While he focused on finding opportunities that would fit his skills and interests, I was noting some potholes developing in our user journey.

Obviously, we’d expected that the availability of jobs would drop because of the pandemic—even for software engineers. But I was interested by the approach that companies had taken to this on their websites.

Those companies who were still recruiting had mostly taken the time to explain on their web pages how the pandemic would affect the recruitment process—video interviews instead of group assessment centres, for instance. Often, they talked about how the pandemic might mean remote working. This is helpful to the candidate and shows a realistic and practical approach.

Some companies chose to put a banner at the top of relevant pages, inviting the visitor to find out more about the company’s response to the pandemic. Some companies added content to each page as a lead-in paragraph.

However, some of the companies that would normally recruit graduates, but had put in place a recruitment freeze were less helpful.

Dead-ending the candidate journey

Some of the companies who were no longer recruiting simply didn’t show any relevant jobs on the job search page. ‘Apply Now’ links from the usual pages about the graduate programme to the job search pages worked, but there were no jobs available.

• Suggestion: put a message at the top of the graduate pages to indicate that there is a recruitment freeze due to the pandemic. Bonus points for an indication of when recruitment might restart.

Some replaced the ‘Apply Now’ button with a button saying ‘Express Interest’. This enables the company to continue to build their talent pool and potentially identify outstanding candidates for future recruitment. It also lets the potential applicant know that there is no job open at the moment.

• Suggestion: invite your potential candidates to express interest—don’t let them fall into a black hole

A few companies had deliberately broken the links to the relevant pages, so that when we clicked a link to find out more about a specific graduate programme, it went nowhere. This wasn’t a 404: someone had edited the link and stripped out the destination, so that it simply reloaded the same page.

• Suggestion: create a single page that says ‘sorry, we have had to stop recruitment for the duration of the pandemic – please check back later’ and link there. This would involve only minimal extra work but, importantly, doesn’t create a hole in the website, or a dead-end in the user journey.

Another set of companies had decided it would be better to leave the relevant page in place, but to remove the content—so that we saw a header and a blank page. This leaves all the pages and links in place but is not at all helpful to the candidate.

• Suggestion: provide an explanation instead of a blank page – or redirect to a single page as above.

Patching up and making do in a recruitment freeze

This pandemic is difficult for everyone, and you are probably shorthanded.

But be helpful to the job hunter, especially if your recruitment pause is unusual. Tell them that you are not recruiting up front—don’t hide it.

If nothing else, being helpful and honest will support your employer brand.

• Bonus suggestion: put the dress code for video interviews in the FAQ, especially for developers. Most technical interviews conducted by software engineers are, in our experience, conducted in casual clothes – typically t shirts and jeans. But what if the technical interview is for a bank? Do things change if it’s all online, and not in-person? Letting the applicant know what is expected in your company is helpful to them, and reduces the number of emails to you asking about the dress code—win:win.

 Is the COVID-19 freeze leaving potholes in your recruitment website?

The Old Spice Guy commercials have been very successful in making an old brand that many people associated with their grandfathers into a brand that younger generations are actually pausing to consider.  Both male and female audiences are talking about the Old Spice Guy commercials with the newest commercial (and my favorite so far) getting 3.4 million views on YouTube in the first week that it was released.  You can view it below.

One of the things that keeps the Old Spice Guy commercials alive is the company’s willingness to give up control of their content.  When an Old Spice Guy commercial is uploaded to YouTube, people use clips to create their own videos.  They talk about the commercials, share them, and make them their own.  That’s a brand manager’s dream come true.  However, giving up control of a brand isn’t something that most large companies are willing to do yet.  The Old Spice success is a perfect example of how the power of the social web can drive brand buzz, but unless a company is willing to lose control to a certain extent, that buzz potential is very limited.

It’s still unknown whether or not the Old Spice Guy commercials are actually driving sales, but those metrics are more important when it comes to tracking actual advertising performance.  When it comes to tracking social media marketing success, brand conversations and sharing are far more important and indicative of an initiative’s performance in terms of building brand value, creating brand advocates, and generating word-of-mouth marketing.

Based on the number of social web views of the most recent ad (previous ads each generated over 2 million views online within the first week after their releases), Old Spice is definitely benefiting from a strong social media buzz generated by the ads.  The question is whether or not the company can sustain that buzz, deliver on the brand’s promise, and meet consumer expectations for the brand again and again.  Only then will that buzz turn into long-term, sustainable growth for the brand and business.

What do you think?  Will the Old Spice Guy commercials have a long-term positive impact on the Old Spice brand and business?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

 Old Spice Continues to Entertain and Drive Social Media Buzz

Once down to 8 tracks, they have to choose just 1 as their ultimate desert island disc.

No doubt each variant of someone’s list represents just a snapshot, and if asked a little later, their list would sound very different. After all, your focus and interests change all the time…

This is rather how I feel about conference programmes. There are always a few sessions that are standout interesting at the time; and your standout sessions probably wouldn’t be the same as mine. Creating a set-list that’s going to appeal to as many people as possible, must be a very difficult task.

It’s time for the 3rd Communicate Reputation in Oil Gas and Mining conference, aimed at those with responsibility for brand management, corporate comms, internal comms and strategy. It’s on the 13th June, in central London, and will be looking at crisis management, digital media, employee engagement, internal comms, social media and more.

I’ve been to several Communicate conferences now, and the pick-list of sessions is always good. There are several sessions I’m particularly looking forward to, but if I had to pick my Desert Island session, it would be Behind the Scenes, looking at video.

I’ve been researching the use of video on the corporate website recently, and have watched many, many more than is probably sensible. The speaker, Stephen Golding from Tullow Oil, is going to look at video in internal comms, and it should be fascinating. Some of the external-facing videos I’ve spotted on corporate websites communicate their messages very strongly…

Here’s the IBM Diversity video, for example, which I think does a great job of ‘show don’t tell’ in communicating their corporate culture—and demonstrating just how long this has been a company value. It’s not new, but is worth watching to see how they do it. It’s on the corporate website diversity page too.

>

My second pick would be the “Daimler For Me Is…” video. This is used on the corporate website too, and is a great example of combining/linking videos. You can click the video at various points when a particular individual is talking to see another video with more detail about a them and their viewpoint. View it on the corporate website for best effect.

>

Do come to the conference if you can; the Communicate conferences are always worth attending. If you haven’t booked your ticket yet, it’s not too late: check out the conference programme and book — and let me know if the session you’d pick to be saved from the waves would be the same as mine. See you there?

 Communicate: the Desert Island Session

With that reputation in mind, it’s not surprising to find that a recent video of a Southwest Airlines flight attendant energizing the pre-flight safety announcement with humor was recorded and went viral. Consumers who were already familiar with the Southwest Airlines brand image felt more connected to the brand. It reflected the brand experience they’ve come to expect from Southwest Airlines. For consumers who were not familiar with the Southwest Airlines brand, the video introduced them to the airline’s unique brand personality by giving them a front row seat to the real Southwest Airlines brand experience.

You can watch the video below. After you watch it, ask yourself how closely your brand image and personality are integrated into your company culture? Is the integration strong enough that employees are able to and encouraged to live that brand personality and deliver the promise of the brand in every customer interaction and brand experience? Today, brands that leverage their employees as brand advocates are at a significant advantage in the competitive marketplace. However, you can’t simply tell employees what your brand personality, image, and promise are and expect them to support the brand and live the brand promise. They need to believe in the brand enough to want to advocate it just as consumers have to believe in the brand enough to want to buy it.

Give your employees a reason to believe in your brand by developing a corporate culture that delivers the 3 Es:

• Educates them about the brand promise, image, and personality.
• Encourages them to live the brand promise by integrating it into your corporate culture and code of ethics.
• Enables them to advocate the brand through online and offline interactions.

Image: Aero Icarus

 Delivering Brand Experiences the Southwest Airlines Way

Make it about them.

This may seem fairly obvious – after all, it’s common knowledge that marketing a product in ways that relate to a target audience is certainly effective marketing practice.

But why?

The explanation lies in the Self-Reference Effect. The Self–Reference Effect is the tendency for people to remember information about themselves more than information that does not pertain to their needs, interests, or goals. In other words, memories that pertain directly to a person are held the longest and recalled the easiest.^[1] This has substantial implications for corporate website content.

The Layers of the Mind – The Mechanisms Of The Self-Reference Effect

The Self-Reference Effect actually has its roots in the work of researchers Craik and Tulving, who found that people remember (or don’t remember) things based upon how deeply their mind processes information. They explain that memory has layers, and people remember things longer, and recall them easier, when these things are processed at the deepest layer. In contrast, things that are remembered at a shallow level are quickly washed away and forgotten.^[2]

Therefore, in order for your product to be memorable, it must be processed at a deeper level. But how can this can be accomplished through website content?

The “It’s All About Me” Effect

Building upon the work of Craik and Tulving, subsequent researchers have isolated the most effective way to present products in ways that foster deep level processing. More specifically, it seems that personally relevant information is processed at the deepest of levels. The more personally relevant a piece of information, the deeper it will be processed. And the deeper it is processed, the longer it will reside in memory.^[1]

The Self-Reference Effect plays a key role in consumer attitudes toward the products and the marketing techniques that promote them. For example, research shows that an audience relates more to models that are similar in ethnicity.^[3] One study showed that Asian consumers were more likely to purchase non-Asian products when it was endorsed by an Asian model.^[4]

These two examples show the power of audience connection. In order to make a product memorable, then corporations must, above all things, make it relatable. And they can do so through the content of their website.

How To Use Website Content To Boost The Self-Reference Effect

Below are several guidelines that can be applied to website content to enhance the Self-Reference Effect:^[5]

1. Prompting – Prompt readers to think about themselves with statements such as: “Think back to the last time you…” Then follow it with relevant product information. This will generate a connection between product and consumer.
2. Slice-Of-Life Statements – Discuss a problem that is common to your audience. This will pique their interest and solidify a personal connection to your product.
3. Gender Role Portrayals – Determine which gender your product relates to and create content about your product that is tailored to their interests and reading styles.
4. It’s All About ‘You’ – Using the word ‘you’ in online content is surprisingly powerful. Refrain from using the pronoun “I” which detracts the reader’s attention from themselves. Also, writing in second person has been found to be more effective than third-person testimonials.
5. The Power of a Question – Ask the audience a question that links a product benefit to their needs. For example, a milk company may ask: “Are you getting enough calcium in your diet?”

Try implementing these simple techniques into your online content. This can be in the form of blogs, website content, Tweets, posts, etc. Doing so will make your product both memorable and marketable.

References

^[1] Rogers, TP, Kuiper, NA, & Kirker, WS (1977) Self-reference and the encoding of personal information.

^[2] Craik, FIM, Tulving, E (1975) Depth of processing and the retention of words

^[3] Martin, Lee, & Fernandez (2002) Using self referencing to explain the effectiveness of ethnic minority models in advertising

^[4] Martin, Kwai-Choi Lee, & Yang (2006) The influence of ad model ethnicity and self referencing upon attitudes: Evidence from New Zealand

^[5] Debevec, K, Spotts, HE, Kernan, JB (1987) The self-reference effect in persuasion implications for marketing strategy

 5 Proven Ways Content Can Connect With An Online Audience