4 Best Ways to Build Your Talent Brand on LinkedIn

HR departments are still dealing with employee retention concerns in the face of an unrelenting labor shortage. A lack of career development opportunities is one of the main reasons employees quit their jobs. Interestingly, companies with a strong learning culture enjoy a 57% employee retention rate. 

Industry high-flyers are passionate about professional development. To effectively attract top talent and deal with this festering employee turnover, it’s crucial for organizations to not only create career development opportunities but also build and communicate their talent brand.     

What is a Talent Brand?

Talent brand refers to the perception of a company by its current and potential talent. Specifically, it’s how current employees and job seekers view the company’s efforts to attract, retain, and develop talent. 

As a concept, talent brand zooms in on an organization’s dedication to employee development and career progression. Talent branding prioritizes improving and satisfying your current workforce to the point that they become vocal advocates for your company. At its core lies emphasis on the current employees’ communication of authentic experiences to show candidates how their individual skills will be valued, used, and developed while working at the company.    

It’s worth mentioning that talent brand differs from employer brand even though both terms are often used interchangeably. Employer brand is a broader concept that refers to an organization’s general reputation as an employer. It simply emphasizes what makes the company a good place to work. 

Here are the differences between both concepts:

• A talent branding strategy targets the perception of current and potential employees while employer branding is aimed at nurturing the view of more people including current and potential employees, recruiters, and the general public 
• Employer brand promotes a company as a great workplace while talent brand promotes the company as a great place for employees to develop their skills and advance professionally
• Employer branding is more controlled and aligned with corporate messaging while talent branding is less controlled, driving authentic, genuine employee input and organic sharing       

How Does Building a Talent Brand on LinkedIn Attract Top Talent?

Implementing a talent branding strategy on LinkedIn can attract high-quality candidates in different ways.  

LinkedIn talent branding involves sharing authentic content such as employee stories, testimonials, and posts about a regular day in your organization on the platform—this can give potential candidates a sense of your company culture. More than 80% of job seekers prioritize company culture in their job application process. Posts demonstrating a healthy company culture will surely attract exceptional candidates.  

Research shows that 56% of US workers won’t even consider a job at a company with values they disagree with. Building your talent brand requires showcasing your organization’s values and professional development opportunities. Consistent messaging about these gives top talent an idea of what you stand for and your commitment to employee development and it can drive those in alignment to want to work with you.  

As your employees share their experiences and make positive remarks about your organization, it expands your company’s reach and boosts its reputation. Posts about how your organization helps employees improve can get the attention of top talent.         

How to Effectively Communicate and Build a Talent Brand on LinkedIn

Below are 4 practical ways to build your talent brand on LinkedIn. 

1. Optimize your company’s LinkedIn page

The first step towards building your talent brand on LinkedIn is optimizing your company’s page on the platform. 

By filling out all sections and using relevant keywords in the description and job postings, you will boost its visibility in search results. This makes it easy for candidates to find your organization when searching for job opportunities in your industry. A detailed description of your company’s goals, mission, values, and culture also provides potential job seekers with a quick understanding of what your company is about. 

Consider using high-quality images for your organization’s profile and cover picture. Such visuals should be consistent with your brand identity to reinforce your company’s image and create a strong impression.   

2. Make the most of employee advocacy

Employee advocacy is another good way to communicate your talent brand on LinkedIn. Encourage your employees to share positive company-related content on their personal LinkedIn profiles.  

When employees share company content on LinkedIn, they extend the reach and visibility of your company. Such content will also enjoy higher engagement due to your employees’ personal connections with their network. Likewise, posts about your company culture and daily experiences will seem more authentic when posted by employees than by corporate channels.   

3. Publish and promote career development opportunities

Promoting career development opportunities on LinkedIn should be a core part of your talent branding strategy. Highlighting the availability of training and development programs indicates a thriving learning culture. Organizations that encourage and champion the training and improvement of their employees are attractive to industry top talent who are naturally growth-oriented and ambitious.

Providing and regularly posting professional development opportunities also proves that your company is invested in the professional growth of its workforce. This boosts job satisfaction, employee retention, and engagement.      

4. Leverage authentic branding content

Content that gives the inside scoop about your organization can work wonders for your LinkedIn talent branding, too. Share different types of content that showcase your organization’s culture. 

Do you have videos and pictures of your employees engaging in team-building activities? How about content that displays your workforce diversity or shows your team embarking on social responsibility projects? Any employee testimonials endorsing your amazing organizational culture and employee experience?

Feel free to post such genuine content on your LinkedIn page frequently to enhance your image to current and potential employees.
Implementing these talent branding strategies on LinkedIn will exponentially enhance how you attract top talent. For more insight, check out some additional items to consider when building a talent brand.