Time to bring in the social media cavalry! If you have not already embraced social media as a means to reach out to candidates, connect with them and build your talent pool, then you are missing out on a great opportunity to add an extra element of effectiveness to your recruitment practices. Relying on dated networking tactics is going to quickly dry up your candidate pipeline and leave you behind competition. To the contrary, using social media for recruiting you gives you an extra tool to build and maintain relationships with your target audience and establish loyalty and engagement.
Set the Stage
A common mistake companies make with their social media strategy is leaving everything to luck. This of course doesn’t produce any results and the whole idea of social networking looks like a failed attempt. Similarly, creating accounts that no one monitors or makes updates to on a regular basis is not going to offer much. When we talk about using your social media for recruiting, we mean selecting the platforms that your target audience uses the most and participating in ongoing discussions as a way to connect with users who share particular interests and skillset. This is an ongoing effort so it is important to have a plan of action and stick to it.
Involve Your Team
It is important to keep in mind that when you want to use your social media for recruiting, you have to involve your team. Remember that your staff is your brand ambassadors and if they are not part of your efforts then you are missing on the opportunity to maximize exposure. Encourage your team to like and share your company’s updates on their own social media in order to reach out to their personal network. Ask them to reply to comments and address concerns in a timely manner as well as engage in discussions around your posts. Hold regular meetings to keep your team up-to-date with your social media initiatives and be open to ideas and suggestions.
Keep a Balance
Your social media is a great place to share the content that you generate and post industry related articles that pique the interest of your target audience and bring in more candidates. It is also a great place to promote job openings and invite people to apply. The secret to having great results when you use social media for recruiting is maintaining a nice balance with the information that you post. Avoid spending all your energy only on distributing informative content and be mindful not to flood your social media platforms with the job positions you need to fill. Do your best to keep symmetry with your social media activity.
Build Relationships
A great benefit of using social media for recruiting is that it helps recruiters get a better understanding of the personality of candidates as well as their career aspirations and professional goals. It helps reach out and engage which is a very efficient way to cultivate and build relationships with your prospects. For example, run a social giving campaign that shows to candidates, current employees and their personal contacts why connecting with you is a good thing. Talk to your team about relationship building through social media and set goals and expectations that they need to meet.
Check the Analytics
In order to better use social media for recruiting you need to keep a close eye to your tracking metrics and the behind-the-scenes analytical data. Did your paid campaign have the turn-around of candidates you expected? Do your industry related blogs increase your social media audience? Do you see more applicants coming to apply on your website from your social media? The deeper you dig into your metrics, the better initiatives you can take for your social media strategy. Make it a routine to check data and focus your energy on what works the most.
Key Takeaways for Creating a Social Media Plan that Serves Recruiting:
- Create accounts on social media platforms that your audience prefers
- Make sure your team is involved in your efforts
- Keep a balance with what you post on your social media
- Use social media to build relationships with your audience
- Make it a norm to monitor the behind-the-scenes analytical data
About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.