Should Influencer Marketing Be Part of Your Employer Branding Strategy?

I recently saw a LinkedIn post from an Employer Branding professional saying he believes the next “big thing” in the employer branding and talent communities will be Influencer Marketing.

Yup, you read that right.

Now, I’m not usually one to turn down opportunities to talk Influencer Marketing. But, this really irked me.

The reason Influencer Marketing works is because people trust the Influencers have an idea about what they’re talking about. However, no one can really know what it’s like to work someplace unless they actually work there. This is actually a direct violation of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission’s) guidelines for Influencers. Influencers “can’t talk about [their] experience with a product [they haven’t] tried.” Thus, hiring Influencers to talk about jobs they’ve never had actually violates FTC regs.

However, I’m predicting that 2020 Influencer Marketing Trends will include incorporating Influencer Marketing into a larger conversation related to social proof.

Instead of investing in Influencers to draw attention to their careers, companies should showcase and invest in their own employees.

Over the past several years, some awesome folks have developed great best practices and technologies to help companies do just that. Here are a few things to try when looking to improve your talent brand.

Understand Employer Branding Best Practices

If you’re looking to improve your talent brand, the first place I’d start is Employer Branding for Dummies. Now, I’m not calling you a dummy. My awesome friend, Lars Schmidt, actually wrote the book! It’s an awesome resource for any TA professional.

Promote Employee Stories

I’d also check out employer branding solutions like Altu Labs. Altru offers employees a way to answer questions like “why do you love working here?” on video and then share the videos on social media. This is an awesome way to increase brand awareness, develop goodwill among employees, and even tell awesome employee stories online.

Ask Employees to Write Reviews

Finally, ask employees to write reviews on employee review sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, and Fairy God Boss. When employees leave reviews, you’ll probably find a ton of information you can use to improve your organization and create a better workplace. You can also then feature those reviews on your website or social media to tell your talent story online. Finally, these sites often have industry and location-based awards. Winning a Best Place to Work award is a great way to showcase your company.

If you’re looking to improve your employer brand, increase brand awareness, or feature some awesome, hard-to-fill jobs, there are so many things you can do. But please, don’t do Influencer Marketing.

If you are interested in Influencer Marketing, here are some things industry Influencers, Analysts, and Thought Leaders can help you do.