Why Employee Storytelling is the Most Powerful Form of Recruitment Marketing

Why Employee Storytelling is the Most Powerful Form of Recruitment Marketing How can we encourage employees to be the storytellers on behalf of the employer brand? Weve asked this and much more to Bryan Chaney who heads up employer branding at Indeed and is the founder of TalentBrand.org. Have a listen below and be sure to subscribe to the Employer Branding Podcast. Why is employee storytelling important? Employee storytelling is huge. I feel like employees have way more credibility than they used to even just 10 years ago. For instance the  Edelman Trust Barometer,  they show consistently that people trust others who are like themselves, more than they trust brands or executives from those brands. I share that information internally because in addition to broadcasting what its like to work in Indeed, were also an empowering and recruiting team. Part of that is saying, Hey, you should be doing this thing, and that thing, and sharing the stories. And we frame it up in a way that tells them that people trust individuals more than they trust big brands. Its something that lets them know that they are a lot more powerful than they think they are. Being able to capture those stories well really helps showcase those perspectives in a way that feels more trustworthy, like theres less of a gloss or sheen or marketing spin to it. Thats one of the things thats really important for us to preserv e as were helping them capture those stories. Whats your formula to success with employee storytelling? Its a little bit different with each group. So what works in sales, for example, is a very different story than when youre talking to someone in product or engineering. They care about different things, and one of the things that Ive done early on in my career is look at categories and motivators, and really try to map that back to the content of the story that were sharing. Were going through a content indexing process right now so that we can understand whats great content, what people get excited about, and how does that tie back to a motivator, so that we can better understand the types of content that are working. Were consistently trying be faithful in capturing an employees story, helping them crystallize their message. Everything that we broadcast, everything that we share is reviewed and approved by the employees themselves, which I think is really important so that they feel like their voice is heard, not just figuratively, but literally as well. How can we avoid making mistakes? The biggest mistake that Ive ever made in my career for employer branding was not taking the time to understand the voice of the employee, and thats a big part of it. So time is a function, but also being able to spend time with them, not just thinking about it, but spend time in engaging conversation, and watch the employees in their natural habitat. Its a bit of a documentarian, but listening to that, paying attention, and directly asking them what they care about, and asking specific questions that speak to their personal journey. One of the things that we will be doing here at Indeed is what I call culture jam sessions. Thats getting groups of people in a room and asking them whats unique about the Indeed experience from a perks perspective. What is your favourite unique perk that you have here at Indeed? And so thats everything from, I love the fact that we have a barista in the engineering office to make me coffee whenever I need a pick-me-up in the afternoon. Or, I enjoy the fact that we have pet insurance because I have a dog or whatever that may be, everyone has a different take on their benefits and what that means to them. So thats one example of a question. My favourite question to ask is, If working inside Indeed was a movie, what music would be on that soundtrack? You learn what kind of music your employees like to listen to, but you also learn how they feel when they come to work. Is it quick paced music? Is it happy? What kind of personality does it have? Not only can you tell a lot of stories by that, but youre also collecting thought for your employer branding content. Youre gathering words that they use to describe all the stuff. Youre also able to then pull together playlists around the different departments and say, This is the playlist for the product team, this is what it feels like to work inside Indeed if youre in product. Heres the music that they like to listen to. You have a whole new piece of content that you can share externally. Follow Bryan on Twitter @BryanChaney.