What is an employer brand?

The employer branding process: step-by-step

Employer branding is more than a logo, color palettes, fonts and a catchy tagline. It’s your reputation as an employer and a comprehensive look at everything that makes your company a great place to work.

Here’s a step-by-step process for creating, implementing and managing a successful employer branding strategy.

Audit the perception of your current employer brand

Look at your company through the eyes of your current employees. This can help you identify problems that may be affecting your ability to attract and retain talent. For example, you may discover that employees feel like they don’t have enough career development opportunities. In this case, offering more opportunities for growth at work could help you improve your employer brand.

Here are some ways to audit your current employer brand:

• Employer review websites: Read online reviews and ratings of your company on Indeed Company Pages and Glassdoor Employer Profiles to pinpoint both positive experiences and areas of improvement.
• Employee feedback: Conduct an internal employee satisfaction survey to find out how your current employees feel about working at your company. Ask questions like “Why did you join our company?”, “​​What do you enjoy most about working here?” and “What do you enjoy least about working here?”
• Employee wellbeing report: As part of Indeed’s commitment to measuring and understanding work wellbeing, Indeed offers a wellbeing report that you can use to review your organization and see its Work Wellbeing Score. The report, which is available on Indeed Company Pages, provides an overview of the happiness, purpose, stress and overall job satisfaction of your employees. From the report, you may gain insights into areas of your organization that need improvement. Job seekers may also benefit from the report, as the score can offer a transparent overview of your organization’s work wellbeing and may help them make a more informed decision regarding whether or not to apply.
• Social media: Track your brand mentions on social media to get unfiltered opinions about your company. There are several social listening software tools that can help you do this like Hootsuite or Sprout social.

Define your company’s unique value proposition

When a candidate sees an EVP that reflects their personal goals and passions, it may convince them to choose your company over another. Many job seekers want to work for companies that align with their interests and values.

Here’s how to define your own employee value proposition.

Develop an employer branding promotion strategy

Once you’ve established your employer brand, decide how you’ll manage and promote it. Telling job seekers why you’re a great place to work can be a powerful way to share what makes your company stand out with more people. In fact, 81% of employer decision makers believe that their employer brand set them apart from competitors.

Here are some employer branding promotion ideas to consider:

• Create an attractive career page on your website with behind-the-scenes photos, employee testimonials and other employer branding elements.
• Consider optimizing your Indeed Company Pages Premium and Glassdoor Enhanced Profile by using the Employer Branding Hub for custom branding options.
• Monitor company reviews and consider responding to both positive and negative employee comments. 76% of Glassdoor users agree their perception of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review.
• Add branding elements, such as your logo, to your job postings to make them stand out.
• Start a company blog to share positive, internal aspects of your company, such asr employee experiences, company news and updates or unique benefits and perks for potential future candidates to see.
• Ask employees to share their experiences working for your company on social media.

Track the success of your employer brand

Start by monitoring your Indeed Company Page to see if there’s any improvement in ratings and reviews. Next, watch for changes in your Work Wellbeing Score. Your score reflects employee satisfaction and engagement, so an increase may indicate how your employer branding efforts have improved your employees’ overall wellbeing.

Organizations with a high wellbeing score may see lower employee turnover and better employee retention rates. 85% of people believe it’s important to find companies that care about how you feel.

Other ideas to gauge the success of your employer brand could include tracking hires made through an employee referral program and sending out occasional surveys to measure employee satisfaction. You can also conduct exit interviews with departing employees to gain more insight into your employee experience and learn about any areas of improvement in processes and company culture.

Grow awareness and intent for your brand

A strong employer brand strategy can positively affect your organization’s performance, client satisfaction, employee satisfaction and overall company revenue. Increasing the visibility of your employer brand, shaping how it is perceived and aligning it with what job seekers look for are all core parts of that strategy.

To develop an effective approach for growing brand awareness and intent, consider the following suggestions:

• Prioritize diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) in your hiring practices. Use your career site, job posts and public messaging to show that a wide range of candidates are welcome and supported. Make your commitment visible on your Company Page, in your job descriptions and in how you describe benefits, flexibility and workplace policies.
• Write inclusive job descriptions. Use clear, simple language, avoid jargon and remove age, gender or background assumptions. Focus on the skills and impact needed in the role instead of narrow experience requirements, and highlight benefits and support that apply to a wide range of people.
• Learn from well-rated companies and competitors. Review public feedback about other employers to see what job seekers respond to, where they feel let down and how your own brand can stand out. Look for gaps you can fill, such as clearer growth paths, better communication or stronger support for wellbeing.
• Publicly promote employee success stories. Share examples of employees who have grown their careers, taken on new challenges or led meaningful initiatives. Use quotes, short profiles and testimonials across your Company Page, website and social channels to bring your culture to life.
• Stay consistent between your story and reality. Make sure the brand promises you share externally match what people experience internally. If you promote work life balance, back it up with realistic workloads, supportive managers and programs that protect employee wellbeing.
• Collaborate across teams. Align branding, marketing, recruiting, HR and leadership on a shared view of your employer brand. Use regular check-ins and shared messaging to ensure candidates and employees hear a consistent story at every touchpoint.

How to improve employer branding with Indeed

Building and maintaining your employer brand isn’t always easy, but Indeed can help you by putting your jobs and employee experience in front of the right potential candidates. Here’s how you can promote a compelling employer brand.

Share why you are a great place to work using the Employer Branding Hub

To save time and stay organized, consider using Employer Branding Ads together with the Employer Branding Hub. With these two platforms, you can manage your Indeed Company Pages Premium and your Glassdoor Enhanced Profile all in one place.

By using the Employer Branding Hub you can:

• Partner with global branding experts: Gain access to job and employer branding experts who can help you build or enhance your branding strategy.
• Show what sets you apart: Amplify your hiring results by proving to job seekers why you’re a great place to work with Why Work With Us and Why Join Us content.
• Highlight what’s best about your company regularly: Attract talent aligned to your purpose by sharing your Company Pages, Company Updates, Featured Reviews and social media links.
• Gain competitive insights: Compare Rating Trends and Heat Maps with your competitors to improve your brand through employee reviews and candidate feedback.

Reach quality job seekers with your unique employer brand story

Employer Branding Ads can improve your Indeed and Glassdoor branding efforts and help your organization reach job seekers in a competitive job market. By using Ads, you can encourage job seekers to consider applying whether they are actively looking for new work or not.

On average, employers who purchased the Employer Branding Hub saw a 35% increase in job clicks across their Glassdoor and Indeed profiles.^[1]

By using ads, you may see benefits like:

• Supercharged Reach: Reach millions of job seekers and increase engagement across Indeed, Glassdoor and popular job sites. “The greatest benefit of Employer Branding Ads is that we can consistently reach new audiences of relevant, active jobseekers.” – Maureen Laventure, Account Director, Glacier Media
• Adaptive Targeting: Achieve consistent demand from top talent with flexible targeting. “Employer Branding Ads offer a solution to connect with a passive audience of top talent.” – Maureen Laventure, Account Director, Glacier Media
• Real-time Insights: Maximize brand ad performance with insights that matter to you like campaign performance, video plays and centralized analytics. “Adjusting our campaign in real-time by targeting new cities led to more impressions and double the clicks.” – Brenda Beheng, Talent Acquisition Manager, Knute Nelson
• Purposeful Storytelling: Attract talent interested in you by showing why your company is a great place to work. “With limited wording and graphic space, Employer Branding Ads forces us to tell the best story for our clients concisely and powerfully.” – Maureen Laventure, Account Director, Glacier Media

Using Employer Branding Ads often leads to higher started applications as well, with employers who purchased Employer Branding Ads alone seeing a 13% increase in started applications across both Indeed and Glassdoor.^[2]

Win over key talent

The Employer Branding Hub can be used to manage your brand, leverage insights and inspire job seekers to apply across two leading platforms: Indeed and Glassdoor.

Employers who purchased the Employer Branding Hub on average saw a 27% increase in total job clicks across their Indeed and Glassdoor Company Pages. ^[3]

With the Employer Branding Hub, you can:

• Promote your unique brand story across Indeed and Glassdoor
• Reach candidates with your brand story
• Learn about actionable brand insights 

Designed to help enhance your ability to attract and retain top talent, the Employer Branding Hub provides you with valuable insights to improve your employer branding.

To maximize your brand potential, consider combining it with Employer Branding Ads — employers who purchased both together saw a 26% increase in started applications on Indeed.^[4]

The key steps to building a strong employer brand strategy

Indeed is dedicated to helping organizations build and improve their employer brand strategy. Here are four steps to facilitate and support an effective employer brand using Indeed and Glassdoor tools.

Claim your Indeed Company Page

Your Indeed Company Page is a dedicated profile that you can use to showcase your company culture, job openings and work environment to potential applicants. To claim your company page, start by creating an employer account and searching for your company on the Indeed Company Pages reviews page.

Having a dedicated page for your company on Indeed makes it possible for you to: 

• Highlight your company culture
• Build a strong employer brand
• Boost application rates
• Integrate with Employer Branding Hub for access to analytics and customization
• Use reviews and ratings from employees to address concerns or feedback
• Promote the perks of your company

Promote your brand with Employer Branding Ads and Indeed Ads

On average, clients using Employer Branding Ads alone saw a 2.5X increase in brand impressions on Indeed and Glassdoor. To take things one step further, you might also consider combining Employer Branding Ads with Indeed Ads.^[5]

Employer Branding Ads help share your employer brand with potential candidates, while Indeed Ads can attract potential candidates to your open roles to help you meet your hiring goals.

By using Indeed Ads, you can run job ad campaigns designed to help you:

• Fill several open roles and positions
• Control costs
• Get applicants to the interview

With Indeed ads, you can choose how to promote your jobs and take advantage of Indeed Analytics and Recommendations to track and improve your ad performance.

Tell job seekers why you’re a great place to work

Employers who purchased the Employer Branding Hub on average saw a 33% increase on total job clicks per job across their Indeed and Glassdoor Company Pages.^[6]

Streamline your employer branding efforts by taking advantage of the following features:

• Customize your Company Page with brand logos, colors, images and videos
• Highlight key messages that reflect your organization’s mission, values and unique selling points 
• Feature employee testimonials
• Use analytics to track engagement and measure the effectiveness of your strategy and content
• Highlight your company’s career growth opportunities and employee benefits

Manage and grow awareness for your employer brand with Indeed

A strong employer brand demonstrates your commitment to employee engagement and allows you to highlight your unique offerings. These features can help you stand out in a competitive job market and attract top talent. To get started, consider using the Employer Branding Hub, an integrated platform designed to help you manage and improve your brand awareness on Indeed and Glassdoor.  

Back to Hiring with Indeed

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