Creating and showcasing a positive and welcoming company culture is imperative these days. Not only does this tactic attract new employees, but with how focused Millennials and Gen-Z consumers are on brand identity, it’s also beneficial in attracting these customers as well.
If you create an inviting culture and find an effective way to showcase it, then you can secure lifelong customers and truly invested employees. We know all of this can seem like a daunting task, so we’ve asked 12 experts from Forbes Agency Council to share their top tips and help you figure out the best strategy for your company.
Forbes Agency Council members give their best advice for showing off your company culture and attracting new employees.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Embed Culture In All Of Your Content
Train employees and inform consumers. Customers and employees buy into the larger vision and culture of a company, but this culture must be embedded in your product marketing, your press releases, your recruiting efforts and your office environment. Culture is not just a line in your employee handbook or a blurb on your website. – Preethy Vaidyanathan, Tapad
2. Give Your Customers A Glimpse At The Real ‘You’
Allowing your consumers to see who you are and where everything goes down, via social media, is a great way to market your brand. You can highlight different team members, tell their stories, share different retreats you go on that represent who you are as a company and give virtual tours of your office. Giving people this glimpse into the real ‘you’ is a great brand marketing tool. – Zachary Binder, Bell + Ivy
3. Host Events
Have company-hosted events for your staff, clients and prospects. It’s important to not only promote your company culture but to be active in the community and show that you’re putting in the effort to maintain that culture. Happy hours, mixers, panels or open houses all promote company culture and are rewarding for everyone involved and invited. – Jennifer Wentzo, coded{PR}
4. Focus On How You’re Perceived Externally
Few companies actually focus on the talent brand when it comes to the digital nature of their website. Paying close attention to how the company is perceived externally will have a direct effect on the candidates that are applying for jobs. If someone externally views your company in a different light, show them what you’re made of and give them a reason to work for your company. – Lee Salisbury, UnitOneNine
5. Use Employees As Influencers
You can build a separate website or landing page (e.g., workingatIMA.com) to show what it’s like to be an employee of your company. Share video clips of a “day in the life,” reviews, quotes, images and so much more. Really give a sneak peek into the daily life of your company, then blast it out via your social media channels. Employer branding is key, and your employees are the influencers sharing the story. – Maddie Raedts, IMA – Influencer Marketing Agency
6. Utilize Video To Get Personal
At Hamacher Resource Group, we have found that our annual video holiday card is an ideal way to showcase our culture. Not only does it involve everyone in the company and give them an opportunity to demonstrate their uniqueness, but it also extends the conversation long after. This is one of the factors that has contributed to our company’s recognition as one of the Top Workplaces in Wisconsin. – Dave Wendland, Hamacher Resource Group
7. Ensure Social Media Shows What It’s Really Like
Today’s employee is vetting you, and trust me, they’re spending more time stalking you on your social media sites than they are on your website. Make sure your social media channels showcase what it’s really like to work for you. Are you dog-friendly? Make sure your Instagram is filled with the office pooches. Do you have a cool office vibe? Feature photos of the team in those bean bag chairs on Facebook. – Danica Kombol, Everywhere Agency
8. Share Meaningful Stories
It’s easy to share perks on social media, but it’s much harder to ask individuals to be vulnerable and share stories of how they’ve demonstrated a core value. We have our core values at each office, with space for employees to share how they or someone else demonstrated living our core values—we have new stories posted daily and that’s the content we share and want potential employees to gravitate to. – Saunder Schroeder, Disruptive Advertising
9. Keep The Conversation Authentic
Your culture can be your most valuable asset and should be protected and nurtured. This extends to sharing your culture story as a marketing tool. Keeping the conversation authentic and focused on the tenets all individuals work together to uphold will give audiences a sense of who you are while celebrating all you’ve built. – Mimi Lettunich, Twenty Four 7
10. Extend Internal Events For External Promotion
Extend an internal company volunteer or fundraising effort led by employees into an external promotion. Businesses blessed with great company cultures will naturally have employees who organize themselves to help one another or a nonprofit. When an effort starts from within and is encouraged by the company, then an external cause marketing campaign will be genuinely felt by the customers. – Kris Flint, Citizen Best
11. Ensure Your Staff Is Engaged On Social
Everyone wants to win “best place to work” awards and then tout this as proof of great company culture. But, I find that a better gauge is how employees behave in social spaces, particularly LinkedIn. When your staff is engaged, positive and regularly contributing to LinkedIn, people notice. A person who says something uplifting actually lifts up their company. – Randy Shattuck, The Shattuck Group
12. Celebrate Each Other
Millennials and Gen-Z’s want to engage with authentic brands. If you are not one, they will feel it. One thing I see brands doing is celebrating their employees. They showcase their teams, explain what individual contributions each person makes, etc. For example, I’ve seen a clothing retail store share photos of their seamstresses with a massive “thank you” caption. I think it’s a great move. – Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
