Authentic brand storytelling through live chat and social media

As a professional services company ourselves, this time we’re going to talk a bit about how we use social media to tell our story here at PLOTT, and how this fed into the recruitment process for our latest team member. We’ll also look at emerging Fintech company Plum’s use of Messenger and global financial heavyweight Citi’s recruitment drive through the use of live chat.

PLOTT

At PLOTT we work hard to tell our story. And it’s not just a one-off thing – every day is different, and so our brand story is constantly evolving.

Our social media presence is a key element of PLOTT storytelling. Through social media we can open a window into the PLOTT world and let people have a peek inside.

Social media meant that when we were looking to recruit someone new to the team, Jen was already sold on PLOTT before she’d even stepped through the door.

This brings us back to a quote by Seth Godin that we included in our Millennials, Storytelling and Professional Services article – “marketing is no longer about the stuff you make but the stories you tell.”

Plum

Cool Fintech company Plum is well worth a look in terms of innovative use of social media direct messaging.

Advertised as ‘your money’s best friend’, Plum links to your bank account and monitors your spending activity. It then calculates an affordable amount for you to save using algorithms developed with teams at MIT and CERN.

But what makes them different from other companies offering the exact same product? You open your Plum account in the Messenger app. In fact, all communication with Plum happens through Messenger – even checking your balance and withdrawing funds!

Plum chat to you over the app; they use emojis and they express emotions. It’s like messaging a friend.

Whilst this may not be at all appealing for some, for others it’s perfect. So many of us live our lives on our phones, having a direct dialogue to our bank through a live chat app is exactly what we’ve been waiting for.

Citi

Global finance company Citi is a familiar name to a lot of us. And whilst they have the gravitas that comes with being a billion-dollar company, in 2017 they found that their careers site was performing worse than the market benchmark (PathMotion, June 2018).

Candidates wanted to know the company story, and even more than that they wanted to know the story of the employees. But what they were getting was an abundance of facts and a total lack of storytelling, leaving them feeling frustrated and unengaged.

If potential candidates can’t find the information they want on your recruitment site, they’ll go elsewhere to find it – and on websites like Glassdoor, you have no control over what they find there…

Citi’s solution? Adding a live chat direct with their employees to their careers site. This gave candidates a direct line to the heart of the company. Employees were able to share their stories and answer any questions candidates had.

The result? 77% of candidates said their impression of Citi had improved, and 98% planned to apply for a position (PathMotion, June 2018).

Take home messages

What it really boils down to is this:

• Stories are better remembered – they stick in your head and grab your attention
• Make the most of your company social media presence to add authenticity and value to your brand story – it makes all the difference
• Try to think outside the box when it comes to how you communicate with customers and candidates
• When it comes to recruitment, real time engagement with employees is the most immersive way to tell stories