Employer branding: Why it matters more than ever

The Great Resignation should serve as a wake-up call for the many companies that have not invested in employer branding. Your talent brand exists whether you manage it or not, so here are a few thoughts on how to shape perceptions among current and prospective employees. 

Talent branding starts where all branding starts – by understanding your target audience. Taking competitive compensation out of the equation because it’s table stakes, it doesn’t take much to determine that, while candidate needs vary, they’re pretty much the same in how they evaluate potential job opportunities. 

In one report, 77% of candidates said they reviewed a desired employer’s website before engaging. Beyond the website, they’re scanning posts and reviews by companies and employees alike, across all social platforms, as well as job listing and career sites like Indeed and Glassdoor. They’re also seeing consumer-facing content like brand video, audio and other digital ads and expecting those messages to align with and reinforce the brand expressions targeted at them directly.  

However, employee-provided content is arguably more important than company-provided content:

• In Jobvite 2021 Recruitment Nation’s report, 55% of candidates surveyed reporting abandoning the application process after reading a negative employee review.
• LinkedIn Employer Brand Statistics reported a 200% higher click-through rate on employee-shared content over company-shared content.
• Gartner recognizes the value of employees as brand ambassadors for talent and client prospecting, and even predicts 90% of B2B social media marketing strategies in 2023 will incorporate scaled employee advocacy programs.

Creating a culture and atmosphere where your value proposition is reinforced and supported through messaging, interactions and experiences with employees will organically permeate employee-generated brand expressions across external channels. An ongoing effort to understand the evolving needs and perceptions of your employees and talent candidates can ensure your messages remain relevant. 

Employer branding: The RSM example

RSM, a national audit, tax and consulting firm, has been investing in the ongoing development and evolution of its talent brand for years. Its “The Power of Being You” campaign is a purposeful expression of its overarching brand promise and value proposition: “The Power of Being Understood.” 

Luquire partnered with RSM to develop a talent brand strategy based on the idea that every employee brings unique perspectives and passions to the team that ultimately help make RSM and the work it does for its clients more effective. “The Power of Being You” campaign features a film series where RSM employees talk about the ways their personal and professional passions and aspirations intersect to amplify their impact inside and outside of work. The volume of videos (latest series trailer) has increased over the years as RSM keeps a constant pulse on trends in the talent landscape.  

Each series is heavily leveraged by RSM’s talent experience team as the films offer prospective talent an insider’s view into what it’s like to work at RSM. The 21 films of the latest series and related assets are repurposed and proliferated across paid and owned internal and external channels to reach employees and job seekers:   

• Internally through leadership and team meetings, department emails, intranet and blog content; and externally across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube; throughout career pages of the website; preboarding and talent nurture subscriber emails; alumni social channels and subscriber emails; job listing and career sites; and made available to all marketers who’ve completed brand training for ongoing use

Impact: The series has served as a continued source of employee pride and advocacy and RSM’s investment in managing its talent brand has led to significant improvements in organic social engagement year-over-year:  

• 520% increase in LinkedIn impressions 
• 28K LinkedIn video views 
• 50% increase in Facebook impressions 
• 1% increase in Facebook post engagement rate overall (top posts saw engagement rates over 5%)  
• 183% increase engaged Facebook users 

Investing in employee branding is good for business

According to LinkedIn’s Employer Brand Statistics report, strong employer brands have reported 50% more qualified candidates, accelerated hiring speeds, and cutting costs per hire in half. Companies with employer brand strategies also report higher employee morale, a sense of visibility and understanding between leadership and teams and a greater presence of brand advocacy across employees and alumni. 

Need to translate your company’s brand into a talent brand? Start by defining and adopting a talent brand strategy that will permeate employee- and company-shared content where talent and clients are assessing your fit as a partner with whom they’d like to work. 

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