The social media C-bomb

Just like any other consumer-facing marketing, the way you promote your employer brand needs to match the levels of blood, sweat and tears you’re likely putting into capturing attention for your business or consumer brand on social media.

We’ve all realised the consequences of not having updated social media accounts, or we’re constantly being asked why the social media accounts haven’t been updated. Guys, it’s here to stay.

So, continuing our trend of dropping C bombs in the workplace, we’re going to talk a bit about consistency.

What do we mean by consistency?

Like getting up for work, dropping the kids off then plonking yourself down at your desk to answer your emails and run the reports, or whatever it is you do, social media needs the same daily, thankless level of attention. Think of your social media accounts as a loveable puppy.

If you feed it, walk it at the same time every day, play fetch and nurture it, you’ll get great results.

If you leave it in a corner or forget to give it some pedigree chum once in a while, the results will be bad.

Like it or lump it, you need to throw off the idea that social media is a ‘nice to have’, and if you’re really going to commit to it, you need to give it the attention it deserves. Every. Single. Day.

How can I be consistent?

Consistency isn’t about timing. In fact, posting on a strict, timed schedule doesn’t really make a difference. When it comes to timings, you need to be posting when your audience is most active, and there’s some research needed there. So stop posting at 10am on the nose every day and do some homework on peak engagement times.

Think about tone of voice. Don’t know what that means? It’s the way your organisation would sound if it suddenly grew a head and started talking. Go away and establish what your tone of voice is before you start writing your social media posts, or ask someone who knows what your TOV is to do it for you.

By writing in the same, consistent tone, you’ll set an expectation for your audience, and it’ll make it much easier to recognise that it’s you speaking when they see one of your posts. Even better, aim for a unique TOV that speaks directly to your audience and isn’t just the usual social media drivel (‘What’s up YouTube!’, grainy photos that look like they were taken with a potato on Facebook, posts on LinkedIn about something your child definitely didn’t do, and other assorted lies).

You also need to think about what you’re posting on which platform too. That informative, 3 paragraph post that gets traction on Linkedin isn’t going to work on Instagram. Try to answer a specific need that your audience has.

And what are you posting alongside your copy? Nothing? You also need to include consistent, high quality content, like videos, infographics, branded links, photography or other artwork that would bring a tear to the eye of even the most hardened designer.

That grubby selfie taken at the awards show needs to go, and you need to post the professionally-shot group photo of you winning the award, maybe with the logo of your company somewhere.

And that screenshot of the job advert taken straight from Indeed? Take yourself off for a quiet word. Use a branded plain background and add highlights about the role and the location / salary / skills needed to grab interest. Crap content = crap results.

If you struggle to find time to post consistently or forget to do it, stop relying on your useless brain and pay a few quid per month for Hootsuite, Buffer or similar. These social media schedulers are packed with handy tools and may even provide inspiration and info on trends, so they’re worth the investment. Your social media people should be using them already, or something similar or custom-built, already, so go and ask them first.

Consistent engagement

Posting consistent content consistently is only half the battle. You need to make sure your audience is engaging with your social media accounts consistently too.

When it comes to employer branding, it’s all about raising awareness and being visible to both your existing hires and your potential ones. This is where you can use your existing teams to grab the attention of your prospects.

Set out KPIs for your teams to engage with your content. Get them to like, comment, post to their own networks and to share not just generically, but with people they think would be a good person to hire.

This is the hardest challenge, but if you can make your own people interact with your content consistently, then you’ll see consistent engagement from hires that you wouldn’t have a chance of reaching via a job board or agency.

Feel enlightened and ready to go and sort out the content calendar? Or are you still a firm believer that ‘we never get anything from social media’? Comment on our social media or get in touch and ask us our opinion!