Content Marketing Strategies for Your HR Website
Considering the average recruiter only spends 5 to 7 seconds reading a resume, companies writing for the HR industry need to produce content that really stands out and garners attention. Otherwise, your content will go in the figurative garbage can faster than an unqualified job applicant. Armed with the right strategies, you can ensure you reach your HR audience through a content strategy that delivers real value.
Use Social Media Marketing
HR departments are full of social individuals who have high emotional intelligence (EQ), and they just so happen to spend a lot of time on social media. In fact, 92 percent of all companies are now using social media as part of their recruiting process, underlining just how important this marketing channel is. In response, you need to focus a lot of your content marketing efforts on platforms like Instagram,
In response, you need to focus a lot of your content marketing efforts on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Your aim shouldn't be to just throw content at your audience, but instead, do research specific to social media. For example, use keyword targeting specifically to Twitter to generate new ideas and ensure you're writing on trending topics within the HR industry. Once you have produced this social media content, you should be actively looking at key metrics like
Once you have produced this social media content, you should be actively looking at key metrics like brand engagement and likes to understand what you're doing right and wrong. You should also explore guest posting on social networks like LinkedIn, which is one web watering hole that many HR people happen to call their second home.
You should also explore guest posting on social networks like LinkedIn, which is one web watering hole that many HR people happen to call their second home.
Content tip: Use the successes (and failures) of your social media content to learn more about your target audience. If image-heavy posts start to perform better than blog promoters, try producing more of them, stick with what works.
Read The Best HR Blogs
HR blogs like the Chief Happiness Officer Blog, the HR Capitalist, the Recruiters Lounge, and the Evil HR Lady are all examples of blogs that will help you keep your ear to the ground within the HR industry. These resources can even provide inspiration for your own content and help you discover what your audience is interested in. Once you start to create
Content tip: Once you have started creating some top-notch content of your own, reach out to some of the top blogs in your industry for guest posting opportunities. Putting your content where your audience lives is the best way to gain their trust.
Use Experts To Write Well-Researched And Specific Answers
Human resource specialists have to deal with difficult questions every day, which often veer into complicated territory surrounding state legal issues, labor law, payroll taxes, health benefits, and even issues surrounding individual workplace culture.HR compliance companies who wish to capture more market share need to recruit writers who are a little more specialized. Experts with law degrees, industrial psychologists, former human resource managers, and tax specialists are the type of writers who can interpret the law, understand the psychology of the workplace and draw on their own experience to answer the day-to-day questions that dominate HR.
HR compliance companies who wish to capture more market share need to recruit writers who are a little more specialized. Experts with law degrees, industrial psychologists, former human resource managers, and tax specialists are the type of writers who can interpret the law, understand the psychology of the workplace and draw on their own experience to answer the day-to-day questions that dominate HR.
Content tip: Since it doesn't always make sense for you to hire all these experts yourself, relying on an outside company such as Scripted to vet and recruit these types of specialists is an effective solution.
Help Show Where HR Is Going
Human resources are constantly evolving and adapting to new trends, and content producers need to stay on top of them. For example, how many HR departments have an internal policy on BYOD? How are HR departments responding to the growth of the gig economy featuring plenty of part-time and remote workers? How does the growth in "company perks" like flexible work hours, on-site catering, and yoga sessions impact work retention rates? These are the kind of hot, trending topics that will drive traffic while answering the questions that will impact the future of HR.
Content tip: If you are having a meaningful watercooler conversation regarding HR, there is a good chance your audience is interested in the topic as well.
Write Both Objective And Analytical Content
When you're writing for the HR field, you should take a two-pronged approach to content. The first prong is simple reference content that helps HR departments and company staff quickly understand when an applicable law applies to a discrimination claim or whether an employee is eligible for working comp in a particular state. The second prong is analytical content related to the content from the first prong, which can explore how these laws, regulations, and trends impact companies, and whether companies benefit, the employee benefits, or both parties can benefit. With this complete content strategy, you make yourself a one-stop resource for every HR need.
The second prong is analytical content related to the content from the first prong, which can explore how these laws, regulations, and trends impact companies, and whether companies benefit, the employee benefits, or both parties can benefit. With this complete content strategy, you make yourself a one-stop resource for every HR need.
Emulate Success
Human resource departments are dedicated to the goal of bettering their company, whether it's hiring top talent, mediating employee conflicts, reducing employee turnover, or just answering a payroll question. Often, to achieve these goals they look to what HR departments at the most successful companies do. That's why it doesn't hurt to mix in content about what the top companies in the world--
That's why it doesn't hurt to mix in content about what the top companies in the world--such as Google or any company on Fortune's "100 Best Companies To Work For"--are doing in terms of HR strategy regarding health care, work-life balance and maternity leave. The business world is full of companies with successful HR strategies, and writing about them is sure to draw traffic and generate industry interest.
Content tip: You don't need to re-invent the wheel with every post. Sometimes your audience is just looking for an easy read about industry trends.
Answer With Effective Content
If you simply regurgitate state laws or complex labor decisions in your content, it's very likely your HR audience will move on to another website for simpler answers in an easier-to-understand format.
Think about incorporating templates, checklists, interactive forms, and even graphics into your HR content. When you're discussing complex information, break it into simple language and concise points that cut through the fluff. HR departments don't have a lot of time, and when they need quick reference information for doing their job, they want to get the information and get out.
There's plenty of poor HR content out there that doesn't really answer key questions or get people excited about the industry. By following these strategies, you'll help your HR content rise above the fray. Need help creating great content that meets these standards? Try using one of Scripted's expert HR writers.