Employer branding today: How to build a strong employer brand
Explore insights from our webinar with Céline Flores Willers (The People Branding Company), Dul Seo (OMR) and Carolin Beier (TikTok). Read the summary, or watch the recording of the whole talk.
In order to attract the talents of tomorrow, we need to showcase our culture to the outside world — we need to engage in employer branding.
However, this raises the question of where the employer brand begins and where it ends. What influence do products or customer service have? And how do you create a corporate culture that employees love and live by?
Authenticity is the key to success
According to Dul Seo, Head of OMR Jobs bei OMR, today's companies must be authentic, genuine, and approachable. The employer brand must serve as the foundation for corporate identification, and adapt flexibly to potential changes. “For me, a strong employer brand is when employees talk about it. It shouldn't need to be pushed actively or artificially or require expensive campaigns. But in the end, the employees become the ambassadors who carry it outward. Because employees are the company's best ambassadors," said Céline Flores Willers, CEO & Founder von The People Branding Company.
Carolin Beier, HR Business Partner bei TikTok, also emphasizes this, adding that emotions and brands need to be felt. The intrinsic motivation of employees must be stimulated. TikTok follows the message, “A great culture is what you tell your friends about." Because everything employees experience in their work life, they share with internal and external stakeholders.
„Values first, design second.” – Céline Flores Willers, CEO & Founder von The People Branding Company
These days, departments like marketing, design, and HR are merging with increasing frequency. Therefore, it's interesting to consider the role of factors such as values, consistency, and design in building a strong employer brand.
“You can only create something when you have a foundation set by the employees. Therefore, it's important to involve employees in the process," said Céline Flores Willers. In her own company, Céline holds quarterly work sessions with the entire team. In two-day workshops, they define the company values together. This ensures everyone genuinely supports these values and truly loves and lives them. With the foundation created, they can then dive into communication and design.
Illusion vs. reality
According to Carolin, a consistent corporate persona — demonstrated by the leadership team and communicated with all company employees — is crucial. Leaders must lay the foundation for the company's values and act as consistent role models on both a professional and personal level. This is especially important because employees can discern whether these personas are just “castles in the air or [based in] reality," added Carolin.
What significance do products and services have?
A smartly curated tech stack supports the daily work of the leadership team and employees. At The People Branding Company, the tech stack serves as a foundation to focus on essential tasks — for instance, tasks like payroll no longer require manual intervention but are completely automated. According to Céline, it's essential for the tech stack to be continuously evaluated as it changes alongside the company's growth and internal and external influences. "A thoroughly clean list of all requirements must be established before embarking on the search for the right tech stack," Céline added. This involves considering some of the following questions:
- Which tools are needed for which area?
- Which tools cooperate with each other?
- Which tools are possibly redundant and can be eliminated?
Dul agreed, adding that it's important to consider how fragmented the field is: “With OMR Reviews, we now also have our own platform. One of my colleagues mentioned that with larger platforms that we follow, there are around 400 HR tools that are offered. There is something for every case. But [...] accordingly, requirements have to be set correctly and questioned again and again."
How the use of social media helps companies with employer branding
Social media is becoming increasingly relevant in the context of employer branding. For example, TikTok is an entertainment platform that can be used for employer branding and talent attraction. LinkedIn is also a relevant channel that's particularly suitable for sharing professional topics about the company. At TikTok, the most significant levers are "word of mouth" and "electronic word of mouth" from employees, which are then shared on social media. So it's a "root cause that's triggered and ultimately leads to attracting talent," said Carolin. In building her business, Céline has explicitly invested in personal branding, which today has helped her reach over 160,000 followers on LinkedIn. This way, when she shares a new job on her personal LinkedIn account, the pipeline of applications fills up quickly. Expensive platforms for job postings can thus be avoided, and the money invested in other projects.
Exciting strategies to achieve a broader reach on social channels with employer branding campaigns include collaborating with external and internal influencers and leveraging TikTok trends to make company posts go viral.
Want to learn more?
Watch the on-demand webinar now and get more insights from our experts on how to establish a strong employer brand! (Please note that the recording is in German)
Would you like to explore how you can use a brand management solution to advance employer branding in your company? Then request a demo today.
