Without a doubt, the format of video takes the lead as the most popular form of social media content that exists today, and recent statistics only reflect this trend: 500 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute; and each day, YouTube and Facebook users watch over a billion and 8 billion hours of video, respectively.
This means that, as it concerns your company’s employer brand, leveraging the format of video is becoming all the more important. After all, a well-crafted video that brings your employer brand to life in a creative way can provide an excellent way of engaging people browsing your company website and social channels. And if it’s compelling enough, you may also find people sharing the video widely across their own personal networks.
All in all, videos centered around developing one’s employer brand are also a great way to engage prospective job applicants and communicate your company’s story, brand, culture, and mission in a way that other mediums simply cannot.
WHAT TO CONSIDER BEFORE CREATING EMPLOYER BRAND VIDEO CONTENT
Only share content that will get people talking
Answer questions that your audience might be asking by digging deep and conducting market research. However, always try to avoid any kind of corporate video clichés when creating content.
Ensure the look, tone, and personality of the video reflects your employer brand identity
While it may sound like a cliché in itself, it’s important to always be true to your brand. If you work at a bank, portraying your company as a crazy party place definitely isn’t the right move. Likewise, if you run a software house, don’t film your employees wearing suits at work. As a rule of thumb, do your best to portray the work you do as accurately as you can.
Be intentional with the format
Because of the various elements that go into creating compelling video content, it’s important to have a specific reason for using the format. This can be fleshed out by answering the following questions:
Why are we using video to develop our employer brand?
Who are we trying to reach with this kind of content?
What are we trying to achieve with it?
Avoid generic and run-of-the-mill topics in your video content.
Instead, focus on creating specific videos to strongly engage particular audiences, as opposed to trying to cast too wide of a net in terms of your viewership.
TOPICS FOR EMPLOYER BRAND VIDEO CONTENT
Give workplace or home office tours
In your video content, give your viewers a glimpse of what it’s like to work in your office(s). If your team is fully remote, challenge your employees to contribute to videos that show them working from home. Better yet, let the medium of video show how you are keeping your work culture vibrant even while collaborating remotely. Has your team adopted hybrid working? If so, explain to your audience how this works specifically for your team(s) and company.
Showcase unique teams or talent at your company
We understand the universal challenge of attracting and retaining particular talent in each industry. However, by collaborating with your company’s Talent Acquisition team and creating content that highlights the work of certain roles, video content can help immensely in your company’s recruitment and retention efforts.
Develop your company’s sense of corporate social responsibility
Businesses that demonstrate intent and actions surrounding corporate social responsibility (CSR) can certainly appeal to prospective employees, especially when the public perception is that the company is a force for good. Furthermore, CSR can help to engage existing employees by giving them a sense of purpose and the opportunity to give back and make a real difference in the world.
Typically, salary, benefits, working conditions, and opportunities for growth have been driving forces behind employment decisions, but, increasingly, candidates are considering the impact of a company’s corporate social responsibility in their communities. Within the past two years, 55% of Millenials have made choices over the type of work they are prepared to do or organizations they'd work for based on personal ethics.
When it comes to generating video content related to CSR, the global fashion label Marc Jacobs certainly sets the gold standard in appealing to audiences’ ethics and emotions.
Give a unique look at your internship program
Does your company offer internships? If so, explore what your interns like most about working at your company, and feature them in a Q&A video. Within it, allow them to elaborate on their own application experience and time working with the company, as well as any tips they may have for potential candidates.
Delve into your company’s commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
Spend some time amplifying unrepresented voices and experiences from all departments and levels of your company. Use your company’s platform(s) to bring visibility to what matters most: its people.
Offer career and recruitment advice
Before setting out to offer this sort of guidance to job candidates, it’s important that your company identifies its target audiences and develops corresponding candidate personas. Consider what kind of questions they would like to have answered before considering applying or joining your team.
From there, guide your audience in every step of the recruitment funnel. Collaborate with other teams, such as your company’s Talent Acquisition and Human Resources departments, as they will be better prepared to offer answers to the usual questions posed by job candidates.
Offer additional information to candidates that have been given offers
Interview people on your team and ask them questions regarding why they chose your company over others. After extending an offer to a particular candidate, you might use this content to better inform their decision.
EXAMPLES OF COMPELLING EMPLOYER BRAND VIDEOS
In this video, Etsy hones in on its paid parental leave program, managing to speak both to current and future parents. This video humanizes the Etsy team and highlights the company's values.
Here, HubSpot does a great job of showcasing its open-minded work culture while highlighting the voices of its tight-knit staff. This video makes a great case for joining such a relatively small company, explaining that while they may not have the glitz and glamour of a larger tech firm, employees are able to “own the spaces they are working in.”
WeWork shows that, above revenue, status, or innovation, a company’s most important value is its capacity for empathy. This video highlights WeWork’s refugee hiring initiative, which pledges to employ 1,500 refugees within five years. By showcasing its commitment to providing their employees with professional and educational opportunities, the company shows all of the ways that it can make a difference in its employees’ lives and the world.
In all, when creating video content that better illustrates your company’s employer brand, it’s vital that your business leads with authenticity, specificity, and intentionality. With these values in mind, your video content is sure to engage a particular audience, as opposed to falling flat while trying to appeal to too many people at once. Given the popularity of the format of video in our increasingly digital world, finding ways to genuinely connect with prospective job candidates is the key to strengthening your distinct employer brand.