A recent report from IPG Media Lab, Forbes and S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications said Branded Content is twice as memorable as display advertising.

So there we have it.  Create content rather than simply peddle value propositions.

Mmmmm.  Of course, if it was that simple, why isn’t everyone?

Partly because it isn’t simple.

Branded content requires effort to identify and curate content.

To generate interesting, relevant and differentiating content.

To allow people to tell their stories.

To try things and take the occasional risk.

To get out of the way, rather than police the process.

Let’s look at two examples.

SAP.  Employer branding led by the the industry giant that is Matthew Jeffrey. (You can read the article here.)

Matthew eulogises about the EVP for SAP.

Bring Everything You Are. Become Everything You Want.

I’m not sure so sure this is a great differentiator – and it could be any organisation.

But what really stands out is the use of employee stories (aka branded content) to bring to life the culture and energy of the organisation.  A selfie competition via #IamSAP, Pets@SAP, 50 stories shared on their website, and much more.

Then we take a look at Booking.com.  They can report an average Employee Referral of 43% across the organisation – a phenomenon for a big company.  How do they do it?

A big driver of this is sharing great content.

Booking.com has a page on its website called ‘Culture’ which provides videos, tweets, posts and more about life at Booking.com

Both of these are, in effect, advocacy programmes.

And this is, undoubtedly, where the future of employer branding lies.

All of us have the power and tools to tell our stories and share our experiences.

Of course, an EVP is important in creating the ‘anchor’ for your message.

But advocacy provides the energy, momentum and insight that makes that emotional connection.

So what is the art of storytelling for Employer Branding?

1. Start with your people – engage them in what you want to do
2. Build storytelling confidence – through workshops and activities
3. Focus on how you amplify your people’s stories for the best outcome
4. Agree compliance, but get out of the way and let employees go for it

For more information about storytelling, contact us.