Video Broadcasting is Key in Your Employment Branding & Recruiting Strategy

By Jessica Miller-Merrell 

I don’t know about you, but my Internet time is largely spent viewing videos rather than reading. Given the choice between watching a short video or spending even just five or 10 minutes reading an article, I will choose video every time. If this sounds like you as well, we’re not alone. In fact, it’s predicted that by 2017, 74% of all Internet consumed will be video. While most recruiting team don’t currently rely on video for employment branding and it doesn’t make up a significant portion of their strategies, that’s going to change.

There’s nothing new about video, but what is new are the platforms on which we’re viewing it and the way it’s being used. If the only way you use video is a company culture video put on YouTube and imbedded on your LinkedIn page, it’s time to rethink video entirely. We market to candidates in the same way retailers do, so we’ve got to follow their lead and adapt to the changing landscape of how our users interact online.

Where it’s happening

YouTube will live on and we can continue to pay agencies to create recruiting videos, but real-time video is the next wave and it’s happening through platforms like Meerkat and Periscope, both live video-sharing platforms that just launched a few weeks ago. Much like Instagram and other social networks, they offer a very personal and engaging way of talking to your network in real time.

When it comes to recruiting, Meerkat and Periscope are powerful mediums but they are limited on what they offer. They are one-trick ponies. I love these tools, but I prefer to put my recruiting team in the driver seat and use an HR technology platform like TalentCircles, which integrates video into their existing platform, allowing for live broadcasting, recorded video and video interviewing technologies.

The future of video broadcasting in recruiting

Recruiters can use these live video-broadcasting tools to attract potential candidates, reach the lurkers, create conversations, and get to know candidates. As with any social network, you don’t own the connections or contacts within your community and you don’t control the unique experience they receive on Periscope or Meerkat, but you can facilitate a positive interaction and gain immediate feedback on whether or not it’s being well received.

Video broadcasting also offers real time perspectives, testimonials and engagement that can’t happen with recorded or scripted videos. Participants become part of the production and are able to learn, engage and invest with you and your recruiting team on the fly. The power of live broadcasted video is the unscripted nature where broadcast attendees help steer the video and not just watch, but experience it.

It’s the visual representation of the power of social networks. While the broadcaster might be responsible for sharing, the community is ultimately in control, making video even more appealing than ever before.

Video broadcasting combines what we love about social recruitment – easy access, two-way conversations and wide reach – with the appeal that video has in our day and age. From retailers to recruiting, video broadcasting is the next big thing in marketing. Is your employment branding and recruiting team ready?

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media. She's the Chief Blogger and Founder of Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter at @jmillermerell.