You also ask yourself: What should we actually put on social media? What should we write articles about? How do we know what is right for our employer brand? Content marketing in employer branding is not about random posts. It is not enough to share a photo from a team building event or an interview with a satisfied employee here and there. It requires a well-thought-out strategy.

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1. Content Can’t Just Be Done – It Has to Be Strategic

For an employer brand to be strong and credible in the long term, it must have a clearly defined content strategy. One that is based on who the company is, what it offers, and who it wants to appeal to.

Content is not just an output, but also an experience with the brand.

In this article, we will show you how to create such a strategy step by step. We will go through the key elements on which a well-thought-out and sustainable content plan can be built.

And what is important – thanks to this, you will not have to worry about what to publish every week.

2. Start with Yourself: Brand Identity and EVP as the Foundation

You can’t build a good content strategy from scratch. It’s not enough to brainstorm “what could be good for Instagram”. You need a solid foundation that defines your brand as an employer.

That foundation is your Employer Brand Identity (EBI) and Employee Value Proposition (EVP).

• The EB identity answers the question: “Who are we as an employer?” What values do we represent, how do we appear externally, what is typical for us.
• The EVP answers the question: “What do we offer and why should anyone care?” What value do we bring to employees, how do we differ from others.

Content is not a random collection of messages, but a conscious mediation of these two views of the brand. It helps people understand who you are, what you offer and whether they are a good fit for you.

3. Thematic Pillars: A Bridge Between Brand and Content

Thematic pillars are the anchors of your content. They help to maintain consistency in your message, while offering a variety of formats and perspectives.

They are based on your identity and EVP, but also take into account what your audience is interested in. Each pillar should answer a key question: “What do we want to show about us?” “Why should anyone care?”

Examples of common pillars:

• Our people and stories – authentic employee experiences, ambassadors, testimonials.
• Work and projects – what we do, what technologies, products or services we create.
• Growth and development – career paths, mentoring, training programs.
• Culture and atmosphere – how we communicate with each other, what our relationships are like, what a typical day looks like.
• Mission and future – where we are going, what our social or technological impact is.

Well-chosen pillars will make it easier for you to create a content map and editorial plan. It is also often worthwhile to go a step further and be more specific in naming the pillars. For example, if you are a publishing house, the pillar could be “How a Book is Made” or “The People Behind the Cover”. If you are designing industrial complexes, the pillar could be a specific technical topic such as “Green Hydrogen” or “Digital Twin”.

Such a name is more understandable and at the same time more inspiring for the content creation itself.

4. Don’t Forget the Audience: Content Must Be Created for Someone

Content without an audience is just noise. You can have the best values and intentions, but if you don’t know who is supposed to read, listen to, or watch it, it will be ineffective.

Every company has different audiences – candidates and employees, juniors and seniors, local and foreign personnel. It is therefore important to know your target groups and adapt the language, format, and choice of channel to them.

You don’t need to have dozens of personas. Just 3 to 6 main ones that you will work with over the long term and that will help you structure the content according to the needs and motivations of different groups are enough.

For each one, answer the following questions:

• What are these people looking for and what motivates them?
• What type of content can interest them?
• At what stage of their relationship with the brand are they?

Every communication has a certain overlap. Even if we specifically address certain groups, our content is often seen by the wider public, future partners, or customers. What we say and how we say it has an impact not only on HR goals, but also on the overall image of the company.

5. RACE Model: Content Planning According to the Candidate/Employee Journey

A brand is a relationship. And a relationship has its own evolution. The RACE (Reach – Act – Convert – Engage) model describes the individual stages that a candidate or employee goes through in contact with a brand.

Sometimes it is also referred to as a “marketing funnel”, which works with the principle of gradually narrowing the audience from awareness to consideration to action and loyalty.

The key is that all of these models serve the same purpose: to understand where the audience is and what they need to hear or experience at a given stage.

Content should be designed to:

• Reach – reach and address those who do not yet know you,
• Act – help them get to know your brand and consider it,
• Convert – support a decision (such as an application or recommendation),
• Engage – strengthen the relationship and engagement of people who have already accepted.

You can spread each thematic pillar across these stages. For example, an employee story can serve as a video teaser for the Reach phase, an in-depth interview for Act, a testimonial with a CTA for Convert, and a thank you in an internal channel for Engage.

6. Content Map: Strategic Visualization of Your Communication

A content map is a clear tool that helps you connect thematic pillars, personas, RACE phases, formats, and distribution channels. It gives you better control over what, to whom, why, and where you say it.

It helps:

• maintain a balance between what we want to say and who it is for,
• lay out content across different groups and phases,
• avoid talking about only one topic or to one group all the time.

The map doesn’t have to be complicated. It can take the form of a simple table where you have:

• columns = thematic pillars,
• rows = personas or RACE phases,
• cells = suggestions for specific content, format, or output.

7. Editorial Calendar: To Make Your Strategy Live in time

A content strategy without a calendar is not a strategy, but a wish list. If you want your ideas to become real content, you need a plan.

An editorial calendar serves as a tool that maintains rhythm, organization, and cooperation across the team. It helps you monitor deadlines, distribution, and representation of different pillars and personas.

It can contain:

• topic title or working title,
• assigned pillar and target persona,
• format (e.g. article, video, post),
• channel (e.g. website, LinkedIn, Instagram),
• publication date,
• goal or KPI (e.g. traffic, reactions, shares).

It helps you plan regularly (e.g. in 2-week or monthly cycles), evaluate, and at the same time involve the wider team in the creation. A simple spreadsheet in Excel or Google Sheets is all you need to get started. However, if you work in a larger team or need automation and a clearer interface, there are a number of tools that will make your work much easier – such as Notion, Trello, Asana or Airtable.

8. Conclusion: Content is the Brand Experience

Content is an integral part of the relationship between a person and a brand today. This is doubly true in employer branding, as it influences perception, decision-making and loyalty.

With a well-thought-out strategy that connects your identity, values, audience and candidate journey, you can create content that makes sense. And not just meaning – but results. It helps you reach the right people, attract them and keep them engaged.

A strong employer brand doesn’t happen all at once. It’s built piece by piece – and content is one of the most important building blocks.

Content is not just a description of the brand – it’s a way to experience the company before a person even enters it.