Video is booming in popularity for almost everything marketable — but HR & recruitment teams still often fall behind in their ability to reach their ideal candidates, because they haven’t yet taken advantage of the power of authentic employer branding videos.

A well-placed employer branding video can make all the difference to companies looking to reach their ideal candidate and show them exactly what it’s like to be a member of the team.

With the multiple dimensions available on the video medium, employers can show, tell, and artistically imply everything needed to capture a candidate’s attention in just a minute or two of content. 

So, how do they do it?

In this post, we’re going to show you exactly how to make your own branding video, and give you some examples to watch to inspire your own!

But first, a word on why employer branding videos are so good at what they do… 

How an Employer Branding Video Can Help Your Company

Employer brand videos are a great way to engage prospecting applicants and communicate your company’s story, brand, culture, and mission in a way that words and still images simply can’t. It’s a brief, promotional video that helps connect your company to your prospective candidates and attract the best talent. 

You’ll have a lot of options when it comes to making your video. Every company has its own brand, and every brand can be portrayed differently. If you’ve got diversity programs you want to show off, employee perks that are worth bragging about, or a success story that’s worth sharing, you can put that in an employer brand video. 

Video has the benefit of being almost infinitely versatile and can combine all the words and visuals of a web page or employer branding letter/brochure with the additional dimensions of engaging audio and video. Video can be an opportunity to show the personality of your company, and what it’s like to work there. 

As a medium, video holds a lot of promise. Making a video doesn’t have to cost a lot, and isn’t necessarily time-consuming either, and once it’s done it could represent a great ROI. More than 80% of video marketers get a significant ROI on video, improve lead generation, increase traffic, and almost all video marketers intend to increase or maintain spending on the format. 

Video marketing, therefore, is as good for recruiting candidates as it is for customers, and the principles are more or less the same.

Your value, mission, company goals, or workplace environment can all be displayed in a brief, 2-3 minute video seen by exactly the people you want to find you. Here’s how.

Guide to Making Your Own Employer Branding Video

There are several steps to getting your video right, but this template should function for almost any kind of branding video.

The prerequisite for any video like this is to know your audience. We’re going to assume you know the kind of people you’re looking to recruit, and you just want to know the steps to make the video. But if this isn’t the case, then make sure to get valuable employee data to figure out what your prospective candidates are looking for. 

We’ve broken down the video-making process into six basic steps:

• Keep it short – You’re not striving to educate people on the finer details of your company with this video. Simply aim to create a personal connection that makes use of sights, sounds, and thoughts to convey a brief and attractive message.
• Decide on your style – You’re going to want to stand out, but you’ll also need to appeal to the right audience. Consider what makes you unique, and which approach you want to take. Will you make a comedic video or an informative one? A more serious, black-and-white testimonial series or a high-energy and visually dynamic montage?
• Write your outline –Write what you want your video to consist of, and include your ideas for the actual shoot. Cover establishing shots, any locations you might want to use, what will be illustrated visually, and who will be talking.
• Be authentic and consistent – Your job for an employer brand video is to show your story as it is, not as you wish it were. Keep it authentic, and where possible aim to show, rather than tell. Let the visuals do the work, and lean on the strengths of video to make memorable content that displays your message. Remember, you’re looking for people who will fit your company culture, so being inauthentic will simply bring in the wrong people.

Using narration or testimonials is great, where it’s appropriate, as long as they’re genuine, and they keep with the theme of your company branding across other media. Unless you’re planning on changing your brand entirely, stick to the familiar color schemes, logos, and imagery that people expect from you.

• Use high-quality imagery – You don’t need to include bespoke drone footage but you do have to remember the strengths of the medium you’re using. Blurry footage or poor audio can render your story unwatchable, so be sure to use capture and utilize high-quality video and audio. We have more tips on how to do that here!

A straightforward employee testimonial or interview can be edited into a compelling employer brand video that will attract new hires and allow your company to stand out in job listings.

Consider using EditMate to crowdsource your footage. With a range of video sourcing options and access to professional video editors, you can feel good knowing you’ll end up with a high-quality video that features your real employees. 

• Shoot and edit the video – If you’re filming your own footage, you should be ready for this by now. Get the footage you need and get it professionally edited to ensure you have an on-brand, ready-to-share video. 

And you’re done! All that’s left is to put the video on your appropriate channels.

Still unsure of what style you want your video to be?

You don’t have to guess; let’s take a look at how the best examples of employer branding videos…

Examples of the Best Employer Branding Videos

We’ve picked three of the best employer branding videos to give a short overview of, so you can see how it’s been done by companies in a few different industries, using different types of footage and styles:

AstraZeneca

This video took the approach of “keep it short” and ran with it. It’s a 40-second clip of a success story told by an employee of the company (ten seconds of which is taken up by brand logos at the beginning and end– we’d recommend making those a bit quicker!). 

The video is shot on-site, has footage of what it’s like to be an employee, and is an exciting account of world-changing success to inspire prospective candidates.  

A snackable video like this is perfect for sharing on LinkedIn and other social channels. Creating a series of short videos just like this one, featuring a wide range of employees in different roles and departments would be an excellent way to show off the people at your company and provide an authentic look at any open roles.

Hilti

This video uses stock footage and symbolism to impress a company’s vision of greatness and to tell the story of the evolution of the employer. It focuses on examples of successes and establishing the company as an industry leader. 

It then sets up imagery of the impacts it makes on the construction world and talks about the opportunity for self-growth. This narration doesn’t go into huge details, instead focusing on the bigger picture and promoting the benefits it offers. 

Fiverr

This is a video that takes a self-deprecating look at employer videos as a whole, with a clever twist that ties into their brand. This video has the added benefit of adding a call to action just after it breaks the comedy theme. 

The title and introduction are immediately engaging, and lead the viewer through the full 1:46m clip. The visuals are deliberately clichéd, and this adds to its appeal. Using the aesthetic of stock footage to their advantage, this clip turns the tables on recruitment videos, creating a funny video that is bound to be re-shared and expand Fiverr’s reach. 

There are countless others that could be on this list, covering a diverse range of approaches. What they all accomplish is a unique and catchy approach that draws people in and leaves an impression on prospective candidates.

Conclusion

Your video will depend on what your company is all about and what kind of candidate you’re looking for. 

But by following our Employer Branding Video guide, and tailoring your content to the ideal candidate, you’ll be able to find top talent using the most impressive and persuasive marketing medium around. 

Want to create an Employer Brand Video Series of your own?

Contact Us to learn how EditMate can help! We offer brainstorming sessions, video series outlines, and cost-effective Video Packages to help brands like yours create more video content.