Most companies use content marketing to attract potential customers. But the most successful businesses also use content to improve their reputation as an awesome employer and attract the top talent they need to be successful.
Increasingly, posting a vacancy on a job board and waiting for the applications to roll in doesn’t cut it. Today, many job seekers you want are simply bypassing recruitment websites in favor of search engines, social media and company websites. Others aren’t even actively looking for jobs because they’re already employed. This is why an increasing number of HR managers and recruiters are using multi-channel content marketing to get great talent excited about submitting an application.
Diverse Content for Diverse Candidates
Like any other kind of marketing, one of the best ways to attract the audience you want is to develop content that they will be interested in. This means creating different types and developing different channels like:
- A company blog
- An employee blog
- A company podcast
- Social media posting
- Case studies
- Video testimonials
Even if you’re not currently hiring, creating content that makes potential employees aware of your brand before they’re looking for work will make your future recruiting job much easier.
General Electric is one of the best at this. In 2014, the global digital industrial company created a Tumblr account around the theme of “Spring Break It,” using striking videos to show household items being smashed using advanced materials testing equipment. Colleges and engineering firms began to share the videos, which clicked with engineers and non-engineers alike. It put General Electric’s Advanced Materials Division on the map for a lot of young engineers and potential employees.
Position Yourself as a Leader
Identify the types of people your company needs to attract today and in the future. Then, create content that not only shows off the perks of your workplace but also demonstrates the mission, passion and excellence of your company. People want to work for leading and “cool” workplaces that align with their values, so you need your content to showcase this.
One example of this is Evernote. The note taking company consistently uses their Instagram to show off their office, company events and fan content. With over 38,000 followers and hundreds of interactions on each post, this honest content keeps followers engaged. To really give candidates an inside look at Evernote’s culture, the “LifeatEvernote” hashtag shows off more casual moments at the office and offers a closer look at what the company truly values.
How to Get Noticed
Once you have content that shows how great it is to work at your company, you need to make sure it’s seen by the people you want to hire. LinkedIn is an important network to showcase your company, as it’s geared toward professional communications. However, don’t ignore the recruiting power of other social platforms.
Deloitte, the international financial services company, uses Twitter to post job vacancies and links to blog posts. Their Facebook page delivers content aimed at potential candidates and they post employee testimonials on YouTube. This content mix across social media humanizes the company and makes it more attractive to potential employees.
L’Oreal created the Instagram hashtag “LifeatLoreal” to encourage employees to share photos and stories of their work within the company. Their Instagram traffic rocketed and the benefits of working at L’Oreal reached a much wider audience.
Track Your Success
As with any marketing strategy, you should measure the results. Use analytics software to track application form submissions and determine where your visitors arrived from to see which content and channels worked best.
So, while content marketing is key to reaching customers, it can also play a major role in your recruiting efforts. When you deliver the right content to the right channels, you’ll prove your value as an employer and attract the right kind of talent to your team.