When building your employer brand on social media, giving candidates the opportunity to press their noses to the proverbial glass of your company windows is invaluable. That’s where Instagram comes in. No platform makes it easier to really show what life is like at your company—and, as any good brand expert knows, showing is better than telling.
Even if you’re already clued in to the power of Instagram, you may sometimes be at a loss for what to post; the same is even more true if you’re brand new to it.
No matter what expertise level you’re at in employer branding on social media, here are five different types of posts you can make that can help you build your employer brand on Instagram:
- Humans of ________
You might be familiar with the concept Humans of New York, but if not, it’s a simple one to understand: a UGA grad (Go Dawgs!) started the project when he was living in NYC, and all it entails is him photographing a random person in the streets of the city and getting a story from them. Then, he posts the picture and their quote on social. Simple concept, but it’s attracted a massive following because viewers feel like they’re really making a connection with the people they’re seeing. The same can go for pictures of your employees. Take high-quality photos of them and get a meaty quote about why they love the work they do for your company. The rawness of it will hit candidates where it counts. - In the Action
Staged photos are great, candids are even better. Walk the floor of your office and, without even sharing what you’re about to do, snap some photos of employees hard at work. It could be a team meeting, some coworkers joking around, or just one person engaged in the work they’re doing at their desk. Getting in on the action is a way to make candidates feel the vibe of your office and its culture. - Company Events
Where else does your culture come to life moreso than when everyone is celebrating? This is probably the most obvious on the list, and the most overused, so make sure it’s not all you’re sharing. The real trick with capturing company events is taking advantage of what’s happening around you. Make sure you’re getting photos of a variety of people doing a variety of things, not just a singular panoramic shot of the whole event. You want all of them to show employees having a good time, with a mixture of candid and staged. Then, either upload multiple photos in one post, or create a composite image (though the latter has gone out of style since Instagram allowed multi-photo posts). - Video
In reality, you can capture all of the above items in video or photographs, and you should be. Video is an important part of social, and should be an integral part of your Instagram strategy. Along with the items above, video is a great thing to repurpose on Instagram. Remember that awesome employer brand video you made for your careers site? Put it on Instagram! You can also film, cut and upload high quality videos all from the comfort of your smartphone. However you do it, just make sure it gets done—this is the height of a dynamic view you can give candidates into life at your company. - Careers Site Leads
This last base to cover requires a little more effort than going out and snapping a photo or recording a video, but it’s an important base nonetheless. The whole point behind employer branding is getting candidates interested to go to your careers site and apply for jobs. One of the best ways you can do this on Instagram is by sharing content on your careers site to Instagram and then linking candidates back to where it lives by saying “visit the link in our bio” and updating that link to reflect what you’re sharing. A few examples include:- Jobs – share news about an opportunity with an image of someone who is currently in that role and a quote from them about why they love the role, then link to the job posting
- Blogs – share featured photos of your employee stories that are on your careers site blogs and link to the posting in your bio, or create a graphic with a pull quote from one of your posts
- Company values – another graphic idea is to create ones that put your company values/EVP themes on blast and link to your main careers site landing page
Instagram is a world of visual possibilities, and these are just five broad starting points for you to show off your employer brand. Open up that proverbial glass to candidates and let your current employees shine!