Social Employer Branding.

It is not uncommon to visit the “about us” section of a company’s website and see a thread of words, typically put together by an executive team, dictating what the company is like to work for and its culture.

Social media and in particular, the conversations that people have online about work, adds another dimension to employer branding.  A company is no longer the value and culture set by the senior level in a corporate hierarchy; it is a collective of the personal brands of its employees.

Organisations are full of talented people. Social media creates a space where they have an opportunity to demonstrate their skill, explore areas of interests and share ideas and thoughts- all things that are tagged with passion, enthusiasm and authenticity.

Companies that empower the voice of their people through embracing social media have the best employer branding strategy; their company values and culture are organically projected through the personal brands of their employees in a way that is authentic.

I often hear of organisations concern around the lack of control of Social Media. To that, I say control breeds frustration.

White Stuff, a page on The White Agency’s website, is an awesome example of clever employer branding, it aggregates the twitter, delicious, flickr and blog streams of all of their employees.

Some examples of personal brands I follow are: Marek Wolski (MARK) on marketing, Ben Arnott (Suncorp) on collaboration and leadership and Ross Hill (Deloitte) on technology and the future of communities.

Celebrating the people inside an organisation is an authentic and self-organising approach to employer branding. Companies should embrace Social Media and in doing so empower the voice of their employees.