Social media in employer brand communication: Focus on SMEs in Finland. Case study: Smarp Oy

Abstract

In today’s business environment, due to the lack of highly skilled employees, employer brand communication has been a necessity for organizations in all industries. Despite various tools produced to alleviate the employer brand communication, social media has been selected as highly effective tool for employer brand communication due to its significant benefits. Given that enhancing employee engagement in social media is a new challenge for brand marketers nowadays, this thesis aims at describing the process of applying social media in employer brand communication and explaining the ways to engage employees on social media at work.

Throughout this study, case study method is employed with support of a content analysis procedure. Primary data was collected mostly from the case study named Smarp Oy, including the interviews with top management of the company, author’s observation and analysis of social media used internally at the case company. The secondary data was collected carefully from only the case company’s website and blog, in order to avoid inaccurate results.

Findings of the research indicate that in order to be successful in applying social media in employer brand communication, an investment in facilitating the usage of social media at work is required. Building a good cultureship is crucial to eliminate fears and to encourage employees to share opinions in social media. Moreover, an accurate measurement method is highly recommended to measure internal efforts put in social media and to develop the communication plan.

To conclude, the author has achieved the research objectives and this study is a beneficial reference for further research on the same topic. For further research, generalization of this topic is an obvious contribution to the industry. Moreover, as new technologies have been developed constantly, a prediction of new trends in internal branding would be very interesting.