So far, you’ve learned how to develop an employer branding strategy, have a conversation about your culture, and make Google love you.
Today, I’m going to show you how to combine all that you’ve learned to write a killer employer branding blog.
How to Blog About Your Culture
Of all the social media tools in your employer branding toolkit, I think blogging is hands-down the most powerful.
Most of the other social media tools we’re going to discuss in this series have limitations. Maybe you have to use a certain layout, or you can only use certain colors. On Twitter you can only write 140 characters, while YouTube only let’s you share videos.
These tools are all great at what they do, and are a valuable part of your integrated employer branding strategy. But a blog is really the central headquarters of you social media employer branding efforts.
You can write as much or as little as you want. You have complete control over the colors, font and layout. You can integrate all types of multimedia.
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube… those tools help you find people who are interested in what you’re talking about and engage them in a conversation. Eventually, though, you want to start funneling people back to your central headquarters – your blog – to have a more robust conversation.
What’s a blog and how does it work?
A blog is like an online newsletter that gets published one article at a time (instead of a whole issue).
Articles are published reverse chronologically. Your most recent stuff appears at the top, while your oldest articles are at the very end.
If someone really likes what you write, they can get free updates sent straight to their inbox or RSS reader using what’s called a feed (we’re going to talk about that more in Blogging Part 3).
What to Write About
So what should you write about? Things people who would want to work there would be interested in!
Remember, people who only talk about themselves are boring conversationalists.
Here are some ideas to get you started:
- Insights. What’s your employer branding strategy? Is your organization a training leader? Share insights into what great training looks like. Give people examples, and don’t be afraid to link to things other people are doing that think is great. Generosity is rewarded in the social media space.
- How-To. Share how-to info that will help people be successful in your culture (and beyond). How-to train a remote team. How-to write a killer resume. How to nail an interview with [Your Org's Name Here].
- Industry News. Anything going on in your industry? The people who you may want to work for you are interested in that sort of thing.
- Community News. Don’t just focus on your industry. What’s going on where your business (and labor pool) is located?
- A Day-in-the-Life. What’s it like to work at your organization? Break out a cheap digital camera (I currently use the Sony Cybershot, though I’ve heard great things about the Flip HD as well. – affiliate links) and interview some people at your organization. What’s your typical day like? What do you like best about working here? What do you like least? Do you have any advice for someone considering working here?
- Company Events. What’s your culture like? Post some photos and video of your food drive, holiday party, or industry event.
- Job Openings. Don’t forget that this is ultimately a recruiting tool. Have a job opening? Let people know about it. You may even want to try adding a video job posting.
How to Name Your Blog
Your employer branding blog will usually be a separate website from your main Career Page (if for no other reason than because it requires different software).
In Part 2, I’m going to show you how to set one up, but for right now, you should start thinking about what you’re going to call it. The name should reflect your employer branding strategy and make it easy for Google to find you.
If you’re lazy, you could just call it Acme Career’s Blog (replacing Acme, of course, with your organization’s name). Maybe you’re trying to recruit people who are industry specific – like health care. You would want to work the words health care into the title.
If you’re going to have a big focus on an aspect of your culture – training and development, for example – you may want to work the word training into the title. You get the idea!
Getting Started
Next week, I’m going to show you how to buy a domain name and setup your blog.
Before we do that, though, I want you to get a feel for what good culture blogging looks like. Here are some examples of great employer branding blogs that you may want to start reading:
As you’re reading, make note of what you like and what you don’t like. What articles do people seem to really like? What articles have the most comments? What do you think about the layout? What would you do differently (or the same)?
If you have any questions, please leave them in the comment section below!
PS: This article is part of an ongoing series about Employer Branding through Social Media. If you liked it, you may want to check out the rest of the series.
Image by H. Michael Karshis
Chris,
Good stuff and right on point – I agree that blogging is the most powerful tool out there for getting across a message regarding culture/employment branding. It can also be the most dangerous…. so companies need to be committed to the concept and actually provide some thought into what they are trying to do with the blog… make sure they aren’t diving into the shallow end of the pool!
I have been showing a lot of love for DAXKO lately, and will continue to here – I love that DAXKO Nation blog – I know very little about the company, but when I read the blog, I feel like I understand what they are about, including the leadership, the people, etc. I’ll be sure to check out the others that you have listed as well.
Jason
Great post! We’ve been debating the number of post that we should have a week. I’ve looked at a number of company blogs, some post once a month, some once a week. We try to have a number of new posts a week. What do you recommend? Something to add to your list; give your users an funny/entertaining (but relevant to your field) post, great for Friday afternoons!
@Jason – Great points. A half-hearted blog with crappy content isn’t worth reading. In fact, it may actually do more harm than good. And thanks for highlight DAXKO Nation – you hit the nail on the head!
@Nathaniel – Great question. As I was writing this post, I considered discussing that, but was afraid of throwing too much info at people at once.
I recommend at least once a week, but beyond that, it depends on your audience. If I blogged every day, it would overwhelm my readers. But I also write long articles.
I’d love to read stuff from Know HR every day, because Frank’s posts are short and sweet. Similarly, I love reading Seth Godin’s blog every day for the same reason.
But if Lance over at Rehaul posted daily, I’d get way too far behind. His posts are long and in-depth.
At the end of the day, it’s all about the post length, content, and your audience’s needs. You kind of feel it out over time.
I recommend at least once a week because if you write less than that, people get the impression that there’s no reason to come back or subscribe.
Hope that helps! If not, please let me know.
@Nathaniel – I agree with Chris on this one. I have been researching this extensively as I think about getting into blogging and I think consistency is key – posting at least once a week sets a rhythm with your followers and a steady stream of content.
@Chris – good point on content depth and length driving post frequency – a lot of Laurie’s posts (PunkrockHR) are short as well and she seems to have this mastered – I visit that site daily.
For what it’s worth – I appreciate the consistent relevancy of the content on this Renegade HR blog… you are doing a great job.
@Jason – Thanks, dude! And you’re spot on – Laurie’s posts are quickly digestible… I’m not sure you can say the same about mine. (In many cases, the bulk of her content is actually in the comments section).
You touched on something else really important, though: consistency. If you’re a once a week poster, that’s fine if you do so consistently. Same thing with daily, or twice a week. People, by nature, like consistency.
Thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated! Great point about consistency and post lengths. We’ve have different types of post going out everyday. Some are content that we come across and want to share with our users/readers. But we also have original posts and guest post which tend to be longer. We try to have a short post and a lengthier post everyday. It might be to much content (we’re still experimenting) but we’re keeping it consistent! Thanks again!
@Nathaniel – I just swung over to the Rypple blog, and one thing that really jumps out at me is that you don’t have an easily accessible “Subscribe For Updates” section. I’ll be talking about this more in the third part of the Blogging Your Employer Brand, but that’s definitely something you and the team may want to consider adding.
Let me know if you need any help there.
@Chris thanks! Great point, we’re going to be adding it shortly. Looking forward to the next piece in the series. Thanks for all the help!