Ooooh Oreo, we do more than like your Facebook page. It’s the ‘Ow-to for social brand ‘marketing’. It’s On brand. It’s ‘Own content’. It’s Oh-so consistent. It can Only be Oreo. And it’s an Ongoing demonstration of ‘Ow to keep developing a social strategy. Especially for those who think that any Old content is worth sharing. Oh well.
Gotcha. If you were expecting another one of those navel-gazing, future-predicting blog posts, you’d better quit reading now. This is a bemused blog. A wondering post. Even a ‘WTF is everyone going on about’ few hundred words. It’s all the fault of just two: ‘Employer Branding’.
Recently, the recruitment world appears awash with conferences, talks, summits and blogs about this ‘mythical’ subject. The rise of social media for recruiting (aka social recruiting) has sparked a huge interest in those two words. How it’s vital in this social world. That companies are finally tying it and engagement together. How it is front and centre in this digital age.
May we just hold it there for a second. But wasn’t it always this way. Companies have always sort to attract the right candidates. The best employees have always been best ambassadors for you as an employer. Your culture has been the guiding light. The best companies have always been honest. Open. And appealing. The truth about them revealed. Your ‘recruitment marketing’ had the power to deselect, as much as attract, candidates. Word of mouth was spread – good and bad – even before the birth of a Tweet or a Facebook Like. So what is the difference now?
Just because all the buzz is around social media content, mobile engagement et al, doesn’t make it that different to the posters, advertising, direct marketing, brochures and websites of old. Times have changed, media has altered, technology is more advanced but the basics are unaltered – if you were approaching it in the right way in the first place.
So, this ‘now’ Holy Grail of the Employer Brand that is being toted around is nothing new. Nothing fantastical. Nothing magical. It has always been key. (Or should have been.) It shouldn’t take a new vehicle of recruitment to make you think about it. The rise of social media might have emphasised its role but don’t be fooled into believing it’s never been important before. It always was, always will be.
It’s not always big budgets that turn a creative on. Nor the chance of your big idea becoming a multichannel, multimedia campaign. Not even the thought that ‘this is an award winner’ (if only it was that easy to recognise that one). No, quite often it’s just a ‘neat’ little concept that feels so right. This was one of those.
It began with our opportunity to re-brand the Central London Retail Personnel Group – a retail and hospitality networking group, formed in 1991 by HR professionals from companies including John Lewis, House of Fraser, Russell & Bromley and Marks & Spencer. We re-named: The Retail HR Circle London. Gave it a contemporary identity. Created and built a new website including a members-only social community area. And this business ‘bag’.
It’s such a simple idea. A gusseted card. Reflecting exactly what the organisation is about. It’s a ‘shopping’ bag. And most importantly, it has personality – standing proud from the sea of ubiquitous square cut corporate flatness.
The humble business card. How important are they now in this social media age? A time when your contact details can be shotgunned across many a social network for everyone to find. So why not use them as a marketing tool? Or a vehicle for some personal branding in the corporate world? (And if you can, have a bit of fun at the same time.) That’s our philosophy. Having recently moved, we obviously had a need to replace our last ones – a ‘Series of 20 to collect’ cards.
This time we’ve gone all ‘technology’ on them – QR coded, no less. And nothing else. No phone details. No addresses, either street or email. Nothing ‘written’ except for a URL, just in case you don’t have/know what a QR code is. We all designed our own cards – for print and online. With no corporate edict, apart from the inclusion of the andsome ident on the reverse and the QR code. These are mine.
Where does the code take you? To a personal webcard page. You’ll find all the usual business details and links to online presences, as well as an insight into what we’re individually like too. To see mine, scan the code below or click this link: myandsome.com/mark
We’ll obviously keep updating our personal pages as time goes on – that’s the beauty of it. Your personal brand never stops growing and evolving, so why should it stagnate on a piece of card?
The third in our week of blogs about all aspects of recruitment as demonstrated by our nominations at the CIPD Recruitment Marketing Awards 2010:
Zizzi ristorantes are run the Italian way – passionate and homely with a little flair. Each one’s a bit different – think Robert De Niro with a regional accent. They now have over 100 restaurants nationwide and employ over 3000 people.
Historically, like many in hospitality, Zizzi had relied heavily on Recruitment agencies. They needed, and were in position to capitalise on, much more direct recruiting. It was the ideal opportunity to create an employer brand that, in harmony with the Zizzi consumer brand, stood out effectively in the competitive hospitality recruitment market.
Working closely with HR, Operations and Marketing, together with much research among the people of Zizzi, we created the employer brand strategy of ‘You’re behind our success’.
Simplistic, you may say. But that is truly the case here. The marketing strategy was built around Zizzi people make the difference in the restaurant and to the customers. So naturallly, we wanted everyone attracted to the organisation to feel that they are unique and part of the Zizzi family. That they are working in their own business/restaurant. That their passion and ability are responsible for their (and Zizzi’s) success – whether as a Manager, serving as a Team Member, working in Head Office or cooking in the kitchen.
The creative reflects this – building on the personal ‘dreams’ that are the foundation of your success in life. ‘Personal’ photos and thoughts are built into the campaign. As is a Ready-Steady-Go message, using colour and approaches to build excitement as candidates travel through the recruitment journey.
After just 12 months from having no real ‘identity’ in the recruitment marketplace, here are some of the results from the Employer Brand:
- Staff Turnover has decreased dramatically
- Candidates pro actively approaching Zizzi
- Attracted higher calibre of candidates applying
- Massively reduced dependency on recruitment agencies
- Lower drop out rates at assessment days and interviews
- Large reduction in the amount of offers declined
- Employer reputation has increased through heightened awareness
Let’s hope we get such a good result in Best Employer Brand tonight.
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