How to create a powerful company culture video

Did you know that 46% of candidates cite company culture as a very important factor when seeking a job? The company, which manages to pull the heartstrings of the candidates, is the winner in the employer markets. The basics of appealing to employees are not much different from attracting customers and giving them a reason to stay with you.

What you need is to get employees emotionally attached to your company, product, and cause. Candidates will have many questions regarding your company as they consider a new job, and one of the main questions is “Would I fit in? Would I enjoy working here?”

Creating a short video of your company is an excellent way to show just who you are and to display your employer brand. Investing in a company video is investing in something which can be used on multiple occasions; from social media to company webpage and from meetings to special events.

There are multiple ways of creating a video. In fact,  your imagination is the only limit here. 

To help you out, we gathered together some ideas to shoot and build an effective video that piques interest and has the potential to create an emotional impact on the viewer.

Keep It Simple and Honest

The ideal length for your video is 2-3 minutes. People can tell when someone is trying too hard to impress them so cut that out and tell honestly who you are as a company; what do you do and why, what are your values, goals, visions, products, etc. Kone, who is using RecRight video interviews in their recruitments, has made a basic presentation of their company in this short video (see below).

Your video doesn't have to be this fancy, but it needs to reflect your image as a company and as an employer.  

Choose Your Audience

Appealing to everyone means appealing to no one. 

Concentrate on appealing to people with the talents and skills you need. Ask from your employees what is needed from an employee to successfully manage tasks in the open post or in your company overall.

Depending on your target audience you can mold the video’s representation to fit them better; are you appealing to “Can do!” -youngsters or rather to old-fashioned veterans? To part-timers or someone to stay permanently as a part of your company’s family? 

If your company has a special personality – for example, if your company operates as a family or is very humorous – you can emphasize this to your target audience.

Set A Live Broadcast into Your Working Space

Nothing can give a better view of your company’s daily culture as a recording of a normal day at the job. If possible, set a web camera to live broadcast how work is done in your company, what kind of culture you have, and what kind of personalities work there. This is a unique and effective little extra, especially for an open recruiting time.

If a live broadcast doesn’t fit your company, you can record the day’s events and make a short compilation video out of it. Another option is to give your company’s social media accounts to one of your employees and ask them to film their workday instead of just uploading pictures. Many social media channels - like Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat - have special features in creating video content.

Employee Testimonials

One thing that all the top employer brands know how to do is let their employees do the talking. Have your employees voice their thoughts on how it’s to work at your company and what is needed to be successful in the job. Allow them to talk about career opportunities, benefits, and the working environment your company offers them.

Honest testimonies are effective and come across as genuine and trustworthy – after all, when the company makes a video where employees can talk about the company like this, it sends out a powerful message of respect between the company management and the workforce.

Tell About Company Culture

How’s the company culture helping employees to reach their best? How does the company culture enrich and inspire people? What values does it represent and how are those values present? How do people behave in meetings? What kind of personality (humorous, ambitious, serious, future-oriented, natural, homey, driven, etc.) does your company have?

The thing people want to know the most is whether they would fit in the company’s existing culture, so be open and inspiring about it. In the video below, a Gant's employee is telling about yoga sessions they have at their office.

How Does Your Company Differ from Others?

Do you have something different up your sleeve, something unique only you can do or offer for your employees? Is your emphasis on certain values or methods? Do you aim for special goals or have unusual ways of doing things? Do you offer special benefits or career opportunities for your employees? Don’t hesitate to bring out your company’s uniqueness, which sets you apart from others. Here is an example of Dropbox's unique approach to its employer branding. 

Naturality = Easy Approach and Trustworthiness

Perhaps, our biggest tip on creating a compelling company culture video is to be natural, to be yourself. A natural and easy approach in videos promotes ease and trust in the viewers. If you do employee testimonials, let them talk freely without strict scripts. Let your employees and company be what they truly are. Too much polishing kills the edge and can come across as trying to impress employees too hard.