Employer branding film for a strong employer brand

Employer branding - a term that often comes up in connection with current topics such as the shortage of skilled workers or digital employee recruitment. Employer branding describes marketing measures that companies use to position themselves as an attractive employer in a specific target group.

Why employer branding?

Many companies undertake little or no activities to make their brand interesting for potential employees. This is one of the reasons why companies and also small and medium-sized enterprises today often have to struggle with a lack of skilled workers and cannot fill vacancies on time. They are invisible to potential candidates or lose applicants to a competitor. Only a few companies have so far positioned themselves as attractive employers in the digital market environment. Not least because they naturally want to be associated primarily with other things than great features for their employees. This is due to the fact that the topic of employer branding has not yet been professionally addressed. If you consciously take care of your positioning and perception in the labour market, you can influence the quality of your applicants and fill vacancies more quickly. Digital platforms can also be used to limit marketing activities to a specific target group. A high attractiveness of the employer brand often goes hand in hand with highly qualified applicants and employees, who in turn also positively influence the image of the company. For modern companies, employer branding is already an integral part of the marketing strategy.

Digital employer branding

Where would you look for a suitable job today if you had the choice? Probably on one of the many online platforms that let you choose from hundreds of offers or automatically send you suitable jobs based on the underlying algorithm. This saves time and has been common practice for a long time. Once you have inquired about a job offer, you will be literally overwhelmed by possible matching job offers on all possible websites that you subsequently visit. But even if you take a more conventional route - the first perception of a company plays an enormously important role in your decision-making process - even if it is "only" a click or a closer look.

Since the majority of our research work and communication now takes place on digital devices, it is worth taking a closer look at the associated media in relation to the topic of employer branding. The daily use of social networks and other platforms or websites is growing continuously. Other media, such as print or television, are becoming less and less important. This is an ideal time for a company to position itself in the digital environment and to address the right target group with the right advertising media on the right platforms. This applies to existing and new customer segments as well as to the labour market.

A major advantage of digital employer branding is that the measures can be targeted even more specifically to those people for whom the message is actually intended. This allows for granular advertising in a specific target group without affecting the image of the company in another segment. While in many traditional media the loss of scatter is high due to the broad readership/audience, this can be significantly reduced in online media through detailed targeting and thus any activity can be made measurable.

Which platforms are best suited for digital employer branding?

The range of possibilities on the internet is growing roughly in proportion to internet use. Depending on the industry, there is therefore a corresponding range of digital channels that are generally suitable for employer branding. Often a combination of several platforms also makes sense.

Social media platforms
Social media platforms bundle a large part of all online traffic and are particularly well suited for the implementation of marketing measures for employer branding due to their high reach and the versatile design options for posts. In addition, companies achieve a high level of effectiveness and efficiency in their activities through the fine targeting options just listed, as well as the use of profiling and remarketing. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube have proven to be high-performance platforms over the years. Some companies are also currently testing the new trend platform TikTok for addressing Gen Y and Gen Z. TikTok could therefore also prove to be a valuable channel for employer branding measures in the near future.

Google Display Network
The Google Display Network (GDN) consists of several million websites that participate in the Google AdSense program and on which auction-based advertising can be placed. This is an interesting opportunity for companies to place target group-specific media on relevant websites. Since the Google Display Network also has small-scale targeting options and also enables remarketing and profiling, this platform also has great potential for companies and for spreading their message in terms of employer branding.

Evaluation platforms
Testimonials create trust and social proof. Applicants like to look at an employer's reviews before deciding to contact the company in question. XING's kununu has established itself as the best-known and most-used platform in the DACH region. Here, employees of a company can anonymously share their experiences regarding salary, working atmosphere, etc. and give the company a rating based on many criteria. A positive average rating ensures a good reputation and makes an interesting impression on potential applicants.

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