Consistent and clear employment branding is essential to discovering and hiring the right candidates for your company. Learn to weave your employer branding and culture into every aspect of your university outreach. Shannon Smedstad currently serves as the Employment Brand Director at CEB, a global best practice insight and technology company. Prior to CEB, she spent more than a decade as a leader on GEICO’s campus recruiting team. She is a recruiter at heart with a passion for helping others connect with their first or next careers. Outside of work, she is a Brownie troop leader and coach for Girls on the Run. She graduated with honors from Shippensburg University, and currently resides with her husband and two daughters in Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. Feel free to connect with Shannon, but not before she’s had her morning coffee.

2. CREATING
GREAT EMPLOYER
BRAND CONTENT
Shannon Smedstad | EB Consultant
@shannonsmedstad |

4. WE’VE GOT A
LOT TO COVER
TODAY
WHAT,
SO WHAT?
Q & A
TIME
TOP 10
TIPS

5. “67% of employers believe retention rates
would be higher if candidates had a clearer
picture of what to expect about working at
the company before taking the job. – Harris
Interactive Survey

6. “25% of graduates expect to quit their job the
first year. – The Telegraph

7. “Graduates spend less time than other
generations researching companies and they
are rushing into the wrong role.
– CEB

8. GREAT
CONTENT CAN
CREATE
AWARENESS &
INFLUENCE
OUTCOMES
KNOW
US
JOIN
US
CONSIDER
US

9. TOP
TIPS
LET’S
DO THIS

10. POST WITH
PURPOSE
Know thyself. And connect people to what matters—
strategy, purpose, values, culture, and one another.
1

11. PURPOSE-DRIVEN
CONTENT
 Compensation
 Benefits
 Company information
 What makes the company
an attractive place to work
 Mission, vision, and values
- Glassdoor US Site Survey, 2016

12. KEEP CADENCE
Facebook
Glassdoor

13. CREATE PRIDE
& EXCITEMENT
Inside out, great content can create emotional responses. Use
it to support talent attraction and engagement.
2

15. MAKE IT
CONSUMABLE
It’s a noisy world out there. Simplify your content and
make it worth people’s time.
3

16. FIGHT
COMPLEXITY
ON THREE
MAIN LEVELS
CEB
Components: What do people need to
know? Make it easy to understand.
Format: Simplify the layout
and design.
System: Know where your audience is.
Select best channels.

17. SAY IT
WITH PICTURES
Visuals are processed faster than text, and all generations use
visual communications.
4

18. #LifeatCEB
INSTAGRAM
400M Users
L@CEB = 99% YoY Growth
21.9 Engagements per Post
~90% Reposts from CEBers

19. BUILD AN
EGC PIPELINE
Enable employees to tell stories and share content. It
builds trust and credibility. And it’s a timesaver.
5

20. Internal to External
“We encourage
employees to contribute
by posting requests for
photos to Salesforce
Chatter (our internal social
platform). Then we get
creative and share
collages via social.”
Jennifer Newbill, Dell
Collaborative in Method
“To be more global in view and
scale our story telling, we
launched a Global
Correspondents Team. Each
member writes articles that
can be shared via our intranet,
externally on our blog, or
both.”
CEB Global
Communications

21. HELP EMPLOYEES
TELL THEIR STORIES
Enhancing your team’s digital footprint while
extending your own, at scale—that’s a win-win.
6

22. Employee Experience
Through the platform,
employees wrote
professional summaries.
After, they updated their
LinkedIn profiles and
wrote a Glassdoor
reviews.
Brand Lift
We saw a significant
increase in the use of
CEB content on our
employees’ profiles, and
an uptick in Glassdoor
ratings and reviews.
Ongoing Insights
70+ employees shared
that they wanted to be
brand ambassadors.
Common threads used
to create new campus
recruiting collateral.

23. REPURPOSE
YOUR BEST STUFF
That was so last week. Who cares? Dust off your top
stories, reuse those photos, and reach new people.
7

24. REPURPOSE LIKE A BOSS
“Convert people
stories into rich
graphics using
Canva!”
Chloé Rada,
Sodexo
“We encourage
posting on Instagram,
then create Storify
content which is often
shared via our
internal and external
channels.”
CEB Global
Communications

25. FIND CONTENT
PARTNERS
Get by with a little help from your friends. Amplify
awareness and get in front of new audiences.
8

26. Sponsored article = 8,5K+ views
Hiring Like Crazy article = 58K+ views
325% increase in job views
165% increase in job apply clicks

27. ACTIVATE
YOUR TEAM
Messengers are often just as, if not more so, important as
the message. Think reach and influence.
9

28. “Only 33% of employers encourage
employees to use social media to share
news and information about their work or
employer. – Employees Rising, Weber Shandwick

29. Content
Employer brand
content is one of
the most resonant
of all topics
distributed via the
platform.
LINKEDIN ELEVATE
Outcomes
600+
Employees
+80%
Content impressions
+90%
Content engagement
+40%
Company page views

30. GET RECRUITERS
ON BOARD
Your recruiters are stewards of your brand. Arm them with
knowledge and content.
10

31. This one time
AT BRAND CAMP
How to sell the brand
How to act on campus
How to use social platforms
How to be Profersonal™

32. WE WANT
MORE
WHAT IS YOUR BEST TIP
FOR CREATING EB CONTENT?

33. THANK
YOU
Shannon Smedstad
Connect with me on LinkedIn, Twitter, or
phone 301.404.3460
@shannonsmedstad |