Partner Article

Is it time to rethink your company’s employer branding?

As the world inches its way out of recession, the focus on employer branding is increasing as employers recognise the value to their business of an engaged workforce.

A 2012 LinkedIn survey indicated that 93% of employers plan to maintain or grow their investment in employer brand projects and identified up to 50% savings in cost per hire as a result of a strong employer brand.

There has, however, been a fundamental change in the way employers need to tell their story to both their existing and prospective employees. And that change is being driven by the inexorable rise of social media.

One in every four minutes we spend online is now spent interacting with social media sites and we are increasingly on the move when we’re doing it as more and more of us use our mobile phones to access the web.

Everyone has an opinion and now everyone has a forum to express that opinion – and we love reading other people’s views. Who last booked a hotel without reading about it on TripAdvisor? In the same way, prospective employees are canvassing opinion about an organisation during every part of the application process.

So what does all this mean for employer brands? In our view they need to be authentic, audience-centric, visual, dynamic, participative, accessible and always on. Organisations need to give their own people a voice and enable them to act as ambassadors for their brand.

The fundamental shift is away from planned, slick corporate messaging to natural, spontaneous stories and anecdotes. Only those brands that fulfil these criteria will recruit the right people with the right cultural fit to make those businesses successful in the future.

Article written by Paul Turner, head of business development and marketing for Havas People, and reproduced from employersjobs.com’s blog.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by employersjobs.com .