We’ve all read a litany of articles and posts on the benefits of content marketing; increase your ROI, drive leads, grow sales, bolster brand awareness, etc etc. Let’s think outside the box (or more appropriately inside the box) and put together an internal content marketing strategy. How can you curate content within your organization that will not only attract potential employees, but engage current staff as well?

Finding talent has only become increasingly difficult. In a recent Glassdoor survey 76% of hiring professionals listed; attracting quality applicants, as their #1 recruiting challenge. With the average annual employee turnover rate at 19%, retention is also difficult. This article will discuss how your marketing and HR team can essentially combine forces to use content on a local-level within your company to effectively recruit and retain employees.

Marketing your Company Culture

As the cliched adage goes; content is king. Just as you use content to market to potential clients and customers, why not do the same for future talent? Not only are there recruiting benefits to creation and dissemination of culture-based content, it also offers a welcome variation in your content calendar. Try starting with a weekly post on social media highlighting the benefits of your company (maybe employ an alliteration and have #TeamTuesday). Hootsuite, the social media scheduling platform, does a fantastic job with self-promotion via Instagram. They use the hashtag #Hootsuitelife to showcase their staff attending conferences and fun team-building events, or even just highlight company perks (hellooo dog friendly offices!) Their posts really promote a unique and dynamic environment. Who wouldn’t want to work there?

Take a look at KIPP Austin Public Charter School for a more professional and reserved example. On their career website they have a page for a ‘Day in the Life of a Teacher.’ They break down a current teacher’s day, minute-by-minute, detailing both her duties and schedule. This type of content offers concise clarification to applicants on what to expect from the position, while also positively highlighting current employees! You can also recycle this type of content in the future, in an abbreviated form, via social media or blog post. KIPP’s site also employs a sidebar graphic listing employee benefits, with a CTA ‘Apply Now!’ button. This is a solid example on how to attract potential talent with content.

Content as Morale Booster- The Double Edged Sword

This is where we transition into using content not only for attracting, but retaining employees as well. Highlighting a specific employee/team’s achievements via social media or a blog post, not only effectively communicates appreciation and recognition, but serves as positive PR for prospective employees. Two birds, one stone! Along with strong company culture and values, employees want to know that their work is recognized and appreciated. A Cornell University research review found that 41% of the variation in employee engagement is attributable to the strength of recognition an employee receives.  IE- Employee of the Month pictures in the break-room are so a thing of the past.

Source: Ashford Castle Twitter Account

Ask Employees What Content They Want (and Don’t Want) to See

Your marketing department can further involve team members by asking their opinion on content. Hold a monthly meeting (or quarterly depending on your schedule) for brainstorming, or set up a specific slack chatroom for recommendations. Who knows your company better than the sales team that’s on the frontlines, or the developers creating the software? This will not only give you invaluable insight on your content strategy, but employees will feel engaged and valued. These exercises will keep your content creators on their toes, and hopefully develop an environment where constructive criticism is welcome.

Get Employees Involved in Content Creation

To go a step further, you can even invite employees to get involved in the content creation process. Ask your staff to volunteer to write a blog post periodically. Bonus: your subscribers will be exposed to multiple perspectives within your company. Assigning such tasks will foster a sense of ownership and hopefully allow employees to feel vested in their role and the company. Even if employees aren’t professional writers, once you’ve established the comfortable critiquing environment previously discussed, your staff should have no issue with you providing feedback or editing content. You can also use this exercise to challenge employees to network with members outside their department. Thus employees will not only feel comfortable collaborating with your marketing and content department, but also with each other!

The Takeaway

Ultimately content creation is used for a multitude of digital marketing goals and falls under your marketing department/umbrella. However there’s no reason why it cannot can be an internal collaborative effort. Using content in conjunction with human resources can be an effective recruiting tool. Engaging your employees in content creation and feedback will boost morale and foster a sense of respect and togetherness. The best part of all is you produce more content! The result of this internal content marketing campaign will be a diverse and dynamic portfolio of content, an inclusive environment and happy staff!