Slides from the Employer Branding 101 webinar through ERE.net

1. mployer
Branding
101

2. So, Who Is
This Guy?
Shawn Rogers
Strategic Sourcing Specialist,
Recruiter,
Employer Branding
enthusiast,
All around nice guy 

3. • What is employer branding and why is it
important?
• Research!
• Who to partner with?
• Success and Analytics
• Content
• Best Practices (good ones, anyway)
What we will cover…

4. What is
Employer
Branding?
Employer branding is
the process of
promoting a company,
or an organization, as
the employer of choice
to a desired target
group, one which a
company needs and
wants to recruit and
retain.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Employer_branding

5. In today’s talent market, a strong brand is a
crucial component in attracting the right
talent to your open jobs.

6. “OK OK… I get it… branding is
important…..
So where do I start?

7. Learn
about your
current
brand.
 Look at your company
‘Careers’ page from a
candidate’s point of view.
 Google your company
name.
 Search your company
name on LinkedIn,
Twitter, Facebook, and
other social media sites.
 Glassdoor.com - What are
employees (current or
former) saying about your
company? Overall image?

8. Who do you want to hire?
• Look at hiring plans
• Speak to hiring managers
• Speak to employees

9. What is it
really like?

10. Engage
Your
Employees
Conduct 1:1 interviews
or focus groups with
your employees:
• Why did they choose to work
for your company?
• What keeps them?
• What do they value most in
an employer?
• Where do they hang out
online?
• Where do they look for
information when researching
companies?

11. Competitor Intelligence

12. Research
Your
Competitors

13. Research
Your
Competitors
• Research job boards and search
engines for job postings of target
roles in the locations you will be
hiring.
• Look at past employees who quit
your company in the past year.
Where do they work now?
• Add all of these companies to
your list of competitors

14. Research
Your
Competitors
• Check out the Career and
social media pages of
these competitor
companies and look for
themes in their branding
efforts.
• What messaging are they
using to attract talent?
• Are there any similarities
between them? Between
your company's brand and
theirs?

15. Research
Your
Competitors
• The purpose here is to
ensure that your brand
messaging is
differentiating your
company from other
companies that are
competing with you for
the same talent. Your
company needs to stand
apart from the competition
while speaking directly to
what your target talent
values.

16. Stakeholders
to
Partner With
Marketing/
Communications
Social
Media
Owners
Senior
Leadership
Legal

17. …and the most important stakeholder…

18. Your
Employees!!
• Your brand IS your employees
• Engaging your employees to participate in branding efforts
makes your brand authentic and interesting to their networks
and peers.
• Start by identifying your current brand ambassadors:
• Employees who speak at professional events, conferences, etc.
• Employees who are active on social media

19. Data
and
Analytics…
Oh My!!

20. Data and
Analytics
• What is the goal of your
branding efforts?
• More/better/faster hires?
• More company followers
on social media?
• How are you going to
measure success?

21. Data and
Analytics
Your Applicant Tracking System
(ATS) - Measure applicant activity by
monitoring your ATS and report on
applicant numbers, time to hire, source of
hire, etc.
Google Analytics - Measure the amount
of traffic coming to your Careers site and
where it is coming from with Google
Analytics. This way you can learn the best
sources of where your candidate flow are
coming from and adjust your branding
efforts accordingly.
Social Media - Measure your company
social media page followers and
engagement through your corporate
accounts and analytics available through
your social media tools.

22. And Now A Word About
Content!

23. • Use the information you
collected from your current
employees as well as your
competitors to create your
company’s unique branding
message.
• Engage your
Marketing/Communications
teams in crafting this
message.

24. Infographics
Suggestions
For
Content
Pictures
Company
news and
information
Videos
Audio
Blog

25. Sharing
Content
• Social media - LinkedIn, Twitter,
Google+, Facebook, Instagram,
Pinterest, Tumblr, etc. - choose
the most relevant ones to your
audience.
• Share content from your industry
that would interest your
audience. Use an RSS reader
like “Feedly” to curate content
• Create a sharing schedule using
social media management tools
like Buffer or Hootsuite

26. Careers
Page
• Have information about your
benefits/perks on your Careers
page (both external site and
LinkedIn)
• Mention what benefits/perks your
company offers - e.g.: free lunch,
“take your dog to work day”, extra
PTO, etc.
• Use pictures and videos of your
REAL employees on the Careers
page… no stock photos.
• Link to your social media accounts –
have an embedded feed of your
Twitter/Instagram.

27. A Few More Notes On
Employer Branding
• You cannot copy another company’s brand – every
company culture and brand is unique.
• Not all branding techniques and best practices work
for every company – research and experiment!
• Results of branding efforts are not immediate – long-
term strategy.

28. Best
Practices
(or good ones anyway)

29. Be
Original!
• The main point in
researching your
competitor employer
brands is to make sure
you are differentiating
yours from theirs
• Ex: every company offers
career development and
training opportunities – show
how your employees are
using this opportunity
• Tell original stories about
your real employees to
differentiate

30. Candidate
Experience
• It is important for your brand to
provide a positive experience for
all candidates (successful and
unsuccessful)
• People spread information about
your company through word of
mouth

31. Candidate
Experience
• Have a stellar application
process –
• Easy and painless - test your
application process and work with
your ATS vendor to strengthen it
• Mobile optimized Careers site?
• Respond quickly to candidates, let
unsuccessful ones know when they
are out of the running and show
appreciation for their interest.
Provide all candidates with the
most positive experience possible.

32. Onboarding
• It is important to have a robust
onboarding program to integrate new
hires into your culture.
• Provide new hires with the tools
necessary to be brand ambassadors for
your company.
• Explain your brand message to them
and let them know how they can get
involved.
• Offer help with their LinkedIn profile
and training on using and sharing your
content with their networks on social
media sites like Twitter and LinkedIn.

33. Questions?
Connect with Me!
LinkedIn: ca.linkedin.com/in/rogersshawn/en
Twitter: @shawnjrogers