For most companies, attracting and keeping top candidates is not as easy as it might sound. A Gallup poll on employee engagement showed that about 87% of employees are not fully engaged in their job.
What this means for your business is that employee turnover is likely high for those employees who aren’t becoming engaged in the company culture and that can translate into money losses for your company as you’re forced to invest more into recruiting and training new employees.
You Must First Establish a Culture for your Corporation
The first step before promoting your company culture is to establish that culture. An example of building a culture where employees care about the company they work for and feel invested in its success can be seen in Dan Price,’s company Gravity Payments. Price recently announced that he would ensure that every employee makes at least $70,000 a year.
Google is another good example of a company culture that attracts the best and the brightest employees. If you haven’t already heard, perks that come with working at Google’s headquarters in California, include free gourmet food, coffee and juice bars, free rides to and from work, and even an option to bring your dog to work.
- What is your company culture?
- What perks do you offer your employees?
- What makes your company stand out from the competition?
Before you start promoting company culture online, be sure you understand what that culture is.
How to Promote Company Culture Online
When it comes to getting the word out about your company’s culture so that candidates will beat down your door instead of the other way around, there are several options.
- Appoint leaders to chat up your brand. Within companies, there are employees who stand out above the rest for their leadership and love of the company. Utilize these employees by allotting time each day for them to talk up the company on social media and by posting comments on blogs and forums. The feedback should be honest, of course, but if you choose the right people it will be.
- Create a corporate culture hashtag. This is a great way to get your company noticed as one of the most desirable places to work. A company hashtag should be something that employees can add to the end of a post about some event or going-on at the company. For example, you might create a hashtag that is something like #TeamGoodCompany. Now, each time an employee posts about something, he should use that hashtag. So, if there is an annual company picnic, the buzz might go something like: “Free theme park passes. Best company picnic ever!” #TeamGoodCompany
- Utilize employment sites for feedback. Encourage your newly hired employees to leave feedback on sites like Glassdoor. Most employees love their company for the first few months. If you’re doing your job right, even those employees who’ve been with you for years will still love the company.
- Blog about your company. One of the best ways to create the image you want of your corporation is to blog about things going on inside the company. Did the front desk receptionist just get married? Post her picture along with a congratulatory note from her #TeamGoodCompany family.
- Utilize social media. The company should have a separate social media account on the major players, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Whenever a blog post goes up, you hear a funny joke about your industry or you have other news, post to social media. In fact, if you want to truly engage the online community and teach them about your company’s culture, hiring a person either in-house or by contract to handle social media is a smart move.
Before you start posting about your company culture online, figure out who your target audience is. Do you want to attract the best IT candidates? Then, hang out where IT professionals hang out online. Once you know your goals and your company’s culture, getting the word out becomes a matter of effort rather than luck.
