In this presentation Arik gave at Social Media Breakfast-Minneapolis/St Paul, he talks about how to build and maintain a strong Employer Brand using case studies as examples, including work Arik has done directly with Sleep Number over the last five years to build their Employer Brand through social media channels and content.

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How to Build – and
Nurture – an effective
Social Employer Brand
Arik C. Hanson
ACH Communications
Dec. 20, 2019

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ABOUT ARIK
• 20+ years experience;
solo since 2009;
@arikhanson
• Blogger, podcaster,
e-newsletter maker,
professor

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Question #1:
What’s one thing you want to learn about Employer
Branding today? Tweet at: @arikhanson #smbmsp

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Meet Joshua

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“I've spent a lot of time on LinkedIn figuring out who
works where and who I know at various companies.
Also Glassdoor more sporadically for red flags. I also
check Instagram--I think it's an interesting way to see,
at a glance, how brands choose to portray
themselves and how much they invest in
social/digital.” – Not-to-be-named job seeker #1

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“I wasn't in an active search nor looking for a change,
but came across a posting on your Talking Points
blog. It was there that I first saw the posting and then
went on LinkedIn to learn more. To learn more about
the company and industry, I leveraged my network
including our Masterminds group and close friends at
the company. In researching the company, I looked at
Glassdoor and Indeed to better understand what
others had said about working there...the culture,
work/life balance, compensation and advancement
opportunities.” - Not-to-be-named job seeker #2

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1999 Job Seeker

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The 2019 Job Seeker

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First, WHAT’S an Employer Brand?
Your reputation as a place to work, as well as your
employees' perception of you as an employer.

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WHY an Employer Brand?

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More people ”looking” than ever before

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67% of U.S. employees are disengaged at work (Gallup)

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The quit rate (the
rate at which
employees
voluntarily leave
their jobs) is 2.3%.
Highest it's been in
15 years! (Gallup)

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51% say
they're
actively
looking for a
new job or
are open to
one (Gallup)

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Job seekers are turning to social
(to find jobs AND to research)

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• 79% of job seekers say they are likely to use social
media in their job search (Glassdoor)
• 73% of millennials found their last position through a
social media site (The Aberdeen Group)
• 67% of social job seekers use Facebook to search
for jobs (Recruitics)

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Cost-effective + more measurable

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Question #2
Does your company actively manage its Employer
Brand presence? Poll: @arikhanson

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Where to start?

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Typical goals
• Generate awareness
• Drive traffic
• Drive actions
• Reduce cost-per-hire
• Engage existing employees
• Drive applications

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Typical strategies
• Showcase your culture through storytelling
• Highlight your employees to show job seekers what
is possible!
• Demonstrate your values via video
• Show day-in-the-life through ”Stories”

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The typical channels

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Who should manage your Employer Brand?

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Question #3
Who manages your Employer Brand?
Poll: @arikhanson

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Let’s look at 4 case studies

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SEPARATE
EMPLOYER
BRAND
ACCOUNTS

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FOCUS
ON
PEOPLE

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STORYTELLING—I CAN SEE MYSELF
WORKING THERE!

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FOCUS ON PHOTOGRAPHY—
NOT JUST HEAD SHOTS

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REPURPOSING CUSTOMER
TESTIMONIALS

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ESTABLISH A VISUAL
IDENTITY AND OWN
THE COLOR ORANGE

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ENGAGE EXISTING EMPLOYEES

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OWN YOUR VALUE PROP

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SHOWCASE IT IN
CREATIVE WAYS

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Sleep Number (#client)
Challenges:
#1: Ongoing hiring needs in retail sales, customer
service, and home delivery
#2: Lower brand recognition in other parts of the U.S.
#3: Vision to establish Sleep Number as a beloved
brand, technology and innovation leader and an
employer of choice.

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Social can help…
• Drive awareness in key markets
• Drive interest in certain job categories
• Drive traffic to the Sleep Number Careers site
• Drive key actions on the Careers site (including,
APPLYING!)

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Our strategies

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Leveraging a channel-specific approach
Facebook: Audience – retail/home delivery, existing
team members; using primarily self-produced and
brand produced content
LinkedIn/Glassdoor: Audience - professional employees;
existing team members; using mix of brand + third-
party content (big company news/events)
Instagram: Audience – all; using primarily employee-
generated content (#SNLife, people-focused)

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Producing 4 types of content

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SELF-PRODUCED

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BRAND PRODUCED

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EMPLOYEE GENERATED

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THIRD PARTY

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Focusing on 4 content pillars

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JOBS

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CULTURE

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PEOPLE

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BRAND

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Targeting existing team members to
reach new team members

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Leveraging Facebook as our go-to
ad platform
Goals: Engagements, traffic, actions
New plan is developed every month based on hiring
priorities and hot markets
Split budget each month between sponsored posts
(goal: engagements) and link ads (goal: traffic, actions)

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Using different ads to meet
different goals
• Facebook photo/video posts
o Goals: engagement, website actions
• Facebook link ads (national + geo-targeted)
o Goals: referring traffic, website actions
• Instagram posts
o Goals: engagement

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Telling the Sleep Number Employer
Brand story at the BIGGEST events

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CES

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Super Bowl

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Executive visibility builds trust, adds
depth to storytelling

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Using community management as a
job seeker concierge service
• Actively manage our social communities to build trust
• Leverage playbook day-to-day; update frequently
• Monitor #SNLife, #SNEmployee & #TeamSleepNumber tags
• Track volume + time to respond (respond to all comments within
24 hours)
• Partner with CS team to respond to bed issues/questions

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Planning at least 30 days ahead with
a dynamic conversation calendar

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Results?
• Social engagements – 120,000  2.3M+
• Social ad efficiencies – CPE: $.16  $.12; CPC:
$1.38  $.82
• Traffic – 12 percent  58 percent
• Actions – 9,132  12,155

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Survey says?

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arik@arikhanson.com
Blog: arikhanson.com
Podcast: TheTalkingPointsPodcast.com
E-news: http://www.arikhanson.com/subscribe/