KPI. ROI. CPH.

How are recruitment marketers to measure the impact of their employer brand efforts?

Recently, I stumbled upon an article on LinkedIn that talked about Marketing departments not having enough talent on their teams to fully understand the analytics around their efforts. So, if Marketing doesn’t have the talent … I can only imagine how HR teams must be faring. And, I will admit, often times there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to really dig through all of the data that is available to me. (Sound familiar?)

It may (or may not) be a question of talent, but a question of time. Thankfully, there are two cool Google tools that offer high level insights.

Google Tools that’ll help your Employer Brand

Search Patterns & Trends Using Correlate

I first read about Google Correlate in a recent Mashable article, then went to the site and entered “my company + jobs” and “my company + careers.” It was interesting to see the line graphs and the state comparisons, too. In this particular case, there was a noticeable increase in associating my company—with jobs and careers—right around 2008-2009. And from 2009 on, a steady climb in the right direction.

Why is this interesting?

That was right around the time that we developed and began executing our employer brand strategy.

Geek out on Google Trends

After playing around on Correlate, I conducted the same searches via Google Trends and noticed a similar uptick associated with our “careers” messaging. Toggling from region to city via the “Regional Interest” chart was insightful as well, particularly because my company has multiple U.S. locations.

What does all this mean?

Honestly, I’d love for someone from Google to spend 15 minutes with me and tell me what it all means. What I think it means is this:

That since we began actively managing our employer brand, developing our web presence and building a social media footprint, we’ve seen an increase in people researching us. They are recalling my company’s name and associating us a place to work (not just an insurance company).

The more searches, the more perceived employer brand recognition. The more brand recognition, the higher the line goes on the chart. The higher the lines, the more I think we’re doing the right things. Anyone have any other thoughts?

Have fun conducting your own searches? (you know you’re about to spend some time on the Google machine).