How to Build Your Brand With Social Media

Building your brand can be one of the most important aspects for appealing to the right kind of employees, and one of the best ways to build a positive image of your brand is through social media. Obviously, social media are very important toward engaging with your customers, but it can also be a very valuable resource to use when you're trying to convey what it's like to work at your company.The active participation of your company leaders, staff members, and even your company officers can provide some very important information and insights which help candidates decide whether or not your company is one they'd like to work for. It's well known that having the right kind of employees in your organization can be a key factor in business growth, and in achieving a high level of productivity which will support that growth.When you use social media for recruitment marketing, it can be one of the most valuable channels you have for getting the word out about your company. If you make good use of social media, it will definitely help you attract the right kind of candidates, so that your company has the best opportunity to grow in the future.

How social media can attract employees

There's no question that a company's reputation can have a strong influence on candidates applying for positions of employment. In fact, it is known that more than 84% of all job-seekers consider company reputation to be one of the top factors in deciding where to apply. The reasons for this are fairly obvious, because any company with a really solid reputation is likely to be one that a candidate can work at for quite a while, and can expect to be treated fairly.There are any number of companies with poor reputations, which candidates for employment will presumably avoid, or only apply to as a last resort. All this is very understandable, given the fact that anyone seeking employment wants his/her contributions recognized by an employer, wants to have opportunities for advancement, and wants to feel fulfilled as an employee.Any company where these possibilities are not available, will probably not be able to attract the best candidates on the market, because the company simply doesn't appeal to them. With regard to social media, 90% of job candidates say that they would prefer to apply for employment with a company that has an active participation on social media.

This indicates to the candidate that a company is making a concerted effort to engage with its audience, as opposed to maintaining an aloof relationship which can be considered a lack of caring or interest. Apparently, candidates for employment are concerned that the same attitude might extend toward them personally, and that there would be a lack of warmth and a lack of relationship between company and employee.

How companies can appeal to employees

Given the fact that a company's brand has such a big impact on employee candidates, it stands to reason that anything which can be done to enhance that brand would be well worth it, in terms of appealing to potential employees. Research done on this topic shows that employee turnover will be reduced by as much as 28%, simply by investing resources in an employer's brand.Unfortunately, nearly half of all employers believe that they lack the tools and the resources to effectively enhance the company's brand. More than 49% of employers who were surveyed felt that they simply lack the wherewithal to make a significant difference in improving their company brand. The 51% of employers who felt they did have the necessary tools and resources to improve their brand image, probably do at least make the attempt of enhancing their brand.

Social media and trustworthiness

Most employee candidates felt strongly when surveyed, that C-suite executives who made use of social media generated an aura of trustworthiness for the company. More than three-quarters of all those respondents felt that communicating a company's mission, purpose, and core brand values through social media added credibility and trust to a company's image.

The fact that top-level executives would choose to communicate this kind of information to others via social media has a strong influence on viewers and listeners. Coming from the top executives in any given company, this information takes on a high level of credibility, and makes it seem much more believable.

Most important skills for new employees

Numerous surveys have indicated that by the year 2020, social media marketing skills will be the ones most in demand, and the ones most favored by companies. With the prevalence and effectiveness of social media increasing, on a monthly and weekly basis, the skills needed to conduct effective marketing via social media are becoming more and more in demand.Companies which were surveyed about this topic responded that data analysis would be the second most in-demand skill, after which predictive modeling skills would be most valued. The important takeaway from this information is that social media marketing is becoming ever more important as a means of communicating company objectives and intentions. Anyone having a significant store of these skills in the future, is likely therefore to be in high demand.

Avoiding bad reputation from employees

Something that all CEO's and managers should pay close attention to is creating an environment which would make employees disgruntled or unhappy. If things get to the point where an employee or any group of employees took to social media to convey their disenchantment with a specific company, that could go a long way toward damaging the company brand.If that does happen, even counter-measures taken by a company CEO would probably not be able to undo the damage. It is known that an employee's word is three times more believed and more credible than any officer of the company, especially when it comes to describing working conditions.So while the complaints of a single employee might not harm a company because it could be an outlier, if a number of employees were to offer a consistently poor assessment of a company, it could be very damaging. This is a case where social media aren't really used to help a company, but they can cause a great deal of damage if the company has poor working conditions, or has bad relationships with its workers.