There’s an old saying in our industry that recruiting is marketing. For many employers, marketing your jobs and company culture does not come easy. This makes sense, considering those in recruiting and HR were not trained to be marketers. But in today’s competitive talent landscape it takes extra effort to convince job seekers your firm is worth a look.

In fact, candidates are dying to know what it’s like to work at your company. They are scouring the web for reasons why they should apply. It’s the employer’s job to answer that question.

Today’s job seekers are constantly seeking clues about what the job will be like, what kind of people you have and what kind of culture they’re potentially stepping into. In the end, it’s about the pros and cons of taking the job. Employers need to do better at defining what makes them different and begin marketing that value proposition every day online. That starts with creating and sharing the content job seekers want hear, see and read.

Social media is a critical piece in this puzzle. When used properly, it enables employers to stand out and become a workplace of choice. What you share makes you more transparent and trustworthy. By publishing content regularly and consistently you can help create a message that resonates with potential candidates. The goal is to humanize your company’s name.

But how exactly do you do that? Well, here are 15 pieces of content that you can use every day to spread the word about your jobs and office life online.

Your Hiring Process

Detail each step of your hiring process. Let candidates know what happens to their resume once they apply. If you educate them on how it works they’ll appreciate it, even if they don’t get the job. Most people just want some kind of acknowledgement. Your auto response email is a good starting point for that information. So is your website. See how GEICO details their process online.

Employee Stories

Showcase your star employees by asking them why they like to work there. Let them tell their stories in their own words and publish that in a blog post or special section of your career site. Use your “A” players to attract other A players by leveraging their enthusiasm and achievements.

Company News/Awards

Don’t be afraid to brag a little. Leverage what your marketing department is already promoting when it comes to important company news, events or awards. Show off those award graphics on your career site.

Recruitment video

Video is a must use tool in today’s world. Candidates LOVE video. Video grabs and keeps their attention. Use it to show off your people and their personalities. Give the candidate a virtual walk through of your office space. It doesn’t have to be scripted, just keep it honest and real.

Pictures

Take and share lots of pictures at your company. Share them on visual networks like Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat. Show employees in action, funny moments, events… whatever makes your company unique. Once shared on social media they become part of your employment story. Letting candidates follow your office through channels like Instagram will help them come to know you better.

How to impress your recruiters

Help candidates understand what it takes to impress you in an interview. Give them tips on how they can stand out during the hiring process. Educating them will give you a positive reputation even if they don’t get the job.

List of benefits

Every company has a list of perks and benefits. Put them in a list and tweet them regularly. At my last job I put them in a slideshare and embedded them on the company career site.

Job search advice

Do you have a bunch of recruiters on staff? Why not leverage their collective knowledge and publish your own job search advice. Become an advocate for job seekers by giving short resume and interview tips. You could follow various career coaches on Twitter and simply retweet them if you don’t have the time to create your own.

Welcome new employees

One company I know introduces all their new employees with a pic and a blog post on their first day. Prospective candidates will love it and so will your newest hire. It shows that you are proud of your employees while also giving your new hire a great onboarding experience.

Important industry news

Keep your candidates up to date on important changes in your industry. The best way to do this is by following the top news sites for your vertical and sharing their stories on social media. You can even automate this by grabbing the RSS feed of your favorites news sites/blogs and auto posting their headlines through IFTTT or Twitterfeed.com onto your own social media accounts.

Reasons why people should work there

Survey your employees and ask them why they like to work there. Use that list in your content marketing. Get real quotes from your employees. These quote can be reused over and over again on social media and act as a magnet for candidates. You can also ask that your employees share that quote on company review sites like Glassdoor.

Jobs

Probably the most obvious of all content, job listings should only be a fraction of your overall content strategy. For every job you put on social media, publish four other pieces of content for candidates. TIP: be sure to include job title, location and a hashtag like job to make sure your jobs are optimized for sites like twitter. Also, add a pic to every job tweet. That will make it stand out.

Inspirational quotes

Quotes about work/career/success are great attention getters. They tend to be shared a lot among people across social media. Find your favorite quotes and put them into your content rotation.

Links to your social media channels

Cross promote ALL your social media channels on each other. Once a week tell your Facebook fans to follow you on twitter and vice versa. Doing this regularly will keep your follower count growing.

Company mission statement

Grab copy from your company website like the mission statement, values or other culture related info and post those missives. Break them into little chunks of information to tweet about weekly. Sell the mission of the company, not just the perks of the job.

All the above should be shared in all the possible channels: email, social media, your career site and other places online where your jobs are present. Employers should focus on creating a “newsroom for candidates.” It’s a good idea to create a content marketing schedule to help you organize all this information. Social media tools like Buffer or Meet Edgar can help with some of that.

In addition to content you should also engage with candidates. Answer their questions from your Facebook page, reply to their tweet or give them a shout out when they make a good point on Linkedin. Don’t be passive, be proactive. You can also use existing employees to amplify your message. Ask for volunteers among your workforce (especially those who are social media power users) to help re-share and retweet what you do on online. It will only help extend your brand and drive more applicants back to your jobs.