пятница, 14 сентября 2012 г.

Web 2.0 technology: how is it impacting your employer brand?(Human Resource Solutions) - Nursing Economics

DURING THIS RECESSIONARY period, health care organizations are shifting their advertising budgets to non-traditional areas. Obviously spending on print has been diminished if not eliminated. Though most hospitals and health care systems continue to have open hard-to-fill positions, such as critical care nurses, ED nurses, pharmacists, clinical lab scientists, and PT and OT clinicians, far-sighted facilities are moving their dollars to enhance their career sites, incorporate Web 2.0 technologies, and/or add more tools for measuring success.

Enhancing Your Employer Brand with Web 2.0 Technology

One area that is becoming popular and at the same time provides a very beneficial usage is RSS feeds. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary. It is an online Web feed format used to publish frequently updated digital information. By adding an RSS feed to your career site, your organization immediately shows your audience that you provide cutting-edge technology and want to be in the class of 'Employer of Choice.' Whenever a potential candidate goes to your site and clicks the RSS emblem (always denoted in orange), that candidate can automatically have your job postings, in a specific category, uploaded every 24 hours to that potential candidate's home page, such as My Yahoo or iGoogle. The job posting feeds will embed on his or her page. How cool is that?

This means that a potential candidate will see your job postings each time she or he logs onto her or his own home page, without ever having to go back to your career site! When this individual clicks on a posting that appeals to her or him, this functionality will then drive her or him back to your career site, thus providing the option to apply online. In today's fast world, speed and efficiencies are critical for success. You do not want any barriers in attracting those 'A' candidates.

If your nursing or human resources department has a blog, adding an RSS feed would be beneficial. Importantly, your blog should provide relevant and current information. Whenever you add a blog to your career site, schedule who will update the material and when. Otherwise, the information becomes old quickly and can result in a negative experience for the user.

Videos and podcasts have also become much more popular in the branding space. Inviting individuals via streaming video and/or podcasts provides an intimate look at your organization. You can provide a variety of videos, such as short testimonials with key managers, employees, patients, and/or tours of hard-to-fill areas. Personally, I find having the opportunity to actually tour an area, such as an emergency department, prior to showing an interest in that facility is very appealing. Again, using forms of social media strengthens your brand name recognition.

Another form of Web 2.0 Social Media is online chat. Online chat is used extensively on commercial sites, especially on shopping sites. Consumer companies want to ensure that you have a good experience and make a purchase. The same concept applies to your career site and your brand message. By providing a live chat, you engage your audience in real time. You can answer any questions quickly and encourage them to apply online. Because this can be labor intensive, consider posting certain hours of the day and/or specific days of the week when chat is available. This will minimize any negative experience of the audience not reaching a 'live' person. If you provide online chat, ensure someone is readily available during those stated hours.

Creating a Brand Presence on Social Networking Sites

Many health care organizations are also asking, should I get on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter? Without a complete strategy, jumping to have a presence on these sites will just damage your brand. Having a 'best in class' career site destination should be your number one priority. Ensuring that the user has the best experience possible on your site, easy access to information, ease of links, intuitiveness to browse from one area to another, user-friendly search and application process, and inclusion of some forms of Web 2.0 technology provide a winning combination.

Once you feel comfortable in knowing that a 'tech-savvy' candidate will have a positive experience if driven to your career site, it is time to create a presence on some of the social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can create a profile page on LinkedIn for your company. This service is rather new for LinkedIn, which currently has over 43 million members. Again, due to the recession this site has grown by approximately one million members per month for the last 8 to 10 months. Because the profile page option is new, the site layout is somewhat limiting now, but it does offer a source of information about your company that can prove useful to potential candidates.

Facebook not only provides the largest audience today, with a global audience of over 250,000,000 (http://checkfacebook.com/), it also has an extensive platform that your organization can utilize. Your marketing department or advertising agency can build a very interactive site for existing employees, alumni employees, interested parties, and future employees. In addition to blogging information, you can add videos, pictures, events, polls, live chats, maps, RSS feeds, and other features to create a feeling of community. As an employer it is important to recognize that it's not about putting up a Web page; it's about what you have to contribute. Your goal is to have an interactive site that provides a network for all audiences, one where visitors will want to return.

Twitter, a micro-blogging site, has received a great deal of notoriety since the last national election. Entertainment and news media picked up on this phenomenon and helped generate high traffic. Currently, you cannot create a profile page on Twitter but you can make posts, provide RSS feeds regarding specific job postings, and most importantly build a following.

Exposing your brand to larger audiences via these social networking sites should enhance your messaging. As before, ensure current and relevant information for your target audiences. A logo icon link for each social networking site can be embedded on your career site home page. This will enable quick access from your career site to each site where your organization has a presence.

Monitoring Your Brand

We all know that there is 'lots of noise' out there on the Net! Are they talking about your organization? Are they saying positive or negative things about your facility? Do you want to know how workforce changes (layoffs) have impacted your employer brand? These are all examples of questions that can be answered by conducting an audit of how the online community views your organization. You may uncover gaps in your current employer brand. There are many Web sites now where current or past employees can rate your organization. Here are a few examples for you to examine: www.howsthatjob.com, www.jobvent.com, www.glassdoor.com, and www.vault.com. In addition, comments are written on blogs and social networking sites. Once you or a third party complete an extensive audit concerning conversations on the Internet, you can develop a strategy to mitigate any negative views that could fracture your employer brand.

You and your organization have spent time and resources in developing your employer brand and now is the time to enhance this brand and monitor it to protect your valuable investment.

JUDITH RUSSELL, BSN, RN, is Vice President, Client Solutions, Bernard Hodes Group Health Care Division, New York, NY.

NOTE: This column is made possible through an educational grant from The Bernard Hodes Group, which provides a broad range of integrated solutions to advance the way health care organizations identify, attract, and keep quality talent. For more information, visit www.hodes.com.

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