Tag Archives: Employer Branding

Employment videos: how to get traffic (and candidates)

AKA: How to use employment videos for social recruiting

Social recruiting is discussed often, but one of the lesser mentioned facets is video. While many companies know it’s something they should pursue, they don’t know how to be successful. Below you’ll find some ideas to pursue in the area of employer videos. Just a quick word of warning, I’m going to be technical at times, because the subject warrants it. However, I’m happy to help if your organization is looking to make a move into the video arena.

First off, you want your videos to be found when people search Google, right? That’s where search engine optimization comes in. It’s a methodology for getting your videos indexed in a way that makes them easy to find by searchers.

Five tips for Video SEO (search engine optimization)

  1. Make the video something people want to share (more detail on this below).
  2. Don’t dilute your videos by posting on multiple sites (YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, etc.).
  3. Titles, tags, and descriptions are useful when uploading and posting videos online, but backlinks to the videos (with relevant keywords in the anchor text) are more important for search engine rankings.
  4. YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world and the #1 for videos. Use that to your advantage.
  5. If you’re using WordPress as your content distribution platform, create a video sitemap and submit it via Google Webmaster Tools. Every little bit helps!

Now, let’s elaborate on #1 above. That’s usually the first question people have: what do the videos need to be about? Well, there are several ways to go with that, but I like to think of two kinds of people when considering these types of video: customers and potential job candidates. Think about what they would like to know about your company and give it to them!

Five ideas for your employment video content

  1. Interview employees and ask what they do and what they like about the job, dept, or company
  2. Get staff members to discuss the culture and how that affects what they do.
  3. Ask employees to talk about their favorite benefit/perk that you offer.
  4. Film the fun, unique events that make your organization special.
  5. Create content that is outward facing and valuable to your industry. Hint: if you’re providing thought leadership and value at a level that entices competitors to link to you, then you’re on the right track.

This list certainly isn’t all-inclusive, but it’s a great start to generating ideas that would specifically benefit your company.

Thinking about creating some employer branding videos for your company and looking for some help? Feel free to contact me if you’re looking for assistance. 

How to write a corporate blog

Corporate bloggingBlogs. They are everywhere, and their numbers are growing by the hour. Lots of companies are being encouraged to blog as a way to market themselves and reach candidates, but it’s a sad fact that most corporate blogs are terrible (84%, in fact). They are filled with press releases and other one-way communications that are not helpful in building a community or encouraging conversation. Let’s remedy that.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long, long time now. While I haven’t had the opportunity (yet) to write a corporate blog, I have been writing this blog for over a year and a half. In the past 15 months, I’ve also been writing my SHRM chapter’s blog as well. I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve learned a lot and made enough mistakes to see what works and what doesn’t.

It’s all about authenticity and value

If it reads like a press release, people won’t be interested. Press releases have their own place, but it’s not in a blog. Content from a press release can be used in a blogging context, but it needs to be as a sidebar or commentary item, not the main fare.

So, if you’re not just spouting PR stuff from the blog, what do you talk about? Two of my favorite corporate blogs are by MailChimp and EventBrite. I’m not a full time email manager or event planner, but I still subscribe to both of these blogs and read them religiously. Why? They provide a great mix of customer-focused  “how to” posts, comments on their industry in general, and information about new features (plus how they impact you as a customer). Much of what they post is written to educate readers and encourage conversation.

The main thing: It’s great content that helps every reader, whether they are customers or not.

The root problem

Just like with this huge social media blocking craze we’re seeing these days, companies are hesitant to put their trust in their people. You know, those same people who can go to their homes, the local bar, or a child’s sporting event and talk about the company’s horrible, evil ways in public. But you’re going to block them at work. Doesn’t make sense!

Empower your people to have a real voice and let them make things happen. The more you water down the opinions and strip away the humanity in your corporate blog, the worse off it will be.

Like I said, they can already wreck your company publicly at any time they choose. Giving them a social media platform to share from doesn’t change that fact.

The mechanics

Blogging has a lot of pieces to it, but it’s possible to focus on just a few areas to make sure you are hitting the high points.

  • Writing the right types of posts to get links/comments
  • Interlinking and other SEO tips to get more views
  • Creating an editorial calendar
  • Building sneeze and squeeze pages
  • And plenty more!

One of the best tools I’ve found to help you learn to cover each of those pieces and integrate them into a powerful blog is the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook. If you really want to get your corporate blog going and make it shine, then I highly encourage you to check out the book. I just found out that if you use “november25” as your discount code at checkout, you’ll get 25% off the price, but it’s only good through the end of November. Click here to learn more.

Growing awareness and engagement

In his book Culture Convo, Chris Ferdinandi makes this great point about how to grow awareness and engagement among your audience:

Whether you\’re looking to increase the number of people who read your blog, follow you on Twitter, or are your fans on Facebook, the strategy is always the same.
Have conversations worth listening to.
Being an interesting conversationalist – creating fun posts, photos and videos, sharing interesting news and useful insights – is the only way to have long-term success using social media. It\’s really that simple.
That doesn\’t mean that it\’s always easy. Figuring out what your target audience is interested in can take some time. But there\’s no magic formula to growing your awareness and engagement.
If you\’re a good conversationalist, then your circle of conversation will grow slowly and organically (and exponentially!) over time.

Final thoughts

If your corporate blog sucks (and it looks like about 84% of them do), it doesn’t have to be terminal. Most of the time the situation is not irreparable. Connect with people. Help them. Interact. Learn. And stop shoving press releases down our throats. It’s not working.

Anyone else have a good corporate blog they’d like to plug? Drop it in the comments below.

70% of employers perform social search on candidates

employers search social media

Despite the scary “end of the world” talk out there from legal types about how using social media will land your company in a lawsuit, 70% of employers are still searching for candidate information on social networking sites, and approximately one-third search every single time. I’ve talked before about how social media use varies between employers and candidates. Does this mean that the gap is closing? Are more companies trying to research and engage job seekers through social channels? Let’s hope so.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is your organization using social tools to reach out to candidates? If so, how?

And if you’re interested in getting started doing this with your own organization, there’s a great tool to help you get moving. Click here to find out more about Culture Convo and see how it can help you to use social media for your employer branding efforts.

Photo courtesy of the Jobvite Social Recruiting Report.

Employer branding through social media

My friend Chris Ferdinandi of Renegade HR has been writing a great eBook titled “Culture Convo.” It’s about how to use social tools to talk about your culture and share your employer brand with the world. I was lucky enough to get a preview copy, and I have to say that it’s an amazing tool that you must have. But that’s not even the best part. Before the book launches to the public, Chris is giving away some fantastic free stuff to get you rolling in the right direction. Here’s a snippet of his description…

You’ll learn:

  • How to use six of today\’s most popular social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging, YouTube and Flickr.
  • How to get started, what to talk about, and how often to post.
  • How to get your employees involved.
  • How to measure your success. Continue reading →

Hooters-Too Fat for the Job?

Hooters girl vs dog womanThere’s been a recent popular news story about a Hooters employee who was basically put on a performance improvement plan for… being fat.

Although I’m not really a fan of the restaurant (their food doesn’t impress me and having women in tight clothing around doesn’t make it taste any better), I found this story interesting for several reasons.

Things to Ponder

Guest Post Blitz #4

HR social networkWell, it’s been a little while since I dumped off a load of guest posts on you in an attempt to look too busy to post here. I know you’ve been dying to see what else I’ve been up to, so I’ll share them today. I love doing guest posts for my friends. It gives them a day off, and it gives me a chance to connect with a new audience. I try to do them in batches, because it makes things easier for me. It also gives me the opportunity to do a guest post blitz! Okay, maybe it’s not really as super cool as it sounds. I just link to ’em. But hey, you get to visit a friend or two of mine in the process, so it could be worse, right? Let’s get the guest posts rolling! Continue reading →

Social Media as a Competitive Advantage

Fads. We have all fallen for one at some time or another. That is why many businesses and people are wary of tools like social media.

What if we put a lot of time and money into this idea and it turns out to be a fad?

I have a question for you: what if you looked at social media not as a fad, but as a competitive advantage?

Many people (I freely admit my own participation) have made it their mission to evangelize and convert people and organizations to social media use. I have an interesting suggestion. Continue reading →