Educating the TikTok generation

The intersection between employer brand and influencers is a strange one. You're supposed to create influencers and advocates internally, right? But while consumer marketing fell in lover with professional influencers a few years ago, the tide seems to be changing. Interestingly, it seems like they are changing from "buy an influencer" to "build internal brand communities." Huh. That seems familiar, somehow...

Here's a nice short article reminding us that employer brand folks are there to help manage perceptions in other people's minds. It seems obvious, but it feels like we forget very quickly when things get busy.

I've been thinking about recruiting in closed/finite tale pools (people with security clearances, veterinarians, clinical researchers with MDs, aeronautics engineers, etc) lately for the podcast and I was wondering if this is a situation ripe for micro-influences. Vets know vets. If you want vets (et al) to get interested in you, get a vet to say nice things about you.

Further evidence that you and your marketing team should be spending more time together and occasionally taking long walks on the beach: employee advocates are the new “influencer.” In a lot of ways, influencers made a kind of sense in a world with a million options (or products, services, lifestyles, etc) because they acted as a kind of “native guide” to these things. A Kardashian can point to weight loss products and fashion because it’s something they know about. But as influencers as a celebrity become stale, the new advocate is the insider, someone with the inside view on things. They have a more credible voice and are seen as more real than marketing and can change people’s minds about your company (both as an employer, and as a vendor).

Let’s talk about influencers. Not the Fyre Festival type, but the people in your ecosystem who are creating content to connect with internal and external audiences. The people who influence others to consider working here. This is more than simple “advocacy,” or even tactical referrals, this is about helping your own influencers these people build emotional connections, which is what sparks longer-term relationships.

Sure, infographics might feel a little 2015, but what about interactive infographics? I can see value in using them to show internal teams the value of your work, as well as putting together a fact-sheet for potential candidates.

Embarrassing admission: I’ve spent a good deal of time in the NLP/Neuro-linguistic programming world of Bandler and Grinder (Hey, I was young once. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, consider yourself lucky). Anyway, while 99% of what came out of NLP was garbage, some smart tidbits did manage to escape. Specifically, mirroring. If you want someone to listen to you and consider what you say, you have to talk more like they do.