How Yelp Uses Video to Boost Their Brand and the Candidate Experience

Strong employer branding and an outstanding candidate experience have become crucial elements for companies aiming to stand out and attract the best candidates. Huge Organista, Recruitment Marketing Manager at Yelp, exemplifies a modern, dynamic approach to attracting top talent through innovative strategies like video. By incorporating video into their box of tools, Organista and his team effectively differentiated both their employer brand and candidate journey.

Watch the full conversion right here, or read on for the highlights, as well as tips and tricks from Organista on how to get it right.

How Yelp Uses Video Authentically

Organista’s first role at Yelp was to completely redesign their website and develop an Employer Value Proposition (EVP) that stood out. His goal was to be authentic and straightforward, and he knew video was a great way to do that: “I wanted our employer brand to be real, genuine, and authentic, so that when candidates come and take a look at what Yelp is really like… they know what’s on the other side of that door,” he said.

At the time, however, creating high-quality video content in a remote environment posed several challenges:

• It was difficult to achieve professional standards without sending out videographers or video packages

• It was costly and time-intensive

• Securing legal consent for using individuals' footage on public-facing channels required extra steps to ensure proper personal release forms were obtained

Yelp videos were doing great on social media, and employees were eager to tell their stories, but Organista needed help combating the issues above. Yelp was already using a variety of Phenom products, so he was excited to trial Video Hub. This made all the difference. Through Video Hub, a tool that supports a personalized and engaging candidate experience using intuitive video creation:

• It was easy to set parameters for social media

• Employees found it quick and easy to use

• The management of submitted content was streamlined and housed all in one place

• Every action could be tracked within the platform or specific campaign

“For employees it was a very seamless integration,” he said, which was a huge win, and they were able to start creating videos that highlighted work anniversaries, moments employees felt valued, reasons that keep them at Yelp, advice for newcomers, what Yelp culture is like, their journey to Yelp, what the future looks like, and much more.

Successful Use Cases

There were two specific instances where Organista felt Phenom Video Hub really helped them succeed.

First, he wanted to offer a clear picture of Yelp sales roles and offer encouragement to new representatives, particularly within their first 90 days of employment.

To do this, the team created a video series from real people in the role who shared their experiences with onboarded candidates and employees. They also created a video testimonial page on their career site and included it in internal communications for new sales hires. “You get these really cool, powerful stories,” he said.

The result? Average global tenure increased from 2.8 years in 2022 to 3.5 years in 2023, and there was a 183% year-over-year increase in views to the Yelp career site in 2023.

Second, Organista wanted to use video to talk about other things, not just employee career journeys. To do this, he recruited employees from Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) and gave them a voice about important months and days at the company.

The results on social media were outstanding, including a:

• 25% increase in engagement

• 33% increase in impressions

• 210% increase in followers

“Video is more likely to connect than just a regular post,” he said. “[It’s] a content gold mine.”

How Video can Boost the Experience at Every Stage

Video can be used in a myriad of ways, as shown by Organista. Here are a few more places to use video in each stage of the recruitment and onboarding process:

• Awareness stage: Social media, in blog posts, and in event promotions

• Consideration stage: Job boards, advertisements, and reputation pages

• Interest stage: Career site, job descriptions

• Application stage: Application confirmation email, recruiter communications

• Selection stage: Keep-warm emails, recruiter communications

• Hire stage: Offer package, welcome email

• First 90 days stage: Internal communications

Tips for Successfully Getting Buy-In from Stakeholders and Employees

Video won’t work without the buy-in from stakeholders and execution from employees. So, how did Organista and his team secure both?

With stakeholders, it’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t a one-sized-fits-all approach, and that communicating with them is key. He suggests finding common threads, developing close allies, and having a clear cut reason for why these videos are important. “Get the leadership buy-in at the top. They’re a really good channel to tell you where videos can be posted” as well as who you should feature, he said.

When it comes to employees, the higher up the corporate ladder they are, the busier they are, and the less likely they’ll want to participate. Organista suggests:

• Making them feel special about the opportunity by having someone in leadership nominate them.

• Making it easy to say yes by sharing where their video will be used and why it will be helpful.

• Tailoring the request to the employee by sharing 2-3 prompts they can choose from, instead of asking them to come up with their own.

• Sending examples so they can see exactly what you want from them

• Casting a wide net: “Not everyone is going to participate,” so having a handful you’re sending a request to is key. Organista found that in approximately every five requests they sent out, one person said yes.

A final tip? Reach out to employees who are recent hires or veterans, in good standing, represent the values and culture of the workplace, have diverse perspectives, and have a good story to tell. And remember, diversity can be gender, race, disability, working parents, boomerang employees, ERG members, and much more — so think outside the box!

Phenom Video Hub includes branding options to edit videos, automatic closed captions, the ability to download recordings, unlimited video uploads, unlimited campaigns, and much more. Get a personalized demo of Video Hub right here.