Employer Branding and Social Media

Without doubt social media has reshaped the way we communicate today. It has now lifted you from penning on a paper to sharing your personal experience on a worldwide virtual platform at a click. Users not only get updated of what's being shared on the platform but they also engage, access shared information.

Having understood this and the importance of social media in the business, companies are now making use of social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter etc. to boast about themselves. Because they know that social media influences immensely on the potential job seekers' mind about the company as a good place of work.

It is evident that the Internet has become one of the most popular sources of information for job seekers and especially Millennials often evaluate companies through the Internet before they apply for a job; they want to be sure before they connect their professional lives with them.(Backhaus, 2004; Soulez & Soulez, 2011) Therefore the employers try to best describe themselves via social media and set strategies to make sure that there's no gap between what the potential job seekers perceive about the company and their actual experience after recruitment.

How Employers use Social Media to Employer Branding

McDonald's on LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a powerful social media platform where a large audience of talents live and interact. McDonald's therefore have chosen LinkedIn to position their brand in the mindsets of their potential job seekers.

Source: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mcdonald's-corporation/

In this post what McDonald's has tried to position is that McDonald's is a place where health is a primary concern. It indirectly says that McDonald's is not a junk food company anymore but a company that gives priority to health practices. Therefore the notion of junk food over their brand and the employee stress that the employees experience at the premises with the busy work environment is not something that lives there with McDonald's. In a way it is also trying to make an image that McDonald's is an ethical company. And importantly, with the quote "Where you want to be", it can be assumed that they are trying to pass the message that the employee experience at McDonald's makes the employees develop themselves with skills and that experience.  And those skills and experience gained through, can be practiced anywhere as it is not limited to the restaurant only.

Qatar Airways on Facebook

Qatar airways is one of the most popular and the top airline carriers in the world. They conduct interviews in many parts in the world to hire the best talents for their organization. To name few countries they conduct interview programs, USA, Qatar, China, England etc. They hugely use Facebook for their Employer Branding.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/pg/qatarairways/photos/?ref=page_internal 

Qatar Airways is an airline and its cabin crew is working within the airline. Then what's this image talking about. The image shows the cabin crew's life away from where she's supposed to do. What's all these? What message Qatar Airways is assumed to be deliver to its audience is that being a cabin crew is about enjoying life beyond airline, exploring new places and finding 

Soulez, S., & Guillot-Soulez, C. (2011). Recruitment marketing and generational segmentation: a critical analysis based on a sub-segment of Generation Y. Recherche et Applications en Marketing, 26(1), 39-55.

Qatar Airways (2018) 30 April. Available at: http://www.facebook.com(Accessed: 28 April 2019).

McDonald's (2019) March. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mcdonald's-corporation/(Accessed: 28 April 2019).