on being authentic in a sec.) Now let’s break our employer branding strategy down into five actionable steps.

1. Go Where Your Target Audience Is

Before applying for a job, the top three social media channels that job seekers use to research a company are LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Facebook. However, don’t feel limited to just these three social platforms. The platform you use will depend on your target audience.

For example, for some brands, social media channels like Instagram would be a perfect choice, while for others Twitter or TikTok might work better. It all depends on who your target audience is, the platform(s) they’re on, and the brand voice and style that will resonate with them.

A more casual or entertaining tone would be appropriate on TikTok whereas a more formal business style will resonate best on LinkedIn.

Once you’ve chosen your channel(s), remember to make sure your brand is active (e.g., engage with your audience). Be sure to like, share, or comment on people’s posts that mention your brand. The more you interact and engage, the more your company will appear human and relatable to your audience.

2. Be as Transparent (as Possible)

Current employees and potential employees both appreciate transparency, especially when it comes to a company’s salary, health benefits, perks, or anything that would make an employee ask, “What’s in it for me?” Try to include this information on your website’s hiring page and social hiring posts.

Our Careers page gives full transparency around company benefits.

The more transparent you are with your employees and future employees, the more authentic you’ll appear, which brings us to our next step…

3. Be Authentic

On your social platforms, strive for authentic engagement. Build a relationship with your audience by listening to what they’re saying and conversing in a respectful and friendly manner.

You can even take it a step further and ask them for suggestions on how the company can improve. Being humble and real as a brand creates trust and credibility not only with current followers and staff but with future employees as well.

Authenticity is crucial when it comes to employer branding on social media. Don’t try to be something you’re not, or present a false image of your company. Instead let your brand’s voice, values, culture, and mission shine through your content. The idea is for your posts to accurately reflect everyday moments of your employees' experience at the company.

For example, if your workplace culture is humorous and your company prides itself on the occasional workplace prank, include that in your social posts. Speaking of humor, take a look at this brilliant example of brand authenticity by Aviation American Gin.

4. Create a Content Calendar

Try to avoid creating and posting content in real-time unless it’s absolutely necessary (e.g., an important company update). A good rule of thumb is to have your content planned out at least a month in advance (ideally three to four months in advance). Creating a content calendar can help you do that.

Having a content calendar (to go along with your content strategy) will not only help you organize and schedule your content, but it will also help you define your marketing goals and set priorities, too.

Your content calendar should include a mixture of new and evergreen content. Here are some examples of popular evergreen content for employer branding on social media:

• A sneak peek into the company’s culture.
• User-generated content (UGC).
• Job opportunities.
• Perks and benefits.
• Meet the team posts.
• Employee stories (e.g., examples and videos).
• Shout-out to the employee of the week/month.
• Company conferences and events.
• Free resources.

Try incorporating the ones that make the most sense for your brand and target audience. Check out our Template here!

5. Turbocharge Employee Engagement

Employer branding on social media isn’t just about future employees but about current employees as well.

Your current employees need to stay interested in working for you, too, right? Social media is a great way to keep your employees engaged and encourage the ones who are not-so-engaged to become involved.

Since employee engagement can increase profitability by 23%, keep your workforce motivated by actively including them in your employee advocacy strategy.

To make it super-easy for them to create, share, and engage with the content, use a tool like GaggleAMP that will save you time like never before.

Best Employer Branding Examples

Here are some examples of companies that are executing excellent employer branding on social media. Ready to feel inspired? Let’s check them out!

Zappos

Zappos is a brand well-known for its unique company culture and employee-focused approach. The company uses social media to showcase its values related to work-life balance and employee development.

Check out their Instagram for employer branding examples such as this one:

Source: Zappos

Dropbox

Dropbox is another example of a company committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion. In fact, Dropbox was recognized by Forbes as one of America’s 2023 Best Midsize Employers.

The company regularly posts on its Instagram and LinkedIn accounts photos and stories that highlight their core values and employees. You can follow their hashtag #LifeInsideDropbox for more insight into their work culture.

Here’s one of their LinkedIn employer branding posts:

Source: Dropbox

Airbnb

Airbnb has earned a reputation for taking special care of its employees.

In April 2022, the company launched its Live and Work Anywhere: Remote Working Program. Realizing the impact COVID-19 had on its business and employees, CEO Brian Chesky sent an email informing employees that they could work and live anywhere in the world and still receive company benefits.

This strategy helped contribute to the company’s record bookings as nomadic employees (including Airbnb employees) took advantage of flexible work-from-anywhere benefits.

Source: Airbnb

Slack

Slack has fun and lighthearted employer branding on their social media.

The company regularly posts photos and videos of its employees, office environment, and employee events which showcase its relaxed and informal company culture. No wonder the brand has 100% employee satisfaction and an A+ in culture score and happiness.

Source: Slack

GaggleAMP Can Elevate Your Employer Branding to New Heights

Employer branding on social media is an ongoing effort and requires consistent attention. If you want to be noticed (and followed), you need to be strategic and intentional with your approach.

But if you want to speed up the process, try GaggleAMP for your marketing or hiring efforts.

With our platform, you can easily create authentic engagements, drive brand awareness, and cast a wider net to increase your reach. You’ll get real authentic engagement with people talking about your company’s strengths, and you’ll attract the next top talent like a bee to honey.

Schedule a demo today and see how easy it is to become the brand that candidates can’t resist.