The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has made work from home the new normal. It lessens the possibility of contracting the virus and is more convenient than working at the office.
While video calls are the new normal in conducting meetings, coordinating work, and catching up with teammates, they are also the perfect place to showcase the employer’s brand. A screenshot of a video call or employees raving about their company on social media can generate a lot of positive attention.
Showing the brand also indicates the person is proud of his or her employer. But how it should be presented is equally important. Here are some ways to do it.
Visible branding
The brand or name of the employer must be visible during video calls. Employees should wear their company T-shirt or have objects, such as face masks and face shields, bearing the name of the brand during the video call.
Screenshots of the video meeting may have a caption that mentions the brand. The company can use hashtags to promote the brand on social media and make it easier to browse.
The brand can also be shown off-camera as part of an employee’s telecommuting setup. It can be posted on social media by the employee, thanking the company for providing equipment despite the pandemic.
Not only is this marketing the brand, but also showing thanks to it. People outside the company will see this as a gesture of appreciation of the company to its employees.
Spirit of empathy
The company providing equipment to its employees working from home is one way of showing empathy. All it takes is a selfie posted to social media with the right hashtags.
Merriam-Webster defines empathy as “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner.”
Empathy makes a brand more approachable to people, whether they’re employed by it or not. People will want to invest and be associated with the brand because they know it takes care of its own.
Besides selfies, other ways of showing empathy are publishing news articles, videos, and interviews about the company. An in-house public relations team can post these on social media. It can also be shared internally, such as the company newsletter.
However, if a brand has been practicing empathy, they might not need a PR team to convey it. Their employees will be all praises on social media. The company could just reshare what their employees posted, which will be a big morale booster.
Internally, knowing they were recognized, the employees will continue sharing their love for the company. Externally, the public will learn more about the company.
The boss speaks
Management-level bosses could give a pre-recorded speech, thanking their employees for working hard during the pandemic. It can be sent via email if the company wants it to be discreet, or published on its social media accounts.
Because when management speaks, everyone will listen, even if they’re not part of that company.