There is no doubt that building and maintaining a powerful employer brand will help you stand out, attract the best talent to your organization, become an employer of the choice and retain your employees. These 2017 Top Companies are competitive when it comes to building their employer brands that resonate emotionally with their candidates and inspire and engage their employees. 80% of talent and HR managers agree that a great brand makes it easier to recruit top talent and companies end up saving up to $5,000 per new hire.

While you embark on your journey to build your employer brand here are some mistakes that you must avoid to be successful with your employer branding efforts

Here are the 4 employer branding mistakes YOU need to avoid!

Ignoring that it is One brand

Your consumer brand vs employer brand – While your consumer is the king in the corporate branding world, what if you have your candidates and potential employees in that consumer pool. And if they see an entirely different employer branding message that doesn’t align with your consumer brand then chances are they won’t believe in whatever message you are trying to project out there. You may have different product lines under one umbrella but when it comes to working at your organization the employee experience and employer branding message have to be inclusive and cover the whole company. Collaborating with your corporate branding team helps make sure your employer branding message aligns with your corporate brand values.

Not having the buy-in from Marketing and Communications team

When it comes to communicating and strengthening your employer branding it is wise to involve and get the buy-in from your marketing and communications team. Collaborate with them in your employer branding strategy and get their help to cross promote your employer branding efforts. Using some of their content can help you kick off things pretty easily.  Marketing team knows more about understanding your audience and communications team are experts in creating a compelling branding message and together they can help you build an outstanding employer branding campaign. Adam Sunman, Employer Branding and Social Media Lead at Vodafone says,  “Marketing’s vested interest in our employer brand refresh was invaluable to our success. We also found it vital to work with the communications teams, who ensured that the messaging was on point”.

Not empowering your employee ambassadors

I have seen employers using istock photos to promote their workspace and not letting their employees to use social media during work hours etc. First of all, quit using istock/fake photos. Keep it real and authentic when you share any content about your workplace and work environment. Your employees are the real difference makers in your employer branding journey where your audience wants to hear from them and their experience of working at your organization. So put your employees in the spotlight, train them on how to use social media, to tap into their network and encourage them to share their work life with their friends and followers. Amplify your employer brand stories by turning your employees into social media ambassadors.

Thinking Employer Branding is not a priority

Studies show that 69% are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand.  It can be responding to Glassdoor reviews, coming up with real and authentic behind-the-scene content about your workplace, sharing updates on what it’s like to work at your organization, letting your audience learn more about your corporate culture and consistently engaging your audience on social media platforms. It takes commitment and real dedication to bring everything to life.  Keep in mind, this is an external facing effort as much as you want to involve your employees. Any inconsistency or pitfalls can go viral but at the same time if you maintain your branding presence consistently the results can be tenfold. And if you don’t realize that by now you are living under a rock.