5 Steps to Writing Good Employer Brand Content

Employer brand content goes above a traditional op-ed piece on the latest in entertainment, politics, or gossip. The content published on employer sites represents not only your company but your employee's experience, workplace culture, and gives you the ability to humanize your brand through great storytelling. Below are some tips for writing good employer brand content that will center around just that.

Become less of a brand and more of a human 

Companies who post on social media struggle with the concept of being human. When companies stop focusing on perfection and start worrying about connecting with candidates – the content will show. Social media has given candidates, consumers, and everyone else the ability to look inside a company and talk with anyone they want. CEOs, VPs, investors have all become fair game when it comes to chatting. It's important that company figures become more than just figureheads and interact with candidates and consumers even if it's behind the mask of a PR person.  

Tell your story from the vantage point of your employees and customers 

The best way to humanize your company is to create a means of telling your story through the eye of your stakeholders, I.e. your employees and customers or those vested in your company. Companies like Southwest Airlines, for example, have excelled at this and if you've ever taken a flight you'll see it by the upbeat, fun-hearted nature each and every employee has. Taking the stories of their employees and what its like to work for Southwest Airlines has allowed them to build a culture that is unbeatable. This type of content makes Southwest Airlines a best in class company to work for.  

Strategize your content and stay relevant  

Since content marketing became a big thing 5-7 years ago companies have been spraying content all over in hopes that someone will pick it up, read it, love the company, and apply for a job. The concept of post and pray in recruiting has been mimicked in a sense with content marketing. Be strategic about what content is being shared and when. This will allow you to target and spend money on advertising and promoting your content more effectively.  

This point boils down to creating a schedule of content and knowing your audience. Without it, you're posting without any rhyme or reason. Try building your editorial calendar around your business objectives. For example, if your company is looking to hire 20 engineers in Atlanta, reach out to existing employees there and get their story, whether that be a video or a blog, then target that blog brand content at the right audience and make sure to link to relevant jobs. Strategically guide your audience through eliciting an emotional response through good content (“Wow, this does sound like a great company and role”) and then an action (candidate applies for the job). 

Measure the types of content you're writing and write more if it's effective.  

You may ask, again with the analytics piece? If companies aren't collecting data and using it to their advantage, it's time to start living in the 21st century. Tracking things like follower growth, user impressions, click-through rates, and engagement on your content pieces. This doesn't have to be sophisticated and most of the information can be tracked through social analytics or Google Analytics. Start with these few basic pieces to track and expand as your employer branding strategy grows.  

Use great imagery  

The reason Snapchat and Instagram have become so popular is due to its ability to share stories and content through the use of images and video. Understanding this key piece of information will make boring stories more interesting and give candidates and consumers an inside look into the company that wasn't available to them in the past. Share images and give candidates a look into what it would be like to work for the company instead of just writing about it. Showcase your culture and the employee experience through compelling, dynamic visual content.

Great employer brand content starts with humanizing your brand and sharing information in a compelling and visual way. What are you doing in 2017 to build great content for your employer brand? Want to learn more than just how to write good content? Check out this blog post on employer branding content ideas and more!