When you think of how companies use social media, you likely imagine how they promote products and services to their target audience. While this certainly plays a major role in how brands can take advantage of social media, it is far from the only possible application.
Many companies also use social media for a more inward-facing approach: improving their reputation as an employer. A full 75 percent of job seekers research an employer’s “brand” before applying for a job.
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Your company is only as good as the people who work for it. Employee turnover can lead to significant losses for a business, and as such, any efforts that can improve retention or help you attract highly-qualified candidates will go a long way in helping you maintain profitability.
Here are a few ways that brand managers can use social media to improve their reputation as an employer:
1. Create (and use) employee-focused accounts.
For many organizations, creating a secondary, employee-focused account serves as the best way to reach out to potential employees. These accounts are often kept separate from the primary, consumer-focused account and are used to highlight job opportunities or showcase the benefits of working for the company.
Examples of this include the Microsoft Life Facebook page or The Coca-Cola Co. on Twitter.
Rather than focus on advertising messages, these accounts highlight their companies’ charitable endeavors (including activities that employees participate in), employee interviews job opportunities and other content of interest to potential workers.
2. Use employee advocacy to your advantage.
Potential employees often don’t want to hear the employer talk about how great their company culture is. They want to hear from the people who actually work there.
Because of this, many companies use employee advocacy programs, where they encourage current employees to post about positive experiences using a branded hashtag.
In an interview with Smarp, Jörgen Sundberg, founder and CEO of Link Humans, explained, “Have a look at the various culture hashtags, e.g. #SalesForceOhana or #AdobeLife and you'll see how individuals and teams post on social about all sorts of topics from office life to events and to training sessions. This creates a community inside a company, especially in large organizations where social media can be a place that links staff from different offices, functions and time zones.”
3. Start in on some staff training—today.
Though employee advocacy programs on social media can prove highly effective, they generally need some guidance from employers to be successful.
As such, companies should provide training on social media best practices, including the types of posts that will be most beneficial to their reputation. This training should also address how employees should act on social media when not promoting your brand, as bad online behavior could reflect poorly on the company.
You shouldn’t expect everyone on your staff to jump onboard at the possibility of participating in an employee advocacy program, but you can encourage participation by gamifying the advocacy program or introducing a rewards system.
4. Conversation monitoring is essential.
It’s not enough to just publish your own content; you also need to monitor what others are saying about your brand, so you can get involved in online conversations—or even learn about changes you need to make to the employee experience.
The key with monitoring these conversations is getting involved as quickly as possible in an appropriate manner. As Jennifer McClure explains, “If you search and find that nobody is talking about your reputation as an employer, that’s a problem because you are not helping your brand. Second, if they are saying good things, you should know about that so you can tell others and perpetuate your brand. Finally, if they are saying bad things, you need to address it because research shows that people have a higher regard for employers who respond to negative comments.”
5) Demonstrate change as best you can.
Finding the right balance between maintaining profitability and becoming a quality employer isn’t always easy. Many brands, particularly startups, go through a learning curve where they need to adjust their company culture to ensure better working conditions.
Unfortunately, these improvements often come after negative feedback has already been posted on social media or elsewhere.
If your brand doesn’t have a stellar reputation as an employer, social media should be a key tool in spreading the word about the improvements and changes that have been made.
By using your own channels to inform others of updates to company policies or to highlight fun activities and events, you can gradually shift the narrative surrounding your brand. As you consistently acknowledge and address issues that are brought up on social media, you will improve the narrative.
Though social media can certainly present its fair share of challenges to employers, it also offers significant opportunities. By utilizing these social media best practices, you can better manage your reputation as an employer and ensure greater results for your company.
Lucas Miller is CEO, head copywriter and managing content marketer at Echelon Copy LLC.
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