How to get social media recruitment right and the hazards to watch out for.
It’s widely known that in 2015 the majority of job seekers find their jobs through a social network. And I’m guessing that the vast majority of recruiters either already use or plan to use social media for recruiting.
Despite the implementation of social recruiting, there are still a couple of bumps in the road that should be avoided. Two main mistakes are:
- The assumption that because you own a Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin account you understand how these channels work.
- Underestimating the amount of time and resource is needed to operate these channels effectively.
Is it right for you?
Too many companies get started with social media recruitment because their “competitors are using it” – But is it right for you?
Figure out why you think social media will be the most effective channel for your company, and more importantly, are your target audience actually on social media and which social media platforms they are on? Also knowing what your business goals for social media are plays a big part in what you want to achieve. Engagement and raising your profile in your local community is great for enforcing your brand and updating people.
Where to engage?
While LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter continue to be the major players on the social front, it is important to look beyond them, but whichever you choose to use, keep in mind that each has its own ethos as the engagement and messaging types will be different. For example, LinkedIn is a professional network where people communicate about work related topics, as opposed to Facebook which is more personal. Using the same methods on Facebook as you would on Linkedin wouldn’t be well received.
With the amount of content produced today it is easy to get lost in a feed, using specific, niche networks solves this for you. For example, Creativepool, the creative industry network, provides a powerful platform to shout about a role and connect with top level talent in a variety of creative sectors. Another great example, if you are attempting to reach out to musicians then creating content and engaging with users on Soundcloud could be an effective avenue.
Time needs to be taken to identify who you want to reach and the best channel for that. A lot of companies recently have been re-evaluating which platforms they wish to use and maximise the amount of exposure on them.
What’s important?
Recruiting via social media isn’t just about publishing your latest jobs. Some of the most important benefits can be building relationships with talent and updating them about your organisation and what it’s like to work with/for you.
Promoting your employer brand within your industry is a key message that should always come across in the majority of your social interactions. Clear strategy and understanding what people want to be seeing and interacting with is crucial. Remember that your potential placements will be on social media so you need to be giving them a real view of what it’s like to work with/for you.
Knowing its effective
All inbound traffic to your job site and application tracking system (ATS) needs to be monitored – Period!
Using trackable links for content, jobs, and then monitoring them via your analytics should be a priority so you know what is influencing your ROI. Measuring follower activity, engagement with postings, and characteristics of your followers are very important.
Social media recruiting is a great tool and is the way the majority of job seekers are handling and keeping an eye on the job market at present. Hopefully these pointers can help your build a better social strategy and improve your social recruitment, and if you have any great pointers to add, share them with us below.
