As with most of my posts, this one started in the Talent Brand Alliance group on
Facebook. One of the hottest topics in the employer branding profession is CONTENT and several members shared what works for their companies.

Employee Content: It's the fuel that powers your talent branding and attraction engine. [TWEET THIS]

How do you get it? How do you capture it? How is it packaged and shared externally? But most importantly, how do you incentivize employees to create and share the good stuff? You know, the real stories that you just can't make up. That's what your audience of potential hires wants to hear.

I've separated the responses into two basic categories - How to collect, and then how to encourage people to share content.

Collection of employee generated content:

1.  I was able to scratch and claw my way into our social media team's good graces and they finally added me to Basecamp so I can see what they are working on and pulling from the Comms team. It's been a game changer for me and a good thing for them as well because now there are fewer redundancies or conflicts. We also have a social advocacy tool that aggregates content, so I can see what our various regions are posting and pull from that as well (whereas there was tons of pushback when I asked our regions how we could work together to get content my way 🤷🏻‍♀️).
2. Promote company hashtag internally when individuals are posting content to their own social outlets. Then search through content and request for use.
3. Encourage people to use the hashtag and share. Ask managers to trickle down the memo. Post on your intranet or wiki what you're looking for. We have an email inbox people can send photos to and an Ambassador group on WeChat to gather content from employees in China. Sometimes we'll ask if we need more content or want something specific.
4. This was a big a challenge for me since we have multiple offices, but with the right exposure, I've been able to get people to willingly send photos. I created an alias that I've circulated around the offices to get people to send any photos to. I don't always use the photos, but it's still a great way to collect photos from employees using minimal effort.
5. We have a shared Google drive for the recruiting team to access this curated and approved content globally, including a place for employees to submit their own pics and videos outside of posting them. We're always updating the content and more importantly, emailing the recruiters and sourcers when there's fresh goods for them to share.

Getting employees to share content

1. We promote the hashtag internally and we also use Jive internally and i find a lot of good content on there.
2. We write internal blog posts educating employees, we post on internal television screens highlighting influencers (users of the #insideindeed hashtag), post on and look for content through Workplace, and we have hashtag stickers for laptops. We engage with people on social who post using the hashtag as well as people who tag an office location but don't use the hash. We challenge our Brand Ambassadors (advocacy) to post a specific group/topic each month with prizes per region. We also send surprise swag gifts to influencers who post well and often.
3. We use a slack channel to gather images and stories (#teamhomeaway), plus encourage use of our company hashtag on employee posts (you guessed it, #teamhomeaway), wallboards (TVs on the wall in the offices), interaction online with employees using the hashtag, a close relationship with local marketing and recruiting teams.
4. The creation of a branded hashtag has helped me create an archive of photos. I check the hashtag and look for photos that I want to use and once I find them, I DM them and ask them to email the alias with the original photo.

See the themes? Creating a branded hashtag informs and encourages your employees. Not only does it help you to spot good content, but it also allows your audience to see the stream of real experiences from your employees. That's both inspiration and social proof, all together in one easy package.

Designate a place for employees to submit content. Not everyone has a huge following on social, or is comfortable sharing too much on their personal channels. This is especially true if you're recruiting globally as some countries (like Germany and others) have vastly different privacy expectations. 

• Have an email alias where they can send the video or pictures.
• Create a shared drive/folder so they can upload on their own.
• Got an intranet or internal social network/wiki/site/knowledge management system? Encourage them to post there, within the walled corporate garden. Then you can comment/message directly about seeking permission to share publicly.

#Protip: having an employee advocacy program and amplification software (like QueSocial, EveryoneSocial, or Bambu) helps automate sharing and tracking of the results.

got a favorite content tip? toss it into the comments below. 

Looking to learn more about managing your employer brand content strategy? Join Charlotte Marshall (and 75 other practitioners) for the content roundtable at the Talent Brand Summit in Austin, TX on June 13-14.

Bryan Chaney is a global talent branding and attraction strategist. He’s worked at IBM, Twilio and currently leads employer brand for internal recruitment at Indeed. Bryan has worked in recruitment, technology, and marketing, providing him insights into the marketing of hiring, the importance of technology and the buying process that candidates make when applying for jobs. He’s a co-founder of the Talent Brand Alliance, a community for employer branding and recruitment marketing professionals. As an international keynote speaker and trainer on the topic of recruitment and talent branding, he loves to travel. The Huffington Post recently named him one of the Top 100 Most Social HR Experts on Twitter and you can follow him at @bryanchaney.