Nov 12, 2013 | Blog

Employer Branding – Placebo or Panacea?

Acquire the Right Talent

The web and blogosphere have been flooded with tips on employer branding lately. Does the firm need to avoid the 3 biggest employer branding pitfalls or need tips for managing the employer brand? Should the firm listen to thought leaders like George Anders and use LinkedIn to fix the brand as he suggested for Forbes recently? 

 

Social media and social networks will absolutely play an organic role in how the employer brand develops and adapts over time. The employer brand takes in a many factors, some inside the company and directed by savvy management and some external. Anders states, “But LinkedIn’s study also illuminates a larger transformation in the ways that corporate workplace reputations now are strengthened and weakened. Most of the leading reputation shapers now are outside companies’ control, given the rise of online word of mouth and independent employee-survey sites such as Glassdoor.”

 

David Brier recently published a great article with Fast Company where he interviewed The Social Employee author, Cheryl Burgess.  Brier begins by explaining how, “Employees have become one of the most potent front lines of a brand’s social voice. Smart brands have known this long before social media became part of “business as usual.” Brier continues by having Burgess break down the process of adopting social media to drive the employer brand into four simple steps. 

 

1. “Establish the Why Early”

2. “Get Employees Involved”

3. “Provide Transparent Executive Leadership”

4. “Reward Employee Adoption, and Develop a Culture Where Learning is Continual” 

 

For firms looking to learn how to properly develop their employer brand and leverage their social media it is vital to seek out experienced practitioners and thought leaders to guide them on that road. While employer branding aligned to the consumer brand done well can drive real business results, a poorly thought out and executed plan can damage the firm’s strategic long term goals. Join HCI this December 10, 2013 at 1pm ET for the webcast, Before the First Connection: the Role of Employer Branding, and hear branding and social media expert Jessica Lee share her experience of managing and developing a range of employer brands in her role as the director of digital talent strategy for Marriott Hotels.