Randstad USA grows brand voice around key topics with LinkedIn Articles

Challenge

● Randstad USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of Randstad N.V., the largest HR services company in the world. It offers staffing and solutions for employers hiring finance, technology, warehousing, administrative roles and more. The organization serves a diverse range of employers, from small mom-and-pop shops to enterprise-level corporations. Its mission isn’t only to fill positions — it’s to place qualified candidates in positions to succeed.

● The company was looking for ways to broaden content reach during a time when other marketing channels were going through changes. Randstad sought to maintain a regular stream of value-add content, positioned in a way that was accessible to job-seekers and clients turning to the company for insights on the next normal workforce and workplace landscape.

● Above all, Randstad USA needed to maintain empathy and authenticity in its marketing. “Our mission is to be really human-forward,” says Karen Pace, Director, Social and Content Marketing for Randstad USA. “We bring humanity to the job search and recruiting process.”

Solution

● Randstad USA explored the power of LinkedIn Articles as a new way to provide their target audience with thoughtful, relatable long-form content. The company aimed to not only provide written content, but to convey meaningful, powerful concepts with emotion, to a professional audience, in an authentic way.

● “We took the long-form opportunity as a real chance to use LinkedIn and move swifter and be a little more agile in hitting on hot topics,” says Karen. Randstad USA leveraged LinkedIn Articles to produce impactful content about a wide range of timely topics facing job-seekers and employers, including racial inequality, gender discrimination, LGBTQIA+ issues, pandemic uncertainties, political turbulence and others.

● The company developed a number of thematically pertinent stories, publishing them on LinkedIn to coincide with corresponding events throughout 2021, including the recent Tokyo Olympic Games.

Results

● Randstad USA produced several long-form LinkedIn pieces that garnered significant attention. Among them, the previously unpublished story of the company’s efforts to staff the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. The article not only told one of the company’s most significant stories; it did so through compelling narrative and inspiring images.

● The company created proprietary benchmarks to measure the success of its LinkedIn Articles based on views, interactions, shares and other engagements. “The marks were three, five and even 10 times our estimated benchmarks for impressions and engagement,” according to Karen.

Storytelling through LinkedIn

● The most important element of Randstad USA’s content marketing is authenticity. To achieve this, the company relies on the ancient art of storytelling. Randstad’s foray into long-form storytelling through LinkedIn Articles saw significant engagement — particularly for sensitive topics and timely stories. The story of Randstad USA’s involvement with the Olympics was well-placed in the lead up to the Tokyo Games.

● “We were able to share pictures and first-person interviews in our LinkedIn Article, to really share an experience,” Karen explains. “It’s an amazing story that wasn’t published anywhere else. LinkedIn Articles gave us not only the opportunity to tell the story, but to do so in a way that was more than just an article.”

Taking a stance on important social issues

● Many of the long-form LinkedIn Articles published by Randstad focus on hot-button social issues. The content team leaned into its storytelling approach to deliver messages of support and justice not from a marketing and PR perspective, but from a human one. From COVID-19, to racial inequity, to issues of gender and sexuality, the company stayed true to its human-forward approach and advocated for its many audiences.

● “It's important to have these conversations. It's important for us to say we support our Black colleagues, our LGBTQIA+ employees, our Asian team members,” says Karen. “As a business that represents everyone, that means talking about tough issues. We watched LinkedIn News and followed trends, and we highlighted 30-40 ideas we knew we needed to be outspoken about.”

Growing an audience through value-add content

● No matter the topic or the audience, Randstad USA’s content strategy wins by creating value. During an unprecedented time, the company needed to retain its voice and broaden it by offering value-driven content to its followers. Randstad turned to LinkedIn not only for a platform, but as an outlet for creating long-form content with value to specific audiences.

● The result? LinkedIn has become a fully-fledged part of Randstad’s community outreach strategy. “We really take great pride in creating audience-focused content right on our website. We're looking to answer questions and meet needs,” says Karen. “LinkedIn Articles have been a great extension of this mission.”

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