How to use Instagram to showcase your employer brand

With over 1.48 billion users worldwide, 30.6 million of them being in the UK (1), Instagram is a Millennial and Gen Z favourite, with 30.1% of 18-24 year olds and 31.5% of 25-34 year olds (2) using the platform. Slightly biased by women at 57%, compared to 43% of men, they’re leading the way in inclusivity by allowing users to add pronouns to their profiles. It’s also reported that there are over 200 million business pages on Instagram, and 90% of users follow at least one of them (3), so although there is plenty of competition there is also plenty of opportunity.

Stories put a face to the business

Instagram live and stories are a great way to showcase who your business truly are and allows perspective employees to put a face to the business. You can build rapport, trust and credibility by:

•   Giving an insight into a typical day at the office

•   Shining the spotlight on your employees

•   Backstage access to events

•   Q&As with the team

These 24-hour snapshots still allow employers to showcase their brand without warranting a permanent post. They can also be saved as specific ‘highlights’ to give your audience a glimpse of life at your business in easy to watch categories.

Use video content to story-tell

Instagram posts don’t always need to be static images. 66% of Instagram users found short-form videos to be the most engaging form of content in their feeds in 2022 compared to 50% in 2020 (4). Marriott Hotels use video content to show what life is like at the company by interviewing its current employees.

A recent campaign included interviewing its female employees during #WomensHistoryMonth and another gave insight into a range of employee roles from front of house staff to chefs (5).

These more permanent posts can be used to represent a deeper insight into a business’s values from the view of those living them every day. Similar to Instagram Stories and Live, it helps to give a human touch to a business in which a prospective employee can relate to and engage with.

Keep your brand identity consistent

In such a competitive market, it can be hard to stand out in the crowded Instagram feeds. This is where strong employer branding comes into play. Using consistent colour palettes, designs and tone of voice will help to make your posts instantly recognisable to your target audience. A company who do this well are Etsy. Using neutral colour palettes and only showing independent creators, Etsy have made themselves recognisable and have amassed over 1.7 million followers (6) by having a strong employer brand identity.

The aesthetic of your Instagram feed can be just as important as the content if you’re wanting to capture the eye of your followers.

Life outside of work

Culture has been a buzzword over the last couple of years, with 77% of prospective employees stating they would check out a company’s culture before applying for a role (7). Posting about life, both inside and outside of work, can support a company’s image of work-life balance and create a sense of community. Examples of this could be:

•   Celebrating employee achievements, both personal and work related

•   Charity involvement and volunteering work

•   Employee home life, including children, family, pets and hobbies

•   Employee birthdays and work anniversaries

•   Company events such as Christmas parties or team building

•   Local surroundings including bars, restaurants and lunch time walks

Giving your audience a full view of your company culture can help them to visualise what it’s like to work there, if they could see themselves being a part of your team and confirm if their values are aligned to yours.

Instagram is a visual representation of your employer brand and, if used effectively, can lead to building relatable and trustworthy relationships with your audience. Using a combination of permanent and temporary posts, still and video content and insights into both the internal and external lives of your employees, your employer brand will become memorable in the competitive world of Instagram.

References:

(1) https://www.socialfilms.co.uk/blog/instagram-uk-statistics

(2) https://blog.hootsuite.com/instagram-demographics/

(3) https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-stats/#ig-brands

(4) https://sproutsocial.com/insights/instagram-stats/

(5) https://www.contentstadium.com/blog/employer-branding-social-media-examples/

(6) https://www.canva.com/learn/12-brands-that-are-killing-it-on-instagram/

(7) https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/15206-company-culture-matters-to-workers.html