These Eight Employer Branding Strategies Use Storytelling to Inspire and Engage

These Eight Employer Branding Strategies Use Storytelling to Inspire and EngageThese Eight Employer Branding Strategies Use Storytelling to Inspire and EngageThese Eight Employer Branding Strategies Use Storytelling to Inspire and Engage ShawIs your employer branding strategy stuck in the occasional-blog-post-if-someone-has-time rut? If so, its time to get on board the fast-moving employer branding train.Many companies have discovered the benefits of investing in their employer branding story. In fact recent research conducted with Human Capital Media Research and Advisory Group found that nearly 50 percent of surveyed companies plan to increase overall spending for employer branding in the coming year.So how do you get started? Weve compiled a list of eight companies that created stellar employer brand content in 2017 to inspire you. These examples demonstrate how storytelling can be used to inspire and engage job candidates as part of your employer branding.By featuring real employ ees with real-life messages, these companies enable job seekers to imagine themselves in the role. And by taking advantage of social media, they effectively increase their brands reach and drive engagement.Theseinspiring ideas and techniques can help youformulate an employer brandstrategy that will resonate with job seekers, employees and consumers.1. General Electrics Video What If Millie Dresselhaus, Female Scientist, Was Treated Like A CelebrityGE made a splash this year when it released a video depicting a world in which great female scientists are treated like celebrities. The video announced GEs goal of employing 20,000 women in technical roles by 2020. After first airing during the 2017 Oscars, the video welches quickly followed by Internet applause for its message and now has nearly one million views.Key takeaways Creativity, transparency and a high level of investment by decision makers have been the hallmarks of GEs widely touted rebranding efforts. In 2016, the company be gan calling itself a 124-year-old startup.The values a potential employer demonstrates are often a critical factor in deciding whether or not to accept an offer, especially for Millennial job seekers. GE has made excellent use of employer branding content to convey their values in a smart, engaging way.2. Accentures InclusionStartsWithI CampaignAccenture went a long way toward demonstrating transparency by helping its own employees share their diversity-related struggles in this highly shareable video. They also created a hashtag that employees have been quick to rally around.As a result, both Diversity Inc. and Fortune covered this campaign positively, furthering the companys reputation as a great employer. Another plusAccenture readily shares its diversity numbers, allowing the general public and any potential candidates to track how theyre doing against their diversity goals.Key takeaways Transparency, honesty and savvy use of both employee-generated content and social media make Accentures approach a valuable example for brands to follow. And since Millennials prioritize diversity, doubling down on the topic is especially smart from a talent acquisition standpoint.Millennial talentwants to be engaged with your brand. Employer Branding Solutionscan help you reach young talent where they hang out online.3. Booking.coms One Mission ProjectBooking.com challenged its thousands of employees to document their own trips and vacations with a company-provided GoPro. The project led to an inspiring video that aligns employees with Booking.coms mission To empower people to experience the world.The true-to-culture campaign not only yielded an impressive video with mora than 5.5 million viewsand also created a rallying point for employeesas well as spin-off advertisements for further recruitment marketing. Thats a strong way to attract like-minded, adventure-seeking job candidates.Key takeaways Leveraging employees to humanize your employer brand and its values with vid eo storytelling can be a smart and cost-effective method for creating authentic, effective content. Booking.coms done it very smartly here. If your company lacks dedicated filming resources, Video Profilesmake it easy to tell your brand story.4. Microsofts Microsoft Life Blog and InstagramMicrosoft is a longstanding brand in the ever-evolving tech industry. This can make it tough for the company to compete for talent with newerand sometimes trendiercompanies.This year, though, Microsoft made progress in repositioning its legacy brand by showcasing its inclusive, hip and inspiring culture through its Microsoft Life blog and Instagram account. The blog is largely written by employees and features stories about the companys truly unique working spaces. It even delves into a company-wide networking group for cat lovers dubbed Cats at Microsoft, or Mcats (we promisewere not making this up).The Microsoft Life Instagram, which boasts nearly 100,000 followers, offers an inside look at emplo yees day-to-day work by featuring pics of projects, cool conferences and even the microgreen gardens in their cafes.Key takeaways Microsoft faces a problem common to large, established companies attracting younger talent that wants to work for cool companies. This campaign addressed this perception head on via employee-generated content and effective use of social media. Other big companies should take note.5. Salesforce OhanaSalesforce is all about its Ohana, the Hawaiian word for family. And like any proud parent, the company loves to share photos of family membersin this case, happy employeesdoing cool, fun and interesting things via its Instagram account.But the real story here isnt about how and what Salesforce shares on its Instagram, its about demonstrated employee engagement. Salesforces employees have jumped into the role of brand ambassadors,readily sharing why they love working for the company with their own social accounts, using SalesforceOhana across social platformswh ich is a great way to expand your reach organically.Key takeaways Salesforce empowered its employees to be brand ambassadors, and thats a great lesson for companies who put their values front-and-center.helps candidates understand your company values through company profile pages and branded job ads. Learn mora about Employer Branding solutions.6. Etsys Parental Leave VideoGood recruitment content does more than just tellit demonstrates a companys values in action. That includes showing the impact of benefits on the lives of real employees. Thats exactly what Etsys video about its parental leave policy does.After the company announced it would offer employees six-and-a-half-months paid parental leave in 2016, Etsy recruited its own employees to share their stories and explain the difference it made in their personal lives and at work. Fair warning watch with tissues handy.Key takeaways This is a perfect example of the power of highlighting unique company benefits and how to do it ri ght. Real people. Real impact. Real good7. Twitters Career SiteTodays professionals want to know how they will fit into your organization. Why? They want to better understand the impact they could make.Twitter has organized its career site accordingly. As users scroll through Twitters teams to find open jobs that fit their experience, they wont see typical department headers like Marketing, Human Resources or Product Development. Instead, theyll read the function and impact of each team Promote the Business, Keep Us Running and Build the Product.Key takeaways Twitter turns the stale careers page idea on its head through transparent content that anticipates job seekers questions. It demystifies the companys structure and provides clear, accessible information about their goals, vision and values.This type of transparency is likely to appeal to busy job seekers looking to quickly assess culture and job opportunities. Hopefully, Twitter will share some data about how this approach has impacted their hiring and retention efforts in 20188. Johnson Johnsons Career Stories and General Motors Employee StoriesLike GE, Johnson Johnson and General Motors both understand that stories shared by real employees can be some of the most compelling reasons to join a company.Johnson Johnsons website not only highlights employees career paths, but does so in a visually interesting and easily digestible way.In similar fashion, General Motors humanizes its brand and relates to candidates by highlighting real employees using video to increase engagement. In its video series, GMs people share their day-to-day tasks, discuss their professional growth and explain their worka great way to help candidates imagine themselves working there.Key takeaways Like Microsoft and GE, Johnson Johnson and GM are established companies that have learned to compete with the Snapchats of the world. These stories are a great way of showing off their people and what theyve accomplished. Plus, these st ories give interested candidates a taste of what they could accomplish on the job. Beyond the powerful storytelling in these examples, note the use of content formats beyond just blog posts, such as infographics, videos and long-form features. Consider using a variety of formats as you create your recruitment content. Make 2018 the year your company shares its employer branding story with the world. Get a running start with Employer Branding Solutions. And download our guide,The Essentials of Employer Brand.Get CreativeStorytelling is a big part of establishing your brands place in the market. And as you can see, there are plenty of creative ways your company can reach out and grow your audience. Want to learn more?Sign up for exclusive https//www.youtube.com/ adviceand well send you the latest marketing strategies, recruiting tips, and hiring trends to help you develop your companysbrand and find freshways to engage with your customers.