Employer branding on social media has become one of the most powerful ways to attract top talent – and yet, for businesses outside of the world of recruitment, it’s a term that few entrepreneurs have even heard of! Candidates are no longer solely focused on salary and benefits – they want to know what it’s like to work at a company, what values it stands for, and whether it offers a supportive work environment. Social media is the perfect platform for businesses to showcase their Employer Brand and communicate their culture, values, and what it’s really like for their employees working within them.

So, where do you start with building a strong Employer Brand on Social Media? I’ve worked directly with companies and in partnership with recruitment agencies to help end-employers get this right. I’ve learned a few things, and this is probably the most comprehensive list I’ve written publicly on the topic.

Let’s go!

1. Define Your Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

Talk to a recruiter about a vacancy – one of the first questions they’ll ask you is ‘What’s your EVP?’! At the core of effective Employer Branding on social media is a strong Employer Value Proposition (EVP). Your EVP defines the unique benefits you offer your employees in exchange for their skills and efforts. This proposition should – no WILL clearly communicate why your business is a great place to work and why someone would choose to work with you versus one of your competitors.

What makes a Strong EVP?

• Company mission and purpose: What drives your business, and how do employees contribute to that mission?
• Workplace culture: What values, behaviours, and norms define your business?
• Opportunities for career growth: What professional development, mentorship, and promotion paths are available?
• Work-life balance: How does your company support flexibility, wellness, and a positive work environment?

Once you’ve defined your EVP, work out how to evidence it in all aspects of your social media strategy. Whether it’s a post on LinkedIn or a story on Instagram, your active, passive, and prospective candidates should feel your EVP reflected in every piece of content they see.

Employer Branding Tips:

• Share employee stories that highlight the key elements of your EVP.
• Post content showcasing your mission and values in practice during your day-to-day operations, projects, or team activities.
• Create visuals that evidence the career development paths available within the business.

2. Choose the Right Social Media Platforms for Employer Branding

Not every platform will serve the same purpose when it comes to employer branding on social media. Understanding which platforms are most effective is key to optimising your employer branding strategy, especially when considering that you’re marketing your current roles to a multi-generational audience.

LinkedIn: The Professional Network

LinkedIn is the most powerful platform for Employer Branding, especially when targeting professionals across pretty much every industry. To make the most of LinkedIn:

• Post company updates: Share news, achievements, and insights about your culture and values.
• Leverage Personal Branding: Encourage business leaders to publish articles and engage in industry discussions to enhance your brand’s visibility.
• Promote job openings: Highlight your vacancies in a way that reflects your EVP.
• Outsource: Get Green Umbrella Marketing to do your recruitment marketing for you – sorry. I couldn’t resist a cheeky plug!

Instagram: Visual Storytelling

Instagram offers a great way to tell your story through visual content. It’s perfect for showcasing your office environment, employee experiences, and team dynamics.

• Behind-the-scenes content: Share day-in-the-life posts, team outings, or events.
• Highlight current employees: Use stories and reels to showcase employees talking about their roles and what they love about working for your business.

Facebook: Community Building

Facebook is ideal for creating a community around your Employer Brand and works particularly well if you need to build talent pools for high-volume and low-skilled workers. Use Facebook to engage with potential candidates through a mix of content and interaction:

• Create a company page that regularly updates followers on company news, job postings, and employee experiences.
• Host live Q&A sessions: Use Facebook Live to answer questions about your company’s culture or specific job roles.
• Leverage Facebook Groups: Build a community of potential candidates and existing and past employees who are interested in following updates on your company’s growth and opportunities.
• Invest in paid advertising to reach targeted audiences, ensuring the delivery of your messaging.

X: Real-Time Engagement

X is excellent for quick updates and engaging in real-time conversations. Admittedly, it is in decline, and a year from now, I may review this article and delete this section! However, for those who choose to use it, here’s how to make X work for your employer branding:

• Share real-time updates: Tweet about industry events, awards, or company news.
• Use hashtags: Engage with popular recruitment and industry hashtags to increase visibility.
• Highlight company culture: Share short employee testimonials, photos of your office, or updates from company events.

TikTok: Gen Z Engagement

TikTok has become a major platform for Employer Branding on social media, especially if you’re targeting talent early in their careers. Using TikTok’s short, engaging video style can humanise you, your brand and show off your company’s fun side:

• Participate in viral trends: Join TikTok challenges that align with your culture.
• Share employee-generated content: Encourage employees to create TikTok content, sharing their experiences, what makes working with you unique, and what they love most about your workplace.

3. Showcase Your Company Culture

I’ve mentioned culture a couple of times already. Showcasing your company’s culture is a significant part of Employer Branding on social media. Candidates focus on finding workplaces that align with their values and lifestyle preferences.

What to Showcase:

• Daily work life: Post content that shows a typical day in your business, whether in the office or working remotely. Show your workspaces, team collabs, calls, and get-togethers—show it all!
• Employee experiences: Celebrate how your employees contribute to your company’s success. Also, celebrate them as individuals – their personal journeys and their growth within the company.
• Team building: Let’s see the team socials, voluntary activities, and celebrations. (Maybe show events before things get too crazy though – ha ha.)

Best Practices:

• Be authentic: Forget perfection. Overly polished, scripted content may get a message out there. It won’t necessarily be received in the way you need it to be for the purpose of your Employer Brand strategy. Candidates will be attracted to the raw, genuine vibes they see, not a manufactured atmosphere.
• Use a variety of formats: Photos, videos, stories, written, podcasts, and live events – mix it all up to showcase every aspect of your people and your culture.
• Highlight diversity: Make sure to represent a variety of voices and experiences across your content to show that your company values inclusion and diversity.

4. Be Consistent in Messaging and Visuals

Consistency across all platforms will increase the effectiveness of your employer branding on social media. Candidates should recognise your brand wherever they’re engaging with you online.

Elements of Consistency:

• Visuals: Use consistent colours, fonts, and imagery across all platforms. This reinforces brand recognition.
• Tone of voice: Maintain a voice that reflects your values and culture. Whether your brand is formal, casual, or playful, it should feel the same across all social media platforms.
• Post frequency: Build regular Employer Brand posts into your commercial marketing activity. Theses posts will help keep all of your audience engaged. Build Employer Brand into your content calendar to ensure consistent updates.

Steps to Implement:

• Create brand guidelines that cover visual style, tone, and messaging. Share these with your social media team.
• Use scheduling tools to manage your content calendar and ensure regular posting across platforms.

5. Engage with Your Audience

Employer branding on social media isn’t just about broadcasting a few company values; it’s about relationship building. Engaging with your audience (including potential candidates and current employees) creates a sense of community, builds trust and shows you’re more than just a brand.

How to Engage:

• Respond to comments and messages: Respond quickly and thoughtfully if you’re asked questions or receive engagement on your content – always add value.
• Host Q&A sessions: Use Instagram Stories, LinkedIn Lives, or Facebook Lives to host real-time Q&A or AMA (ask me anything) sessions with your recruiting team or employees. Showcase them!
• Encourage UGC and EGC: User-Generated content is awesome, but Employee-Generated Content is next level. Ask your employees and followers to contribute their content and tag you in. (If you’re working on a longer-term campaign, you could also encourage the use of a branded hashtag.) Employee advocacy can amplify your reach and enhance the authenticity of your Employer Brand on social media. Encourage your employees to share their work experiences on social media using a dedicated company hashtag or tagging your company’s profiles.

6. Promote Career Growth and Development

I’ve spoken to the recruiters, read the research, seen the reports and one of the top reasons candidates choose an employer is the opportunity for growth. Highlighting your commitment to employee development as an employer of choice is a crucial aspect of employer branding on social media.

What to Share:

• Training programs: Post content about workshops, certifications, or internal learning opportunities that your company offers. Include training and development around soft skills as well as the usual more practical, professional training.
• Career progression: Tell the stories of those employees who have risen through the ranks within your business.
• Mentorship opportunities: Shine a light on any official (or unofficial) mentorship programs or one-on-one development support that employees can expect.

Ideas for Content:

• Feature employee stories: Have employees share their personal growth journeys, either through written testimonials or video interviews.
• Create posts about internal training programs: Showcase how your company invests in its employees’ continued education and growth.

7. Leverage Employee-Generated Content (EGC)

I’ve mentioned it already, but this one’s important and deserves more attention. Employee-Generated Content (EGC) is one of the most effective tools for employer branding on social media. When the people on your team share their own stories and experiences, it adds credibility and true authenticity to your employer brand.

Encouraging EGC:

• Create a branded hashtag: Encourage employees to use this hashtag when posting about their work experiences. However, only do this if you are implementing a concentrated campaign.
• Offer incentives: Gamify it – think about monthly competitions where employees can share their stories and receive rewards for the best content. This works well for bigger organisations.
• Repost employee content: Feature employee posts on your company’s official social media pages to amplify their voices. It will help them feel more appreciated and encourage them to do more!

Why It Works:

In marketing, the truth is that we trust what a stranger says more than what a brand tells us. Therefore, Candidates are more likely to trust employees’ experiences over polished marketing materials. EGC allows potential candidates to get a genuine view of working at your company, making it a powerful recruitment tool.

8. Measure and Adjust Your Strategy

Your employer branding on social media efforts should be continuously evaluated and adjusted based on performance. Regularly review your analytics to understand which content resonates best with your audience.

Key Metrics:

• Engagement: Track likes, shares, comments, and interaction rates on your posts.
• Follower growth: Are your social media platforms growing? A steady increase in followers can indicate that your content is reaching the right audience.
• Job applications: Monitor how many applications come through due to your social media efforts.

Tools for Tracking:

• Use native analytics on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram to gain insights into Employer Brand post performance.
• Leverage Google Analytics to track how social media drives traffic to your careers page and vacancy landing pages.

By regularly reviewing these metrics, you can optimise your Employer Branding strategy to ensure it’s both engaging and effective in attracting the right talent.

9. Highlight Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are top priorities for the candidate market. Whether you have a formal DEI strategy in place or not, highlighting your efforts will only positively impact your employer branding on social media, and your overall presence.

Ways to Showcase DEI:

• Share stories of diverse employees: Feature employees from underrepresented groups and their journeys at your company.
• Promote DEI initiatives: Post content about events, training, and initiatives that aim to create an inclusive work environment.
• Celebrate diversity: Share the important cultural and community celebrations you celebrate within your company and how you recognise and support diverse employees.

Content that reflects the reality of your DEI efforts will attract a broader talent pool and build a reputation for inclusivity and fairness.

And they’re just how to get started with employer branding on social media!

Building a strong employer brand on social media is an ongoing process. It requires a blend of authenticity, consistency, and engagement. By defining your EVP, showcasing your company culture, and actively engaging with both candidates and employees so that you can create a compelling employer brand that resonates across social media platforms. As you continuously measure and refine your strategy, you’ll strengthen your brand’s ability to attract, engage, and retain top talent, ensuring long-term success in your recruitment practice.