Social Media is undeniably an indispensable component of branding strategies. In the case of Myanmar, as of January 2019, the total number of active social media users – safely translated as Facebook – stands at 21 million, which is 39% of the country’s total population. Among Facebook users, female users constitute 38% while male users 62%, and the most predominant demographics are those aged between 18-34. The gender distribution is reversed on LinkedIn and Instagram as the former has 60% female users and the latter 51% female; the two platforms have combined active users of nearly 1.3 million. Leveraging these platforms is an affordable and simple way to attract the top talents in the market, and the following five strategies will show you the basic guidelines:

1.         Create a Clear Narrative

Social media is all about customized communications, and you must establish a clear narrative of your brand. The narrative must be personal, unique, and standing out from your competitors. The golden rule here is ‘consistency’ since social media users are sensitive to nuances and subtle changes in your company narrative.

You can begin by niche customer segmentations and building a persona of your target audience. In the event that you have different target audience, i.e., customers and prospective employees, the tone should remain consistent for both while the narrative should be separated via different Pages, or even different platforms as resources allow. Remember that any customer can become your employee, and each employee is already a customer.

2.         Audience Engagement and Response

To maximize audience engagement, the content should be intriguing and interactive, while your team must be ready to respond. Rather than one-way communication of merely showcasing your company, provide them a platform for discussion, knowledge awareness, or simply a light humor of why or why not your company is an ideal destination.

Regarding your response, it is equally important both in public comments and in private messages. You may carry out this with devoted ‘real’ people, or there is a handful of advanced algorithms that can automatically respond and categorize public engagements far more efficiently.

3.         Employee Generated Content

Employer branding content is normally curated by the company for its sensitivity and consistency, but this does not restrict the employees from creating their own content. While this may seem risky, it has the advantage of being ‘organic’ and can genuinely attract the audience. Internally, it also holds the benefits of inclusive work culture and boosts employee engagement themselves.

The audience can sharply notice the difference between authentic content voluntarily and casually published by the employees vs. a marketing content ostensibly shared by the staff. Thus, you should invest considerable resources and time to steer the narration of your employees before encouraging them to start publishing content.

4.         Showcase Your Team

The central component of your social media content must be your people, even when you are not offering immediate customer services. Let the people know who your team consists of, what their typical day at work looks like, and behind-the-scene photos of the people handling a big project. This could also fall into the category of employee generated content.

Facebook has this ‘Colleagues’ feature where employees working at the same company are grouped publicly. Encourage your team members to add your company link to their profile with their respective work title, and the audience can readily see the faces behind the organization.

5.         Office and Workplace

Lastly but not least, the most aesthetic visuals are the workplace and overall work environment. Silicon-valley companies purposefully put in bean bags and arrow board games in the offices to highlight the flexibility and fun atmosphere, and partly to foster creativity. While this may not be a deciding factor for prospective candidates, they are always eager to see your firm’s facilities and vibes that they will be spending throughout the day.

You can have multimedia content about employee testimonials about a glimpse at their job on how they chill at that cozy coffee corner or a great view where they feel creative. The audience won’t expect a video game room, but as long as your existing employees are in love with whatever’s there, the audience can relate to it too.