Posting job ads and searching through LinkedIn profiles are both effective employee recruiting strategies, but wouldn’t it be helpful if the right candidates came knocking down your door?
Fifty percent of small businesses cite hiring new employees as their top challenge, even more than increasing profit and growing revenue. But, what if you were able to attract and keep high-quality candidates instead of posting a job ad and hoping for the best? Well, you can…that is, with a little content marketing.
Content marketing can help you attract that one person who fits your unique company and stands out among the rest.
Content marketing is not just a strategy you can use to gain customers; it’s also highly effective to help you attract new recruits to your small business—and keep the employees who are already a perfect fit.
Here are some creative content strategies you can use to attract new, qualified talent and preserve your current team:
Wow Them With Your “Mojo”
The best content marketers know that appealing to and specifically targeting their audience produces the best results. Your audience is the sea of prospective candidates who can become a perfect company fit. If you want to find and attract these potential employees… show them your mojo!
Create a video that not only introduces your product offerings, but also shows your company’s work environment and what employees can expect when they join your team. Bonus points if you can include a company history so people can fully embrace what your company is about.
To attract the right candidates to their company, MeetEdgar created a mojo-ified video called, “Work at Edgar.” The video showcases the work environment candidates can expect if they become employees.
Another way to advertise your company culture is to beef up your careers page with additional culture-focused content.
Exchange stock photos and clichés for transparency and real-life imagery. Show images of your company get-togethers, the offices, company awards and paint a picture of what your company stands for and what it would be like to work there. This will not only attract the right talent, but it will also deter the wrong talent.
On the Kickstarter jobs page, the brand includes several company photos that depict what life is like working there.
The additional benefit to creating videos and images like these is that since it involves your current team members, it will make them feel a part of your larger vision. The more connected they feel, the longer they will hang around. This will contribute to employee longevity.
Publish Content…But Do It Strategically
One highly effective content marketing strategy is to take advantage of popular publications that have a readership close to your audience.
What publications are your ideal employees reading? Publish content in those publications and discuss your company values, culture and any information that demonstrates your company attributes.
For example, if your company culture is entrepreneurial-minded and you are looking for people early in their career who can grow with you, consider posting to a website like the Young Entrepreneur Council or Entrepreneur.
To find publications, search in Google for a related keyword + “online publications.” So, for example, if you were looking to add marketing professionals to your team, your search may look something like this:
marketing online publications
digital marketing online publications
Allow your current employees to publish industry-specific content to these publications as well so they feel a part of the process. This will help them to feel some camaraderie which will also contribute to employee longevity.
Promote, Promote, Promote…
Without promotion, a content marketing plan is useless.
Whatever content you produce, promote it on your social sites, to your email list and on any networks you frequent. Urge your current employees to share the content as well, especially content you publish on external publications.
Great employees look for great leadership and great culture. If you have that to offer, use content marketing to get your brand out there in front of the right people who will partner with you to grow your company and stick with you for the long run.
If you need assistance with some content marketing strategies to help you get your mojo out there and find and attract your ideal employees, we can help. With a free trial to our program, you will get three free content ideas, a free piece of optimized content that is yours to use forever and a custom promotional strategy. There is no commitment required to try. Sign up for your free trial today.
