Many companies have the last six months asked me if they should create a group or a page on Facebook to promote their employer brand. My recommendation is clear – go for pages!
Members vs Fans
Pages are made for brands, corporate, celebrities and employers, while groups are more like "clubs" in the real world and made by individuals. Therefore, pages have “open” fans and Groups have “private” members. This means that Pages are better for your employer brand if you want to interact with students and professionals without having them connected to a personal account, and even people without an Facebook account can fins you and read your Page.
Size limitations
It is also important to be aware of size limitations to groups. Only groups fewer than 5,000 members can send out private messages/emails. There is no limit on how many fans you may send an update to, or how many total fans a Page can have. You can easily invite all your friends to join a Group while with Pages you will be forced to drop invites manually. This is probably to protect your fans from spamming them. Page administrators can only send updates to fans through the Page, and these updates will appear in the “Updates” section of fans’ inboxes. Groups are thus good for viral marketing, meaning that any member can also send bulk invites to his/her friends and so on.
Control
Groups offer far more control over who gets to participate in the group. Access to a Page can only be restricted by ages and locations. On the other hand, you get visitor statistics on pages. Also one key difference is that Pages are indexed by external search engines such as Google, while Groups are not.
Customization - Applications & URL
Finally, Pages can contain applications on your page, so a Page can be more tailorized and show more content and you can get your own URL, e.g www.facebook.com/employerbrand. And you will also be able to buy Facebook ads to gain more fans to your Page.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Career fairs and campus activities
Career fairs may have a traditional and old-fashioned feel these days in the social media world, but they are nevertheless still very popular among students as well as employers. Career fairs and other campus activities such as seminars and company presentations constitute a relatively inexpensive way of strengthening the employer brand.
The traditional career fair has not lost its attraction among companies and Universum’s worldwide research (http://www.universum.se/) shows that they are popular among job seekers in most regions. Careers fairs and other campus activities give employers the opportunity to market and communicate directly with their target groups. For recruiting companies, career fairs constitute a cost-efficient recruitment channel. You have all students under the same roof! You never know how you could target them in best way when they are professionals and “out there”.
Objectives and measurements
Careers fairs and campus activities should not be used arbitrarily. In order to get the best possible return on investment, you should define the expected results and – if possible– evaluate the cost-efficiency of different channels. Your company should have a clear idea or objective of using a specific information channel.
Some common objectives are:
• Increasing the knowledge about the company through direct/personal communication
• Making contact with prospective employees
• Attracting students and graduates to internships
• Direct recruitment
Apart from more explicit objectives, career fairs and campus activities fill other functions as well. Employees that take part in the events often get a positive experience. Moreover, they get the chance to represent the company, help build the employer image and recruit new talent to the company. Careers fairs and campus activities thus become means of strengthening the internal brand as well as the external brand. Think about that on more time!
Top three preferred sources of information among graduates
In Univerum’s global research (www.universum.se), students are asked how they prefer to gather information about potential employers. The following show students’ preferred sources of information for different regions and countries:
Denmark: Employer websites, career fairs, employees
Sweden: Career fairs, Internships, company presentations on campus
Germany: Internships, employer websites, employees
Italy: Company presentations on campus, career websites, employer websites
Spain: Internships, career fairs, company presentations on campus
Singapore: Career fairs, internships, employer websites
India: Friends and family, career website, employer websites
China: employees, company presentations on campus, internships
US: Career fairs, internships, employer websites
Universum conduct annually surveys in 31 countries.
The traditional career fair has not lost its attraction among companies and Universum’s worldwide research (http://www.universum.se/) shows that they are popular among job seekers in most regions. Careers fairs and other campus activities give employers the opportunity to market and communicate directly with their target groups. For recruiting companies, career fairs constitute a cost-efficient recruitment channel. You have all students under the same roof! You never know how you could target them in best way when they are professionals and “out there”.
Objectives and measurements
Careers fairs and campus activities should not be used arbitrarily. In order to get the best possible return on investment, you should define the expected results and – if possible– evaluate the cost-efficiency of different channels. Your company should have a clear idea or objective of using a specific information channel.
Some common objectives are:
• Increasing the knowledge about the company through direct/personal communication
• Making contact with prospective employees
• Attracting students and graduates to internships
• Direct recruitment
Apart from more explicit objectives, career fairs and campus activities fill other functions as well. Employees that take part in the events often get a positive experience. Moreover, they get the chance to represent the company, help build the employer image and recruit new talent to the company. Careers fairs and campus activities thus become means of strengthening the internal brand as well as the external brand. Think about that on more time!
Top three preferred sources of information among graduates
In Univerum’s global research (www.universum.se), students are asked how they prefer to gather information about potential employers. The following show students’ preferred sources of information for different regions and countries:
Denmark: Employer websites, career fairs, employees
Sweden: Career fairs, Internships, company presentations on campus
Germany: Internships, employer websites, employees
Italy: Company presentations on campus, career websites, employer websites
Spain: Internships, career fairs, company presentations on campus
Singapore: Career fairs, internships, employer websites
India: Friends and family, career website, employer websites
China: employees, company presentations on campus, internships
US: Career fairs, internships, employer websites
Universum conduct annually surveys in 31 countries.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
The ROI of employer branding
Effective employer branding has very obvious financial advantages for anycompany. It decreases the costs in the whole competency supply chain – the process of attracting, recruiting, developing and retaining employees. At the same time, the return on investment on human capital will improve as a result of a more motivated and dedicated workforce. The benefits are obvious, but need to be marketed to the top management group. You simply have to ‘brand’ employer branding by using the right language and the right measures as the CEO and CFO are using. To find and measure ROI on employer branding is extremely difficult, but some of the more obvious advantages of strategic employer branding are listed below.
Access to talent
In order to meet its business goals, your company needs the right kind of resources. And the most important resource for the majority of companies today is human capital. Strategic employer branding will give your company access to the necessary talent in the long run.
Cost savings in recruitment
An effective employer brand functions like a filter that attracts candidates who are genuinely interested in working for your company. At the same time, candidates who don’t fit in look for jobs at companies that suit them better. Therefore, efficient employer branding reduces recruitment costs as the company will receive more relevant job applications. Moreover, you will ensure both a higher quality and faster recruitment process.
Improved retention of key employees
Effective employer branding means that those who are recruited to the organisation already have a good idea of what it is like to work there. They make an informed choice when they start working for your company. This decreases the risk of a high employee turnover or the risk of employees believing that the ‘grass is greener’ at another company. At the same time they will be good and important ambassadors that through social networks will help to create a good employer brand.
Employees as headhunters
Employees who appreciate their employer will attract other competent people to the company. They will become good and important ambassadors that through social networks will help to create a good employer brand. Your employees simply become a group of dedicated headhunters. As your employees can give direct and correct information about the workplace, it is very probable that the individuals they encourage to apply for a job will also fit into the corporate culture.
Improved productivity
Employer branding ensures correct and consistent communication about the workplace. Consequently, the risk of falling short of employees’ expectations decreases, which is a very common cause of low motivation and high employee turnover. Also, people who are motivated are generally more productive and eager
to do a great job. Hence, a long-term focus on employer branding will most certainly improve the bottom line.
Make use of key measures
To generate extra funding for employer branding you have to be able to show the expected results, such as:
• Shorter recruitment cycles
• Reduced recruitment costs
• Improved performance indicators
• Improved productivity and quality
• Reduced employee turnover among key personnel
Access to talent
In order to meet its business goals, your company needs the right kind of resources. And the most important resource for the majority of companies today is human capital. Strategic employer branding will give your company access to the necessary talent in the long run.
Cost savings in recruitment
An effective employer brand functions like a filter that attracts candidates who are genuinely interested in working for your company. At the same time, candidates who don’t fit in look for jobs at companies that suit them better. Therefore, efficient employer branding reduces recruitment costs as the company will receive more relevant job applications. Moreover, you will ensure both a higher quality and faster recruitment process.
Improved retention of key employees
Effective employer branding means that those who are recruited to the organisation already have a good idea of what it is like to work there. They make an informed choice when they start working for your company. This decreases the risk of a high employee turnover or the risk of employees believing that the ‘grass is greener’ at another company. At the same time they will be good and important ambassadors that through social networks will help to create a good employer brand.
Employees as headhunters
Employees who appreciate their employer will attract other competent people to the company. They will become good and important ambassadors that through social networks will help to create a good employer brand. Your employees simply become a group of dedicated headhunters. As your employees can give direct and correct information about the workplace, it is very probable that the individuals they encourage to apply for a job will also fit into the corporate culture.
Improved productivity
Employer branding ensures correct and consistent communication about the workplace. Consequently, the risk of falling short of employees’ expectations decreases, which is a very common cause of low motivation and high employee turnover. Also, people who are motivated are generally more productive and eager
to do a great job. Hence, a long-term focus on employer branding will most certainly improve the bottom line.
Make use of key measures
To generate extra funding for employer branding you have to be able to show the expected results, such as:
• Shorter recruitment cycles
• Reduced recruitment costs
• Improved performance indicators
• Improved productivity and quality
• Reduced employee turnover among key personnel
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