Employer branding is one of the biggest buzzwords out there.
What was once “nice to have” is something you “need to have” now.
But one of the biggest questions I come across is, “Do you believe employer branding is a solo act?”.
Although it’s a question that has come up occasionally, I’ve never publicly shared my views until I had the opportunity to speak about it at #RecFest2022 in the UK.
During my chat, I shared that employer branding is definitely not a solo act and requires a team. To justify my stance, I’ve created a concept called TEAM.
Whether you’re an in-house recruiter or a consultant, you need help. The truth is employer branding is bigger than you. You are part of the employer brand, not the brand itself.
So let me break down the building blocks of employer branding and what you can do to build a compelling brand strategy.
What is the concept of TEAM?
Employer branding is all about TEAM, meaning–time, empathy, advocacy, and magnetization.
Let’s start with the first component!
1. Time
Time is the one thing that we try to buy but never have enough of. In many cases, recruiters are expected to come in and make something extraordinary happen in a matter of weeks.
To me, that is simply unrealistic. You need time to establish relationships, get the lay of the land, and then devise a strategy.
So if you’re looking for a shortcut, let me break it to you. Your employer branding strategy won’t show results overnight!
2. Empathy
Being empathetic with all of your stakeholders is essential to being successful. If you want any sort of buy-in from your hiring team or clients, you need to be willing to:
Listen: Go in with an open mind, ears, and heart.
Learn: Don’t assume that you know everything. Instead, learn from what your stakeholders are sharing with you. You’ll learn a lot about previous successes, failures, or local challenges that a Google search will never provide you.
Understand: You must understand that your employer branding strategy will take time to implement, and your journey won’t be perfect.
3. Advocacy
One of the key foundations of TEAM is the concept of advocacy.
Once you’re given time to do your work, reach out, and listen to your peers, you need to find your advocates. Finding your advocates doesn’t take much work, but it is crucial to your success.
You can find your advocates by simply searching LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok. Chances are that your natural advocates are already sharing jobs, links to your career page, blogs, videos, etc.
Once you locate your advocates, the sky’s the limit to what you can do.
4. Magnetize
The final component that makes the TEAM formula work is the concept of magnetize.
At this point, you’ve put in the time to meet your stakeholders, partnered together on strategy, and identified advocates. The next step is activating and magnetizing your audience or potential clients.
You’re sharing everything you’ve created with everyone you want to join your company.
Now, when you put everything together, here’s what you get:
How do I put TEAM to work?
You’ve seen everything above and are probably wondering, how can I implement the TEAM concept?
I promise it’s a lot easier than you think! Here’s how:
- Leverage employee advocacy: You have natural advocates, so teach and empower them! You’ll be surprised at how much potential your existing employees have when it comes to employer branding.
- Be proactive: Reach out, and meet with clients, teammates, and other stakeholders. Be quick to listen, slow to speak, and always be open to change.
- Consider your growth and new markets: Look into untapped groups and departments outside talent acquisition and staffing.
- Content marketing: Do you have an existing blog, social media, or channel for videos? If yes, leverage them! Content and social media are the biggest ways to expand your employer brand.
- Utilize your new hires: New employees are already excited about joining a company and make for great advocates.
Managing your employer brand, with time, can be done quite easily.
When you take more of a “we” versus “me” approach in your employer branding strategy, you’ll notice all the difference in your success.
What do you think of the TEAM formula? Share in the comments below!
Happy recruiting 🙂
