We assume you’re on Facebook and you know the basics. If you need guidance, check out Facebook For Dummies, 6th Edition, by Carolyn Abram (Wiley).
Creating a Facebook Page for your employer brand
Most businesses create a Facebook Page primarily to promote products and services to customers. To use Facebook to build an employer brand, you have the option of using the company’s existing page or creating a separate page to build the employer brand:- Use the company’s existing Facebook Page. Depending on your company’s size and resources and the focus of the content on the company’s existing Facebook Page, you may be able to leverage the reach and impact of that page to share some of your employer brand content, including jobs and workplace culture. The advantage to this approach is that the channel is likely already established, with set governance, content strategy, and, most important, audience. The downside is you often lack control and have to work through established content calendars to insert your employer brand content.
- Build a new Facebook Page. If you have the bandwidth and resources, you may want to build a separate Facebook Page dedicated to your employer brand, so you have full autonomy and authority over the content, content shares, tone of voice, and engagement strategy. It’s a great way to tap into the largest social network, and the 1.7 billion or so active monthly users.
A sample Facebook Page.
Consult your content marketing strategy to determine the type of content you share on your Facebook Page.
If you’re building a dedicated Facebook Page for your employer brand, notify employees and ask them to follow and share the page. You may also want to leverage the established reach (and likes) of your corporate channels with strategic requests to share and promote your content, so their audience becomes aware of the employer brand channel and has the opportunity to get an inside look at the employee experience. For companies with strong consumer brands and existing customer affinity, this is a great way to quickly grow your audience.
Hosting Facebook Groups for your employer brand
Facebook Groups is another great tool for employer branding, particularly as engagement levels in LinkedIn groups continue to decline. Facebook Groups allows you to create open, closed, or secret groups that allow members to interact, share, and engage with one other.Consider creating a private group that includes employees, prospects, and fans. This approach provides a direct way to engage prospects with your existing talent, enabling prospects to ask questions and get a firsthand look at the culture. It also enables your team to identify engaged prospects you may want to recruit.
Broadcasting via Facebook Live with your employer brand
Facebook Live, recently added to Facebook’s portfolio, taps into the resurgence of livestreaming, enabling users to broadcast live video from their mobile devices. You can find a variety of applications for broadcasting live on Facebook.