It’s no secret that today’s HR leaders believe that a strong employer brand is the key to hiring top talent, and in such a digital world, recruiters are thinking outside the box for ways to share this brand. With more than 1 billion users on YouTube and upwards of 4 billion views per day, what better media than video?
Bill Fowles, Talent Acquisition Manager of ABB, had the opportunity to share his video success story with his peers during DirectEmployers 2015 Annual Meeting & Conference in Indianapolis last month. Kicking off the session with some impressive stats, Bill shared perhaps the most compelling reason to implement video – half of all companies in the U.S. are expected to use video-enabled branding in talent acquisition by 2016 (Recruiting Trends survey, 2014). Unfortunately, not all HR budgets allow for a production crew and other associated costs.
But that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
He continued by sharing how his team produced and directed their own series of recruiting focused videos – all done in-house – and shared some of his top tips to help other employers do the same:
Budgeting – Break down the budget line by line and share it with your executives. Get them excited and ultimately, get their approval.
Scripting – Get your team together and draft an overarching story for your video. What do you want job seekers to know about working for your organization? What makes your company fun and unique? This is your chance to share your corporate culture, benefits, and testimonials from your happy employees.
Casting – This is where the scripting ends and the ‘good stuff’ flows naturally. Find your company’s top performers and use them as brand ambassadors, or find your longest-standing employees and ask them to share why they love their job.
Production – Choose the location carefully and try to keep it local to save money and avoid travel. Take into consideration the lighting and sound of your chosen location to ensure that you get the best footage possible.
Post-Production – Your video should give a voice to your employer brand and stay true to the story that you mapped out in your script. Be sure that when you are editing your footage that this story is clear and concise.
Bill’s top tip? Ask for help internally and you might be surprised at the response you get! You never know who on your staff has an amazing camera, lighting and audio equipment, or has a personal interest in video editing.
Bill Fowles of ABB presenting at DEAM15.
The presentation ended with results of ABB’s employer branding efforts, which included their new founded video marketing initiative. In just one year, ABB’s YouTube channel went from 900 to 12,000 views. And the benefits extended past just video views. They also decreased their time to fill from 75-85 days in 2012 to 55-65 days in 2014 and lowered their cost per hire. How’s that for success?!
Visit the ABB YouTube channel to watch some of their internally produced videos and check out this post we did a few months back on producing an employer branding video on a budget.
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