Every company’s EVP will be different. Look to your strengths, find out what employees like about working for your company, and see where you could expand on things you’re already doing to make your company even more attractive to potential hires.

Leverage Real Time Marketing

Several years ago, the high-end fashion brand Balenciaga released a $2,000 handbag that looked strangely familiar to many shoppers. The bag had the same general shape and appearance as IKEA’s polypropylene Frakta shopping bags, which are currently priced at $1.49. IKEA jumped on the opportunity to capitalize on this viral moment by releasing a tongue-in-cheek social media ad that instructed readers on how to identify a “genuine” Frakta bag You can’t plan for moments like these, but you can plan on taking advantage of them when they present themselves. An EBS that’s running smoothly will be extremely well-positioned to create this kind of real time marketing content. It’s effective and engaging.

Put Your Employees in the Center

Your employees are the star of the EBS show, so step back and let them take the lead once you’ve communicated your goals and expectations. The more your employees generate and post their own content, the more authentic and relatable their outreach will be. There’s no plan or script you can follow to make employees create posts that will check off all the boxes required by a perfect branding strategy. Trying to force it will just produce content that feels stilted and “off.” Give your employees guidance, a clear idea of your objectives, and then let them be themselves to post content that shows genuine enthusiasm. SAP, the German tech giant, places a big emphasis on their corporate culture and works hard at putting their employees front and centre on social media (take it from a former employee ;)).

Build Your Own Voice

Some brands are fantastic at creating a corporate persona on social media. For example, Denny’s has followers on Twitter who probably haven’t eaten there in years. However, they were able to build a big audience because their “voice” on social media has been funny, zeitgeist-y, and a little irreverent. If their tweets convert some followers to customers, that’s a big win for Denny’s. Highlight your company culture by posting photos, videos, and narratives about events, employee achievements, awards, and other positive stories. It can help give shape to your voice, and puts forth a company image that’s not a faceless organization, but a collective of real people

Put Your Company’s Vision in the Center

Think of your branding strategy in terms of a band playing music. Your employee content creators and brand ambassadors can be out there making their own melodies, but as the company behind it all, you have to be providing a steady beat that ties it all together.
Your own, official corporate social media presence can help define a baseline for employee-produced content and messaging. Have a clear vision expressed through branding choices and messaging that your employees can refer back to. This gives them hooks and launching points they can use to thematically integrate with their own content or generate new post ideas. After all, you want your employees to create original, organic content that reflects their individual personalities — but without a clear vision to adhere to, it can be easy to lose the plot and detrimental to your brand.