How to build a highly compelling talent brand via social media

How to Drive a Highly Compelling Talent Brand Through Social Media Leela Srinivasan | Director of Marketing | LinkedIn Talent Solutions

The Conference Board | January 2014

It’s official: we’re obsessed with talent brand

84% Agree that talent brand

has significant impact

on ability to

hire great talent

talent.linkedin.com

70%

Prioritization of talent brand

(by company size)

Agree talent brand is a

top priority for their

organization

69%

65%

70%

75%

< 500 Employees

501-1,000 Employees

1,000-10,000 Employees

> 10,000 Employees

Source: LinkedIn 2013 Global Recruiting Trends survey

3 clear reasons to invest

Lower cost per hire by up

to 50%.

Reduce employee

turnover by up to 28%.

Influence the conversation

with candidates.

94% of companies

increased or

maintained their talent

brand investment in

2013.

Source: LinkedIn 2011 research on value of employer brand;

2013 Global Recruiting Trends survey talent.linkedin.com

Talent Brand: employer brand on

social steroids

Your talent brand is the

highly social, totally public

version of your employer

brand that incorporates what

your talent – past, present

and potential - thinks, feels

and shares about your

company as a place to work.

talent.linkedin.com

The rise of social platforms for talent brand

2012 2013

Company website 85% 79% -6%

Friends/family, word of mouth 63% 61% -2%

Online professional networks (e.g. LinkedIn) 47% 54% +7%

Social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter) 43% 45% +2%

Public recognition/awards (e.g. 'Best Places to Work') 27% 30% +3%

Traditional Job Boards 35% 26% -9%

Public relations efforts 23% 25%

YouTube videos 13% 12%

Glassdoor 10% 11%

Print ads 11% 9%

Increase (+)

Decrease (-) Top 10 Channels to Communicate Your Talent Brand

talent.linkedin.com Source: LinkedIn 2013 Global Recruiting Trends survey, US only

Social or not, the same

principles still apply

5 steps to a highly social talent brand

STEP 1

Get

buy-in

STEP 2

Listen

and

learn

STEP 3

Craft

your

approach

STEP 4

Promote

and

engage

STEP 5

Measure

and

adjust

talent.linkedin.com

5 steps to a highly social talent brand

STEP 1

Get

buy-in

STEP 2

Listen

and

learn

STEP 3

Craft

your

approach

STEP 4

Promote

and

engage

STEP 5

Measure

and

adjust

talent.linkedin.com

• Start at the

top

• Arm yourself

with data

• Bring partners

to the table

“In God we trust.

All others bring data.”

- William Edwards Deming

Examples:

- Industry facts and figures

- Social footprint vs peers

- Talent flows – where are you winning and losing?

Buy-in often starts with small wins

“I probably delivered the same deck 40 times, sometimes to the same audience. You will feel like a broken record but it doesn’t sound like that on the other end.”

Kara Yarnot SAIC

SAIC turns to data to

ease concerns

Challenge: fear of poaching.

Approach: Presented the unchanged

pre- and post-attrition rates to

leadership.

Result: Leadership bought in it, built

their own profiles, and even became

active themselves.

talent.linkedin.com

5 steps to a highly social talent brand

STEP 1

Get

buy-in

STEP 2

Listen

and

learn

STEP 3

Craft

your

approach

STEP 4

Promote

and

engage

STEP 5

Measure

and

adjust

talent.linkedin.com

• Start at the

top

• Arm yourself

with data

• Bring partners

to the table

• Audit

• Do your

research

When listening, avoid death by survey

talent.linkedin.com

Listening makes all the difference

Strategic annual survey use

Challenge: Keeping employees engaged in a

connected world.

Approach: Via annual survey, JPMorgan asked

what employees need/ want in order to stay. Top

answers: mobility and development opportunities.

Result: Launched extensive internal mobility

program.

• In 10 months, internal hire rate rose by 5%

• Ranked #1 in Europe and #2 in the US in

Vault’s 2013 Best Places to Work for Internal

Mobility rankings.

Ellie

Shephard Global Recruiting

Program Manager,

Vice President

talent.linkedin.com

5 steps to a highly social talent brand

STEP 1

Get

buy-in

STEP 2

Listen

and

learn

STEP 3

Craft

your

approach

STEP 4

Promote

and

engage

STEP 5

Measure

and

adjust

talent.linkedin.com

• Start at the

top

• Arm yourself

with data

• Bring partners

to the table

• Audit

• Do your

research

• Be real

• Be personal

• Be consistent

• Set goals

Authenticity is everything

talent.linkedin.com

Promise what you can deliver

Promise what you can deliver

Challenge: Talking about work-life

balance at a professional services firm.

Approach: Shifted focus from work-life

balance to “flexibility” - just as valuable,

much more realistic.

Result: Believable talent brand, internally

and externally. Danielle Bond, CMO

talent.linkedin.com

A lesson from Rapid7

http://lnkd.in/edrocks

talent.linkedin.com

5 steps to a highly social talent brand

STEP 1

Get

buy-in

STEP 2

Listen

and

learn

STEP 3

Craft

your

approach

STEP 4

Promote

and

engage

STEP 5

Measure

and

adjust

talent.linkedin.com

• Start at the

top

• Arm yourself

with data

• Bring partners

to the table

• Audit

• Do your

research

• Be real

• Be personal

• Be consistent

• Set goals

• Polish at

individual &

company level

• Lead by

example;

leverage team

• Go multi-

touchpoint

and targeted

19

Jason Seiden, CEO, Ajax Workforce Marketing

P.O.P. Profile Optimization Project

Before

talent.linkedin.com

New professional

photo

Summary section

with rich media

New headline

Increased reach

After

Built out work history

with rich media

Added Volunteers &

Causes Section

Added more

skills

Rich media in

Education section

Spruce up your company presence

(on LinkedIn and elsewhere)

Don’t over-target!

Profile data is rich (but

also user-generated)

Use Targeted Status Updates

71% of company followers on

LinkedIn are interested

in career opportunities

talent.linkedin.com

As with other social platforms, incorporate

visuals to drive engagement

27

Images result in a 98% higher comment rate

YouTube video links drive a 75% higher share rate

talent.linkedin.com

How to be the world’s most interesting

company on LinkedIn

28

• Be concise and snappy

• Include a clear CTA

• Consider thoughtful questions

• Develop an ed cal; mix it up

talent.linkedin.com

PULSE (LINKEDIN TODAY)

PRODUCT LAUNCHES

INDIVIDUAL BLOG

GOOGLE ALERTS

INDUSTRY

PUBLICATIONS

THOUGHT LEADERS

PHOTO

INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS

HIRING TEAM

POP CULTURE

YOUTUBE

HUMOR

TEXT THE IDEAL

@leelasrin talent.linkedin.com

We all need a little humor. Even in a professional

context.

30 @leelasrin talent.linkedin.com

HR and marketing must lead the way

talent.linkedin.com

Help your team shine on social platforms

Path 1: train global employees at scale

• “SMaC University” (Social

Media and Communication)

• Global certification program

with structured classes

• Strong exec support

• 5,000 trained since mid-2010

Path 2: take a brown bag approach

• Went low-budget, grassroots

route

• Got exec buy-in on brown bag

lunches for hiring managers

• Helped employees overcome

anxieties about what to say on

profiles

talent.linkedin.com

Unleash your best storytellers

Brett Wallace, Director of Sales

3 weeks on SlideShare, 113K+ views

Today: 260K+ views

talent.linkedin.com

Go multi-touchpoint, multi-channel

Twitter Facebook YouTube SlideShare Pinterest

talent.linkedin.com

5 steps to a highly social talent brand

STEP 1

Get

buy-in

STEP 2

Listen

and

learn

STEP 3

Craft

your

approach

STEP 4

Promote

and

engage

STEP 5

Measure

and

adjust

talent.linkedin.com

• Start at the

top

• Arm yourself

with data

• Bring partners

to the table

• Audit

• Do your

research

• Be real

• Be personal

• Be consistent

• Set goals

• Polish at

individual &

company level

• Lead by

example;

leverage team

• Go multi-

touchpoint

and targeted

• Leverage

social data

• Leverage

Talent Brand

Index

If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it

only one out of three

talent.linkedin.com

Sample metrics

Key indicators of talent brand success

• Your offer acceptance rate goes up

• Employee retention increases

• Internal surveys confirm your employees are excited

In-house

• Traffic to your employee video stories goes up

• You double the number of employees with an optimized social presence

Online

• Your Talent Brand Index score rises versus your peers and in the

segments that you care most about

Talent Brand Index

talent.linkedin.com

What percent of people who know about you are interested in you as

a place to work?

Talent Brand

Engagement

Talent Brand

Reach

Talent

Brand

Index

How Talent Brand Index works

Talent Brand

Reach

1,873,354 members

Talent Brand Engagement

264,362 members

=

Benchmark your score, e.g. v.s key competitors

talent.linkedin.com

For further inspiration

www.slideshare.net/culturecode http://talent.linkedin.com/blog