Hello Thomas. Can you tell us about " Content Marketing " ? What definition do you give ? 

In both marketing and HR, the advent of social networks has changed the paradigm of exchange and communication. It is now necessary to produce content, to feed the conversation with original editorial creations  it is necessary to interest its targets with useful or playful information. This is the "Content Marketing " or content marketing.

Thomas Chardin shares his views on Content Marketing applied to HR

In the field of human resources, whether for HR professionals - HRDs - or HR providers - HR consulting firms, recruiting firms, etc. -, content marketing has become a must.

It is now necessary to produce relevant content to fuel the exchange with its communities. In HR, these communities can be made up of prospects and clients when you are an HR provider, candidates, employees or managers when you are an HRD.

The world has changed : content has become a must for HR !

Let's Talk HR defines itself as an editorial and digital marketing agency dedicated to HR. What is " editorial and digital marketing " ?

We talk about " Editorial and digital marketing " because the challenge of "Content Marketing " is twofold : it is about creating differentiating and relevant content, and then distributing itto the right communities at the right times by driving the exchange.

 To be effective, then, there is a need for fourfold expertise :

• Marketing, to reach its target effectively ;
• Editorial, to engage its audience and anchor trust ;
• Community Management, to boost socially and engage its community ;
• Webmarketing, to pilot and transform actions into measurable results (increase in its traffic and number of qualified leads, acquisition of new customers, improvement of its sourcing, control of its turnover, etc.).

A table needs 4 legs to be truly stable. If these 4 expertises were easily found on the market, we would not exist.

We've grouped them together within the Let's Talk HR agency. This is what makes the dynamic HR content marketing we offer and the small success of Let's Talk HR.

Concretely, how is "Content Marketing ", useful to HRD ?

It can be said that it is not only useful, it is indispensable !

A little clarification all the same : the issues of each company or each HRD are mostly different. But we can say that they are all looking for visibility. We can break down this visibility into 6 complementary items :

1. Recognition : being known
2. Legibility : being understood
3. The image : being recognized
4. The SEO : being found easily
5. Credibility : being reassuring
6. Influence : being followed

Content marketing helps address one or more of these items. As I said, they are not just useful to the business, they are vital.

Within this framework, the objectives of content marketing can be very diverse:

• improve the referencing of the company (SEO) including its HR referencing;
• also improve the position of the company's website on certain keywords. We often offer our clients to have at least two results on the first page of Google on some strategic key phrases ;
• boost visits to a corporate site or blog. This objective is often associated with an inbound marketing approach and increasingly with marketing automation ;
• generate contacts and leads from prospects when you are a provider, from candidates when you are HRD ;
• enhance its business or employer brand via a well-trafficked, attractive and differentiating storefront for its market.

Bref, intrusive advertising is dead, long live utilitarian content !

Without HR content, there is no salvation !

HR content is king!

In practical terms, how do you get started with content production ? What advice would you give to professionals to succeed in their HR  content marketing?

Before you create content and animate your communities, you need a direction and a framework. These must be clear and shared. To do so, they must also be formalized. Here are some questions, sometimes obvious, that it is appropriate, in our opinion ,to answer :

• What are the issues of the approach ?
• What are the objectives to be achieved ?
• What are the targets ? The off-targets ?
• What are the brand territory and themes to address to engage targets ?
• What are the natures of content expected by your targets: forums, posts, infographics, videos, etc.
• How do they fit into the communication plan or events already planned ? How do they feed them ?
• What frequency ? Etc.

It is about setting the digital charter, both editorial and community management, of the company's speech.

Then you need to produce a digital content and community management schedule.

Finally, you have to produce the content and make regular evaluation points.

So concretely, initializing your HR content marketing in an efficient way is done in 3 steps :

• Framing : digital charter + planning
• Production : content and posts (Community Management)
• Evaluation of results

This remains common sense, simple to implement. It is also sometimes what is most lacking in our organizations. We are an agent of simplicity and efficiency.

How should professionals who want to go further on this topic, what is the right approach ?

I don't have a magic bullet that will work in all cases.

Experience and still common sense give us some leads : we simply have to produce editorial and social content that is enriching for the target.

But this simplicity is sometimes complex to implement.

The key is surely between 

• relevance: produce quality and content tailored to targets.
• the regularity of dissemination : it is necessary to create a kind of appointment with his community, clearly identify your brand and your speech.
• finally, you have to deserve your community and always surprise it, pleasantly, by varying the formats : infographics, tweets, podcasts, etc.

This is what will develop your business and employer brand visibility.

And concretely I invite you to read the Super Agency blog, it's very well done on the subject! 

A few words about Thomas Chardin

Thomas Chardin  is the founding director of Parlons RH.

He is an expert in Human Resources and Marketing.

He supports HR departments and HR providers in integrating social media into their communication strategy.

He is also a specialist in technologies dedicated to HR management. Thomas is a graduate of CIFFOP's Master 2 and of the Sorbonne's Magisterium of Economics.