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Social Media |
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It is abundantly clear by now that social media have completely changed the employer branding landscape and that joining the conversation is no longer an option. The trick of course is to leverage the social media tools that are right for you and your audience if you are going to attract and retain the cream of the Generation Y crop. There is a caveat however: Develop a well-defined employer value proposition (EVP) and clear objectives before you choose your social media tools. Magnet’s employer branding expertise and research and its access to social media experts in the employer branding field place us in a very good position to assist you in this area. Specifically, we will be able to assist you with the following:
Magnet will sharing our insights and thoughts with you through the Magnet Quarterly Newsletter, employer branding workshops, on Twitter and on our website. We look forward to continuing the conversation with you.
Social Media News
Workshop: Employer Branding Meets Social Media 24 May 2011 Guest speaker: Per Håkansson Those of our clients who attended Magnet’s social media workshop understand that ignoring social media will not make it go away. You know the question is no longer whether your current and future employees are online, but rather where they are and how to interact with them in the social media context. Social media expert, Per Håkansson quoted the latest figures from the 2010 Magnet Student Survey, which elicited responses from 38 769 South African undergraduates. He pointed out that these figures demonstrate just how vital it is for employers to start interacting within the social media context: 92% of the respondents were Facebook users. 56% were on MXit, 31% on YouTube, 28% on Twitter and 8% on LinkedIn. As many as 71% visited social media networks at least once a day; and 85% are neutral, positive or very positive about employers connecting via social networks. Professionals are not far behind. According to the 2010 Magnet Professionals’ Survey, which drew 13 445 respondents, 89% are on Facebook, 19% on Twitter, 35% on LinkedIn, and 24% on YouTube. Just over 55% visit their social media sites at least once a day. The great challenge for employers is to find a balance between picture portrayed by the statistics above and the organisational obstacles they face, such as finding the resources to attend to the time-consuming job of updating social media sites with meaningful material; resolving social media ownership issues; getting the buy-in of colleagues; privacy ; and ensuring that one’s employer brand is not hurt by social media. Fear of losing control of the conversation Håkansson addressed the fear of one’s employer brand being damaged by social media early on in the workshop. “As an employer, you cannot control social media. Your employees will be on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn whether you like it or not,” he says. “Don’t worry about your employees saying negative things about you on their private Facebook account. Instead, see it as an opportunity to get to the root of the problem and find a solution. By making employer branding more about your company’s culture than about its website and logo, your perspective on social media will change. Instead of trying to control or limit it, embrace it as something that will keep people updated on what is going on with your brand.” Håkansson speaks from experience as he has worked with several start-ups such Icon Medialab, Yahoo!, Blurb Inc and Springboardr.com and lectures at Hyper Island, the digital Harvard in the US and Sweden. For more information on Magnet’s social media services, contact our sales team. |
