This document discusses how to drive a compelling talent brand through social media. It emphasizes the importance of talent brand and outlines a 5-step process for building a highly social talent brand: 1) Get buy-in from leadership by using data, 2) Listen to employees and audit your brand, 3) Craft an authentic approach by being real, personal and consistent, 4) Promote and engage through social platforms and leading by example, and 5) Measure performance and adjust using metrics like the Talent Brand Index. Developing an effective talent brand through social media can help companies lower costs, reduce turnover, and influence job candidates.

1. How to Drive a Highly Compelling Talent Brand Through Social Media
Leela Srinivasan | Director of Marketing | LinkedIn Talent Solutions
The Conference Board | January 2014

2. It’s official: we’re obsessed with talent brand
Prioritization of talent brand
(by company size)
69%
< 500 Employees
84%
Agree that talent brand
has significant impact
on ability to
hire great talent
1,000-10,000 Employees
> 10,000 Employees
70%
Source: LinkedIn 2013 Global Recruiting Trends survey
65%
501-1,000 Employees
talent.linkedin.com
70%
75%
Agree talent brand is a
top priority for their
organization

3. 3 clear reasons to invest
Lower cost per hire by up
to 50%.
94%
Reduce employee
turnover by up to 28%.
Influence the conversation
with candidates.
Source: LinkedIn 2011 research on value of employer brand;
2013 Global Recruiting Trends survey
talent.linkedin.com
of companies
increased or
maintained their talent
brand investment in
2013.

4. Talent Brand: employer brand on
social steroids
Your talent brand is the
highly social, totally public
version of your employer
brand that incorporates what
your talent – past, present
and potential - thinks, feels
and shares about your
company as a place to work.
talent.linkedin.com

5. The rise of social platforms for talent brand
Top 10 Channels to Communicate Your Talent Brand
Company website
Friends/family, word of mouth
Online professional networks (e.g. LinkedIn)
Social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter)
Public recognition/awards (e.g. 'Best Places to Work')
Traditional Job Boards
Public relations efforts
YouTube videos
Glassdoor
Print ads
Source: LinkedIn 2013 Global Recruiting Trends survey, US only
talent.linkedin.com
2012
2013
Increase (+)
Decrease (-)
85%
63%
47%
43%
27%
35%
23%
13%
10%
11%
79%
61%
54%
45%
30%
26%
25%
12%
11%
9%
-6%
-2%
+7%
+2%
+3%
-9%

6. Social or not, the same
principles still apply

7. 5 steps to a highly social talent brand
STEP 1
Get
buy-in
STEP 2
Listen
and
learn
STEP 3
Craft
your
approach
talent.linkedin.com
STEP 4
Promote
and
engage
STEP 5
Measure
and
adjust

8. 5 steps to a highly social talent brand
STEP 1
Get
buy-in
STEP 2
Listen
and
learn
STEP 3
Craft
your
approach
• Start at the
top
• Arm yourself
with data
• Bring partners
to the table
talent.linkedin.com
STEP 4
Promote
and
engage
STEP 5
Measure
and
adjust

9. “In God we trust.
All others bring data.”
- William Edwards Deming
Examples:
- Industry facts and figures
- Social footprint vs peers
- Talent flows – where are you winning and losing?

10. Buy-in often starts with small wins
SAIC turns to data to
ease concerns
Challenge: fear of poaching.
Approach: Presented the unchanged
pre- and post-attrition rates to
leadership.
Result: Leadership bought in it, built
their own profiles, and even became
active themselves.
talent.linkedin.com
“I probably delivered the same
deck 40 times, sometimes to
the same audience. You will
feel like a broken record but it
doesn’t sound like that on the
other end.”
Kara Yarnot
SAIC

11. 5 steps to a highly social talent brand
STEP 1
Get
buy-in
• Start at the
top
• Arm yourself
with data
STEP 2
Listen
and
learn
STEP 3
Craft
your
approach
• Audit
• Do your
research
• Bring partners
to the table
talent.linkedin.com
STEP 4
Promote
and
engage
STEP 5
Measure
and
adjust

12. When listening, avoid death by survey
talent.linkedin.com

13. Listening makes all the difference
Strategic annual survey use
Challenge: Keeping employees engaged in a
connected world.
Ellie
Shephard
Global Recruiting
Program Manager,
Vice President
Approach: Via annual survey, JPMorgan asked
what employees need/ want in order to stay. Top
answers: mobility and development opportunities.
Result: Launched extensive internal mobility
program.
•
In 10 months, internal hire rate rose by 5%
•
Ranked #1 in Europe and #2 in the US in
Vault’s 2013 Best Places to Work for Internal
Mobility rankings.
talent.linkedin.com

14. 5 steps to a highly social talent brand
STEP 1
Get
buy-in
• Start at the
top
• Arm yourself
with data
• Bring partners
to the table
STEP 2
Listen
and
learn
STEP 3
Craft
your
approach
• Audit
• Be real
• Do your
research
• Be personal
• Be consistent
• Set goals
talent.linkedin.com
STEP 4
Promote
and
engage
STEP 5
Measure
and
adjust

15. Authenticity is everything
talent.linkedin.com

16. Promise what you can deliver
Promise what you can deliver
Challenge: Talking about work-life
balance at a professional services firm.
Approach: Shifted focus from work-life
balance to “flexibility” - just as valuable,
much more realistic.
Danielle Bond, CMO
Result: Believable talent brand, internally
and externally.
talent.linkedin.com

17. A lesson from Rapid7
http://lnkd.in/edrocks
talent.linkedin.com

18. 5 steps to a highly social talent brand
STEP 1
Get
buy-in
• Start at the
top
• Arm yourself
with data
• Bring partners
to the table
STEP 2
Listen
and
learn
STEP 3
Craft
your
approach
• Audit
• Be real
• Do your
research
• Be personal
• Be consistent
• Set goals
STEP 4
Promote
and
engage
• Polish at
individual &
company level
• Lead by
example;
leverage team
• Go multitouchpoint
and targeted
talent.linkedin.com
STEP 5
Measure
and
adjust

19. 19

20. Jason Seiden, CEO, Ajax Workforce Marketing

21. Before
P.O.P.
Profile Optimization Project
talent.linkedin.com

22. After
New headline
New professional
photo
Increased reach
Summary section
with rich media

23. Built out work history
with rich media
Added Volunteers &
Causes Section

24. Added more
skills
Rich media in
Education section

25. Spruce up your company presence
(on LinkedIn and elsewhere)

26. Use Targeted Status Updates
71%
of company followers on
LinkedIn are interested
in career opportunities
Don’t over-target!
Profile data is rich (but
also user-generated)
talent.linkedin.com

27. As with other social platforms, incorporate
visuals to drive engagement
98% higher comment rate
YouTube video links drive a 75% higher share rate
Images result in a
27
talent.linkedin.com

28. How to be the world’s most interesting
company on LinkedIn
•
•
•
•
Be concise and snappy
Include a clear CTA
Consider thoughtful questions
Develop an ed cal; mix it up
28
talent.linkedin.com

29. THE IDEAL
TEXT
PULSE (LINKEDIN TODAY)
GOOGLE ALERTS
PRODUCT LAUNCHES
INDUSTRY
PUBLICATIONS
INDIVIDUAL BLOG
THOUGHT LEADERS
PHOTO
POP CULTURE
INTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
YOUTUBE
HIRING TEAM
HUMOR
talent.linkedin.com
@leelasrin

30. We all need a little humor. Even in a professional
context.
talent.linkedin.com
30
@leelasrin

31. HR and marketing must lead the way
talent.linkedin.com

32. Help your team shine on social platforms
Path 1: train global employees at scale
Path 2: take a brown bag approach
• Went low-budget, grassroots
route
• Got exec buy-in on brown bag
lunches for hiring managers
• Helped employees overcome
anxieties about what to say on
profiles
• “SMaC University” (Social
Media and Communication)
• Global certification program
with structured classes
• Strong exec support
• 5,000 trained since mid-2010
talent.linkedin.com

33. Unleash your best storytellers
Brett Wallace, Director of Sales
3 weeks on SlideShare, 113K+ views
Today: 260K+ views
talent.linkedin.com

34. Go multi-touchpoint, multi-channel
Twitter
Facebook
YouTube
talent.linkedin.com
SlideShare
Pinterest

35. 5 steps to a highly social talent brand
STEP 1
Get
buy-in
• Start at the
top
• Arm yourself
with data
• Bring partners
to the table
STEP 2
Listen
and
learn
STEP 3
Craft
your
approach
• Audit
• Be real
• Do your
research
• Be personal
• Be consistent
• Set goals
STEP 4
Promote
and
engage
STEP 5
Measure
and
adjust
• Polish at
individual &
company level
• Leverage
social data
• Lead by
example;
leverage team
• Go multitouchpoint
and targeted
talent.linkedin.com
• Leverage
Talent Brand
Index

36. If you don’t measure it, you can’t manage it
only one out of three
talent.linkedin.com

37. Sample metrics
Key indicators of talent brand success
In-house
• Your offer acceptance rate goes up
• Employee retention increases
• Internal surveys confirm your employees are excited
Online
• Traffic to your employee video stories goes up
• You double the number of employees with an optimized social presence
Talent Brand Index
• Your Talent Brand Index score rises versus your peers and in the
segments that you care most about
talent.linkedin.com

38. How Talent Brand Index works
What percent of people who know about you are interested in you as
a place to work?
Talent Brand
Engagement
Talent Brand
Engagement
Talent Brand
Reach
=
Talent
Brand
Index
264,362 members
Benchmark your score, e.g. v.s key competitors
Talent Brand
Reach
1,873,354 members
talent.linkedin.com

39. For further inspiration
www.slideshare.net/culturecode
http://talent.linkedin.com/blog