In this guest post from G2, a business software and service review website, we explore how company culture can be a differentiating factor when using video to attract new hires.

The best way to set your company apart in the recruiting marketplace is to highlight your company culture. Company culture can define the tone for your work environment and has a substantial impact on employee satisfaction within their role.

If you have a great culture, show it off in a video! Having a company culture video is a great way to present the best parts of the company to potential candidates – especially when trying to recruit Millennials and Gen Z’s. It’s a strong addition to any recruiting landing page and a great way to show that your company is down to earth.

Keep reading for six tips for leveraging your company culture with video to drive successful recruitment campaigns.

Video marketing as a tool to display your company culture

We constantly consume video content on different devices throughout the day. Companies already use video to market products, so it should be a natural transition to use video marketing for recruitment as well.

A great advantage of using video is that it has a higher retention rate. A viewer will remember 95% of a message delivered in video but only 10% when reading it as text. If you want your company culture to be a deciding factor for why candidates choose your organization, be sure to present it in a memorable way.

There are many different directions that you can take with your culture video. However, in order to stand out, you need to follow a few guidelines to promote your employer brand, and encourage candidates to choose your company.

1. Tell a Story

One of the most important factors in creating a successful company culture video is to tell a cohesive story with it instead of just piecing together clips.

You have a lot of choices when deciding what story to tell. You could follow a day in the life of an intern or a senior director. Or, center your company culture video around company values by interviewing different employees’ takes on them. If your company values a strong work-life balance, highlight your team’s input on how it works hard and plays hard.

Your story doesn’t necessarily have to relate to the work day. For example, Basecamp shows a video of different team members doing a taste test between two different coffee brands. This may not give a ton of insight into the company’s work, but it gives viewers an idea that the company is not just focused on their work.

Regardless of the story you present, make sure it is relevant to both your culture and audience. You don’t want to isolate a viewer (and potential future applicant) early on. Research what your target applicants care about, and build elements of it into your video.

2. Elicit a Feeling

Emotions help influence what we buy. If you want a potential candidate to buy into your company as a great place to work, it makes sense to use your video to elicit specific emotions.

There is a variety of methods you can use to help trigger emotions. Two video elements, which work hand-in-hand, that have the biggest impact on emotions are the music and the tone carried throughout the video. The tone of the video can be set by the music, the different video shots, and the tone of voices carried throughout the video. Importantly, you need to ensure that these two factors are reflective of your company culture.

Is your company culture playful and lighthearted? Use a humorous tone and upbeat music to reflect this. Perhaps even consider using shorter scenes to keep the video more fast-paced.

Maybe your culture is a little more serious. You would use slower music and longer, in-depth interviews to show this. Talk about how your company supports the team in their work. Use longer scenes and include more panning shots to help convey this tone.

Before creating your company culture video, identify which aspects of your culture you want to highlight and decide what emotions you want your viewers to experience while watching your video. Having this vision before production will help ensure a more cohesive message.

3. Honesty is the Best Policy

Considering the popularity of Glassdoor and other online forums, your future candidates probably already have a decent grasp on your company culture. Your video will not be groundbreaking information to them, but you can use it to help to frame the narrative around your company’s work environment.

When creating your company culture video, it’s important to first perform an internal assessment on how management defines your culture and how that culture actually plays out in the office. If there are major discrepancies between these two, make sure to discuss it and find an appropriate approach for your video.

Try to show off the real culture of your business. This will help ensure that the candidates you’re interviewing are culture matches because they are able to make a preliminary decision about your organization before even applying.

It’s important to note that company culture is much bigger than the ping-pong tables and nap pods. Although these are fun perks, think about why you offer these perks. Perhaps the ping-pong tables signal a desire for employees to have fun while working. Think about how your core values have influenced your culture, and vice versa.

The truth is going to come out about your culture regardless of your video, so do yourself a favor and be honest about it from the beginning. This will help ensure that your video is a worthy investment and is working to further your brand identity.

4. Use Your People

A great way to humanize your company is to use your own employees in your company culture video. Let the voices and faces of your video be the ones that are seen around the office everyday.

Your employees are the heart of your culture, so it makes sense to use them in the video. Interview different employees about what the company values mean to them. Include a voiceover of someone describing different accomplishments. Add video clips illustrating the team working collaboratively and spending time together outside of working hours.

Your employees should be your biggest ambassadors, so give them a platform to speak about why they chose your company and why they stay there.

5. Be Unique

Spoiler alert: your company culture video is unlikely to be the first one a candidate has seen. Many companies make use of these videos to appeal to potential candidates and boost conversation surrounding the work environment.

Put your own creative spin on your company culture video. It’s important to highlight what makes your company unique and why someone should want to work for you.

Have fun and be true to who you are as an organization. Your company culture video should reflect the personality of your company.

6. Have a Purpose

Finally, ensure that there is a definite purpose behind your video. Don’t just make this video to tick it off a checklist. It’s an important tool you can use to highlight your company culture—you should use it as such.

In order to figure out the purpose of your video, think about your company’s mission. Think about why people should want to work for you. Use your takeaways to guide the direction of your video in order to see the best results.

Identify what makes your organization unique and run with it!

Prime Examples

There are many companies that have done an amazing job to use company culture videos to enhance their brand (and some that didn’t work quite as well). These three brands are a great place to start your research on creating your own video.

Dropbox

The file hosting company Dropbox uses puppets to help showcase their company culture. The video emphasizes the positivity and work-life balance apparent in the workplace. This fun video makes you view this company in a new light outside of its product.

Starbucks

The coffee giant does a great job using their company culture video to highlight the impact that partners can have early in their careers at Starbucks’ corporate office. From interns to the rotational leadership development partners, the video’s creator interviews different employees who highlight their experience and the happiness that comes from their work culture.

Shopify

Shopify uses a quirky, out-of-the-box approach for their company culture video. The video highlights the recruiting team taking the phrase “how to draw an owl” a little too seriously and follows the aftermath. Shopify does a great job of showcasing their unique culture through this video.

Getting Started

Culture videos are great assets to add to your recruiting toolbox. With many free video editing software tools for beginners, the barrier to entry is quite low. It’s a unique way to introduce potential candidates and others to your work environment.

However, in order for these videos to help grow your brand, make sure that you let your company’s personality shine through. You continue to work at your company for a reason. Let your video help convince your future team members to do the same.

If you’re looking for a way to share your company culture and recruiting videos, look no further! Get started with a 30 day free trial today.