What is an employer brand story, and why is it important?

Your employer brand story is the way you use a narrative to explain your company’s values, history, identity and mission. It shows prospective employees why they might want to work at your business.

A clear employer brand story may support:

• Recruiting and hiring: A specific, credible narrative can help job seekers understand your mission and decide whether to explore an opportunity.
• Loyalty and trust: Stories that match employees’ day-to-day experience can reinforce shared goals and trust.
• Employer brand awareness: Stories are often easier to remember than a list of facts, so they can help your company feel more familiar at career fairs, recruiting events and on online job boards.
• Market positioning: A distinct story can help candidates understand what separates your workplace from other employers.

What you highlight depends on your organization. Choose specific themes that are meaningful to employees and relevant to the candidates you want to reach.

How do you creatively tell your employer brand story?

While brochures and career websites share your brand story, other creative channels can expand your reach. By getting creative with your tactics, you can share the narrative across different events, media channels and brand representatives.

Attend in-person recruiting and networking events

In-person interactions give job seekers a chance to hear about your workplace directly from employees. You can share your story at networking events, job fairs, career information sessions and local professional gatherings.

Here are some ways to tell a compelling employer brand story at in-person events:

• Discuss key points: Before the event, talk about the most important elements of your brand story with employees. Then, give them the freedom to communicate these topics in their own style.
• Keep it informal: Instead of having employees memorize scripted pitches, encourage natural conversations with attendees. Relaxed conversations can put potential employees at ease and make your company feel more welcoming.
• Encourage honesty: Ask employees to describe their experience accurately. A balanced view can establish more trust than an unrealistically upbeat story.
• Reflect your work environment: When you set up a table or booth at an event, use decor, music and furniture similar to your company’s real work environment. This is a subtle way to attract people who appreciate your style.
• Represent a variety of roles: Bring employees from different parts of the business to in-person events to show how your brand story affects everyone.

Feature employees on social media

When a job seeker is considering a job at your company, they may look through your social media profiles to understand what it’s like to work there. Featuring your team members and operations can help you tell your employer brand story.

Here are some ways to tell the story:

• Create post series: Turn the main themes of your employer brand story into a series of social media posts showing those themes in action. For example, if you value environmentally friendly practices, you could share information about recycling programs, sustainable materials and energy-saving technology.
• Host social media takeovers: Host an employee social media takeover showing a day in the workplace to highlight how staff practice your mission. If your brand story talks about a culture of innovation, for example, the employee might post clips from a creative strategy session and a prototype test.
• Highlight employee success: Create social media features that explain how your brand story benefits employees. If your narrative includes hiring from within and employee promotions, for instance, you could interview a worker who used company programs to move from an entry-level job into a management role.
• Encourage employee posts: Support employees sharing their honest work experiences on their own profiles and tagging your company. These posts provide social proof, which can reinforce your brand story in an informal, relatable way. Share your company’s social media policy with the team first to provide posting guidelines.

Invest in your company values

Employees can serve as valuable brand ambassadors whose descriptions of the business reinforce your employer brand story. To help team members share credible stories, align your operations and actions with your mission and values.

Consider strategies such as:

• Invite leaders to model values: When your managers’ and executives’ actions match company values, it shows employees that you’re committed to the mission. If your brand story talks about belonging, for example, managers could ask for input from everyone, demonstrate respect and encourage workers to bring their authentic selves to work.
• Spend strategically: The way your company spends money can reveal its priorities. Consider ways to use investments to support your brand story. If you value employee wellbeing, you might invest in emotional and mental health benefits. If you market the company as an integral part of the community, you could host paid volunteer days or sponsor local organizations.
• Support employee development: Training and development opportunities help employees build skills and pursue career growth. A well-developed program also provides specific examples of how the business invests in its staff.

How do you monitor the strength of your employer brand?

Once you find different ways to tell your employer brand story, consider tracking the results. By monitoring different metrics, you can determine if your story is relevant to job seekers.

Metrics that can measure the strength of your brand include:

• Application totals
• Employee referrals
• Offer-acceptance rates
• Employee satisfaction scores
• First-year retention
• Online review scores
• Social media engagement

Indeed’s Employer Brand Score can also help you monitor brand health. It combines Indeed and Glassdoor signals related to how job seekers encounter and evaluate your employer brand.

The Brand Score is available in the Employer Branding Suite and includes four components: awareness, favorability, consideration and reputation. Tracking the overall score and its components can demonstrate how candidate perceptions change over time.

An effective employer brand story reflects the actual employee experience. Sharing it through employees, events and social media — and then reviewing recruiting and retention signals — can help you refine the story over time.