How to use social media to show off your company culture

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What makes a difference between an employee merely earning a wage, to them counting themselves as a motivated, valued part of a team? Increasingly, the answer is company culture.

Company culture is the values, visions, habits and ideals that everyone who works for a company shares. In a job market that’s becoming more and more competitive as companies fight to attract the top talent, it’s now judged as an important factor when it comes to candidates choosing their next career move.

That’s where social media can help. Chances are, your company is already using the main platforms to spread the word on your products and services. It’s highly likely you have a LinkedIn company page and Twitter account, plus, depending on your target market, you may also have pages on Facebook and even Instagram.

Your company culture can help recruit

But if you have a great company culture and you feel it’s hidden to everyone who’s not already on the payroll, why not turn it into a recruitment tool?

It’s a win-win situation. Not only will you be able to give potential employees a real glimpse into what it’s like to work for you, but your target market will also feel like they know you better. And not forgetting the fact that it can also have a positive impact on existing staff.

At HR GO, it’s something we try to do as often as we can. Whether it’s members of the HR GO team sharing ‘The best management advice I’ve been given’ via our blog and social media channels, or the Somerset branch celebrating Christmas Jumper Day on Facebook, we know that showing regular behind-the-scenes glimpses into what makes us tick can only ever pay dividends.

Highlighting employees helps

The best advocates of your company are existing staff. If a potential recruit is able to get to know the people he or she may be working with via photos or videos of the team in action on social media, this can be a powerful tool.

Top businesses have realised this works. When recruiting software SmashFly studied US Fortune 500 companies to discover their approach to recruitment, it found that 57% of them used employee stories in text or video.

Go behind-the-scenes

Whether it’s your workplace in action, perks and rewards that employees get, preparations for a big event or a launch, or just the quirky things that make up the average working day at your business, who doesn’t love taking peeks behind-the-scenes?

Slick company ads may serve a purpose, but the real value is showing off what your workplace really looks like - and how it operates. These insights might be decisive evidence a potential recruit is looking for that your company is the one for them.

Empower employees

With the right training and guidelines in place, there’s no reason why staff (everyone, or just a selected few) can’t help spread the company culture via their social media channels, too.

Of course, you’ll want to make sure that everything going out from your original accounts adheres to your company’s branding and core values to protect your online reputation.

But the more people exposed to positive, authentic snippets of your business, the more welcoming your company culture will appear - and the higher the chance a fantastic candidate will fall in love with you as a future workplace.