Study: Still potential in employer branding 2.0
In the competition for skilled workers, companies are increasingly turning to social media. The goal is primarily to reach students. A study by the University of Liechtenstein shows that these communication channels can be used even more effectively for employer branding.
Being seen as an attractive employer is the goal of companies' employer branding activities in the battle for young academics. However, the corresponding efforts in social media have not yet been successful enough. As a study by the Wiesbaden Business School, the magazine "Personalwirtschaft" and the online HR consultant Talential.com showed, only nine percent of employer branding activities in social media reach their desired target group. Why this is the case and how activities can be optimized are the questions addressed by a research study now published by the University of Liechtenstein. The study was led by Dr. Susanne Durst, Assistant Professor at the Chair of International Management, and Master's student Christoph Hinteregger. 214 business administration students from the University of Liechtenstein and the University of Applied Sciences Vorarlberg took part in the survey and assessed the effectiveness of social media in relation to employer branding activities.
Reserved to very interested
One of the core questions of the study focused on the source of information. Where do students obtain information about potential employers? The evaluation of the answers clearly showed that a student's occupational status has a significant influence on his or her choice of information source. The three categories "working", "not working" and "looking for a job" are decisive for the usage behavior of the study participants. Working students consulted social media only very cautiously (16 percent) before taking up a job, which is partly due to the fact that they were not actively engaged with them or were not sufficiently aware of them at the time of their job search. By contrast, job-seeking students use social media much more intensively, with nearly 50 percent using this source of information. An equal 60 percent of students who are not employed or looking for work said they would use social media to gather information in the future. For all students who use social media to obtain information, Facebook is the first choice ahead of Xing.
The students justify the partially low use of social media on the one hand with doubts about the credibility of the content communicated by companies in social media. On the other hand, they say that they use social media exclusively for private purposes. Many are also of the opinion that hardly any relevant information can be found there.
As is clear from the study, all students - whether employed, job-seeking or not - still primarily use company websites and private and professional contacts before turning to magazines, daily newspapers, job exchanges and social media as sources of information.
Feel good desired
The second set of topics in the study revolved around the question: What makes an attractive employer? At the top of the students' wish list are the feel-good factor, fun at work and the opportunity to gain career-enhancing experience. But relationships with work colleagues and superiors are also named as important employer characteristics.
At the same time, students have specific expectations of the content provided by employers on social media. However, these do not correspond to the list of the most attractive employer characteristics. Only when it comes to the desire to be able to collect career-enhancing measures and advance in a company should the employer offer information. Otherwise, however, information on the company's sense of social responsibility and details on quality, innovative strength and the type or nature of the product and service are expected. Students also want to know whether the company uses innovative forms of work and ideas.
It is necessary to be versatile
For the authors of the study, the survey results have various implications for employer branding activities. On the one hand, it has been shown that social media still play a subordinate role as a source of information in this area, since people still rely first and foremost on traditional channels. However, the trend is in favor of social media, and the course must be set accordingly. In principle, the experts recommend that companies should not limit themselves to individual factors in their external presentation, but should create a "coherent overall picture". This is because all the top employer characteristics were rated by the study participants as being of almost equal value. It is important to present oneself authentically and credibly in social networks, ideally by using one's own employees as image bearers and also involving management. For example, insights into the everyday life of a company can be presented visually on YouTube, or employer information can be made available by means of a dedicated Facebook fan page. The need for social interaction, according to the experts, must also be satisfied, for example through applicant chats or other forms of interaction. Above all, however, interaction is also needed on the company website.
