Over 45% of the world population or roughly 3,48 billion people are using social media in 2019. Millennials and Gen Z, the current and future main workforce spend a large amount of their lives on social networks. Regarding this global phenomenon, recruiters and headhunters are focusing more on social media recruiting to discover and approach high-quality candidates.
Social media is a gateway to effective branding and recruiting, so if you’re not already in the game, you are missing out on a lot of opportunities.This article will give you insights and tips to kickstart your social media recruiting campaigns.
What is social media recruiting?
Simply put, social media recruiting is using social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc for discovering, attracting and hiring talent. And it is not a substitute for job boards and advertising on a corporate website; rather, it supplements all these activities.
Social media recruiting can offer you a myriad of benefits, namely:
- Reaching passive candidates - those who are not actively looking for jobs or haven’t heard of your company.
- Attracting those with potentially better culture fit.
- Saving a lot of money, you will spend much less than traditional advertisements.
- Getting more referrals.
- Being able to establish a more personal connection with potential candidates.
The benefits of social media recruiting are clear, so without further ado, let’s dive into our 10 tips to master your social media recruiting campaigns.
Top 10 essential social media recruiting strategies and case studies
01. Build An Online Reputation For Your Company
Millennials and Gen Z are notoriously idealistic; a company is only deemed worth working for if the company’s values align with theirs. They need to form an emotional and ethical connection to be able to commit to their work. Therefore, the broadcast of your brand’s characteristics is extremely vital if you want to attract millennials and Gen Z candidates.
So how can you incorporate this strategy? It’s quite simple, actually:
- First, you need to learn your company's core value, culture, company vision and mission by heart. From those fundamentals, then recruiters/ marketers can start branch out and be creative on the choice of voice and content: Are you funny, quirky or are you more on the formal and serious side of the spectrum? Are you friendly or sarcastic? Whatever you are, stick to it and tailor it to appeal to your ideal candidates.
- Be consistent with that voice and use it to showcase your beliefs, values and uniqueness. Needless to say, your potential candidates have a sweet spot for these things.
- Promote your employees’ experience. It can be a day-to-day update or special events, or just sharing from your people. Nothing polishes your brand image for recruiting than showing what it’s like to work for you.
lifeatgoogle Instagram is the epitome of building a good image in candidates’ minds. The Instagram account is a collection of moments and sharings from Google employees, demonstrating the signature dynamic and fun working environment we’ve always heard about Google.
02. Involve your employees in sharing posts on social media
Being popular on the Internet requires a lot of sharing. And popularity equals more potential candidates reached. Never underestimate the power of personal connections. In an era of advertising bombardment, people are more cautious and in need of recommendations from friends and acquaintances more than ever. Just simply finding out about a company on social media isn’t enough for a job seeker to actually apply for it. They need a little push, they need reviews, they need testimonials. And your employees might just be the person prospective candidates can trust and the people to convince prospective candidates to apply for the job.
This method is inarguably the easiest to implement, since all you have to do is to encourage your employees to share your content. You can spice things up by also having them make referrals and give bonuses to employees who can make new, high-quality referrals.
03. Be creative with your content
To build a good brand image, you need to be a good story teller. No matter how cool your company is, if you fail to convey that wonderful idea, no one will notice you and your company will forever remain underground.
Luckily, social media offers you a variety of ways to tell your stories, one of which is being visual. Frankly, visuals are the best way to capture attention. What you need to do is to create and share viral photos and videos. Show the world who you are, what you do, what you believe in, and what it’s like to be a part of your business.
Here’s a bonus tip: Be consistent with your design. In addition to a distinct voice, you also need a unique tone in your photos and videos.
A good example of good content is LEGO Technic’s Bugatti Chiron that DRIVES. They managed to show a firm belief in making the impossible possible. Moreover, LEGO also succeeded in conveying a fun and cool atmosphere to their audience, rendering them a perfect fit for those who enjoy a vibrant working environment.
04. Connect with the right people
There is an online community for almost every topic you can think of. Those places are full of potential candidates skilled in what they do who are finding a chance to prove and develop themselves.
So, don’t overlook the niche networks. Join Facebook, LinkedIn groups or Subreddits related to your field. There are always top talents in the rubble, diamonds in the rough. All you have to do is look for them.
05. Be active on multiple platforms
Most recruiters are actively hunting talent on LinkedIn, but it is not enough. Remember, you cannot create an image and make a good impression in the public if you narrow your audience to a sole platform. Many young people and passive candidates don’t even have a LinkedIn account.
Expand your playground, but beware of the directions to which you do:
- Instagram, it’s proven to be the social network with the highest user engagement.
- Facebook, which offers multiple business tools for insights and advertising.
- Pinterest, if you are confident in your visuals.
- Twitter is a splendid choice for those of you who have a strength in copywriting.
There are yet even more platforms for you to choose from, but keep in mind that no social network is similar to the other. They all have their own essence, and require different types of content to stand out. Remember to choose what fits your company the best and find a way to adapt to your chosen networks.
06. Harness the power of the hashtag
The familiar “#” symbol connects content from every nook and cranny of the Internet. It’s one of the reasons why it’s so easy to get lost in the “Discover” section on Instagram or any other platform. One hashtag leads to another and soon the user will be lost in a maze of entangled posts.
Hashtags are your ladder to Trending posts, enabling you to be recognized easily by a larger audience. Imagine the company being a spier and the potential candidates their prey, then the hashtags are basically the spider’s web. So how can we make the most of the hashtag? First, find out which hashtags are trending with the help of statistics.
Figure out which hashtags work for you, or try to find ways to incorporate popular hashtags into your content. But do not forget tip No.01 - make sure you stick to your voice.
Ask yourself what hashtags suit your demographics the most. Go for what is short and memorable.
In case there’s no existing hashtag that shows your brand’s essence, be inventive and create your own. Personalize your hashtags and make them work for you.
07. Use social recruiting software
Using social recruiting software enables you to simplify the process and streamline social media recruiting. Similar to other recruiting methods, leverage technology can play a significant role in making your job easier and more convenient.
Social recruiting software can help you sync all of your company’s social media accounts, schedule posts, and automate responses, etc.
Some popular social recruiting platforms include:
Bullhorn
Bullhorn focuses on providing customer relationship management, applicant tracking system and operation software for the staffing industry.
Bullhorns allows recruiters to create and share job postings across various social media platforms and job boards. Recruiters can have access to more insights by tapping to its social media recruiting analytics boards
Greenhouse
Greenhouse collects into one dashboard the job seekers’ applications from different routes like employment websites and referrals. Greenhouse is an open platform that uses an application programming interface (API) to facilitate the aggregation.
INOMICS
More than a social recruiting platform, INOMICS is the go-to site to get valuable information, advice, career and study offers in the area of economics and related disciplines.
INOMICS offers effective channels for universities, research centers and companies to recruit within a niche community of students, researchers and professors in economics.
From social media campaigns to website content creation and development, INOMICS offer customers a free consultation so that they can find the right marketing mix to optimize their employer branding and recruitment.
Lever
Lever is a cloud-based solution that offers ATS and CRM functionality in one single platform to manage the hiring process. It helps teams of all sizes to source, nurture and manage their candidates, all in one place.
Rakuna
Rakuna focuses on campus & event recruitment and has helped a wide range of customers from startups to large enterprises to attract millennials and gen Z talent.
Rakuna offers a wide variety of independent tools, including Event Management, Recruit App, and Recruiting CRM to recruiters to optimize their recruiting operation.
Jobvite
Jobvite is a cloud-based applicant tracking system (ATS) that enables users to manage hiring processes including job distribution, screening, interviewing and sending out offers. It’s suitable for midsize and enterprise recruiting companies.
08. Livestream videos
This is a great way to hold conversations with potential candidates. With this feature, you can organize Q&A sessions where you can provide tailored answers to specific questions job seekers have in mind. This is also a chance for you to hold conversations and build rapport with your target candidates.
This is a fairly easy method to carry out. All you have to do is schedule a live Q&A session as a Facebook event, share it on other platforms if you will.
A great example of this tip is Microsoft Live’s live sessions. They hold sessions like this pretty regularly. Regardless of their reputation, events like that are sure to attract a myriad of candidates.
09. Create a separate account for recruiting
Having a social media account specialized in recruiting creates a more streamlined experience for job seekers to find information about your company. You can also target a more specific set of audience - your candidates. By having a profile meant for nothing but recruiting purposes, you make the job searching and applying process much easier and therefore, easing job hunters into choosing your company as a destination.
So what do you need to know before creating a new account meant just for recruiting?
- You can’t go wrong with the name. Keep it simple and recognizable.
- Tailor the content to the interests of applicants.
- Showcase your workplace culture periodically. This is a great place for it.
- Make sure your contact and application information is easy to find.
An exemplary recruiting account is Under Armour Jobs. This Twitter page shows you all you need to know if you are considering applying for Under Armour. Most of their posts are focused on broadcasting their employees’ experience, a big attention grabber. The link to their “Career” website is apparent on their bio. What’s not to like about them?
10. Optimize your LinkedIn page
LinkedIn is without a doubt the best social network for recruiting, and anyone with a business should be sure to have a profile on the “World’s largest social network”.
If you want to get started with LinkedIn, here are a few tips you should remember:
- Fully complete your brand page. The text on your main page is what Google uses to decide where your page appears in the search results. Google only shows the first 154 characters, so your message needs to be good.
- Fill out your description. Include keywords people would use to look your company up. And don’t forget to balance it out with those for marketing purposes - customers search for your business too, not just job searchers.
- Use filters to find the right candidates. There are so many people on LinkedIn that the market becomes diluted. You need to narrow down your potential candidates by searching by location, current and past company, years of experience, etc. anything you need in an employee and finally choose one that ticks all the boxes.
- And don’t forget to complete the “Company Specialties” section.
Conclusion
The majority of your target candidates use social networks frequently for both recreational purposes and career prospects. Social media recruiting strategies are therefore crucial to building a good employer brand and reaching job seekers.
The aforementioned 10 tips are just a starter, it’s your turn to pick one to start testing and decide what works best for your company. Whatever niche you are planning to go for, do well and be the best.
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