Author: Effortless HR
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Your company’s online reputation is one of the most influential marketing tools at your business’s disposal. If leveraged correctly, your online reputation could provide benefits to all areas of your business.
What do you want your future employers to see when they search for your company on Google or come across your company on a job site like Glassdoor or LinkedIn? Of course, you’ll want them to consume the wonderful things about your company, whether it’s positive reviews from employees, awards you’ve won, social media accounts, or the great leadership team you have.
Building an online presence that represents your company’s values is meaningful to future and current employees, as well as the business itself. The last thing you’d want is for an unfavorable mention of your brand to influence a candidate’s decision of whether or not to accept your offer.
Creating and maintaining a positive digital footprint will attract more candidates and provide a sense of authority. But it’s no small feat, so it’s important to know where to begin.
I’ve outlined a few compelling points below on how online reputation impacts hiring and, along with steps you can take to start growing your recruiting pipeline effectively.
Potential candidates make choices based on company and executive reviews
There are more job seekers today turning to online reviews to help them decide what company they want to work for and 1 in 3 interview candidates have been known to turn down a job offer after seeing just one negative review, according to Fractl’s American Workplace Survey.
Negative online reviews can damage your hiring pool, even if the reviews are falsely stated or over-exaggerated, chances are there will be some backlash to face. It’s how you choose to approach the negativity that will gain back that lost trust.
Deleting those reviews, if the platform allows it, can cause even further damage. If you find that it’s necessary to hash out the issue, doing so on a more personal level will provide the best outcome. Engaging with people who leave reviews, positive or negative, is recommended in order to sustain your company’s reputation.
Companies that have negative search results will take a back seat for job seekers
Like negative reviews, negative articles, pages, or reviews in your search results will have prospective candidates turning to a competitor who has a more well-rounded search presence.
Not only is it beneficial to work towards suppressing any unfavorable content in your company’s search results, but also curating a diverse digital footprint should be a priority. Implementing an online reputation management strategy that’s aligned with SEO best practices will help achieve the brand narrative you desire. Benefits from a solid online reputation management strategy include, but are not limited to:
- Enhanced credibility among competitors
- Attract and engage with top talent
- Fortified search results
- Impactful returns on investment
Outsourcing SEO vendors to handle this part of your marketing strategy is ideal as they’re true experts who can handle the workload while your internal teams can focus on other areas of the business.
Leveraging social media will help attract top talent
Using your company’s social media accounts can be a unique approach to drawing in potential candidates and a great way to harness your reputation. Platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all have the ability to target and engage with job seekers. Social media portrays a more casual environment, making it comfortable for future or current applicants to connect with the companies they’re considering.
Creating separate social media accounts to offer an inside look at what it could be like to work for your company is an easy (and free) way to set your company apart from others, within your industry and geographical location.
While younger generations are highly active on social media, developing strategies that target different demographics on different platforms will ensure your reach is as wide as possible. For instance, if you’re looking to hire entry-level employees, targeting Gen Z on an older platform like Facebook wouldn’t be ideal considering most of Gen Z is not on that app. Instead, go where they are: YouTube, Snapchat, and Instagram. We’ve identified tips on attracting Gen Z in a previous article, here.
Your company’s online reputation is a jobseeker’s first impression of your brand and your executives. Prioritizing company reviews, SEO and social media to create the best possible story for jobseekers will help drive the high-quality candidates you strive for.
