When creating a digital recruitment marketing strategy, it’s common wisdom that you need to engage prospective candidates over social media. However, more than any other candidate attraction channel, social media is a nebulous, ever-shifting medium with a variety of different networks that need to be approached and used in different ways.
For example, sharing long form, blog-post style pulse posts on LinkedIn is a good way to generate interest, but using the same tactic on Instagram is nigh on impossible, and will be very unpopular on the image-driven platform. Also, platforms can rise and fall in popularity in relatively short periods of time (remember Google+ for example?) and appeal to widely different demographics.
So how do you use social media effectively? We’ve put together some hints to help you nail down a winning strategy for social media.
Don’t Take it ‘Off-site’
Conventional thinking is that social media should just be used to attract and funnel candidates to your main careers site, where candidates can then apply for your role. While this can still work, in some circumstances this can prove to be ineffective.
External links can put off candidates
Users are increasingly less likely to engage with external links that take them away from the platform than ever before, and doing so can create an extra barrier between the candidates and your end goal, which is them applying for your job. This can then lead to a higher rate of candidate dropouts.
There are two ways of combating this problem. You can spend the extra time and effort to create compelling content and a proposition that encourages candidates to use external links and be funnelled back to your careers site, which takes more effort but will ensure your social media presence is being used effectively.
Alternatively, you can use your social media platform as the first part of your application process. Facebook Jobs is a good example of this, as candidates can easily apply for roles automatically using the service, keeping candidate enthusiasm high.
Be Aware of your Platform and Demographic
As mentioned earlier, different social media platforms need different strategies in order to use them effectively. What works on Facebook will not work on LinkedIn or Instagram, and it’s a common mistake of trying to shoehorn a ‘one strategy fits all’ approach to social media.
Developing different strategies for different social media channels is key when attracting candidates
Another misconception is that anyone looking to further their careers or switch roles will stick primarily to LinkedIn, which is just frankly not the case. Different social media channels are used by job seekers, and each can be used effectively to attract and recruit talent.
What we are seeing is that different platforms tend to yield better results for different types of jobs. For example, those looking to recruit staff in technical roles, such as IT and engineering, may find more success on platforms such as Reddit, with lots of threads dedicated to more technical topics. However, this must be tempered with the fact that as users can react adversely to posts that seem inauthentic, so you will need to plan your content accordingly.
Those looking to target more ‘creative’ type roles, such as graphic designers and artists may fare better on Instagram or Tumblr, where users can easily share their creative content. Again, because of the nature of these sites, it is harder to implement a recruitment strategy, so careful planning and execution will be needed.
Make Yourself More Attractive to Candidates
A less direct way of attracting candidates is to have a well maintained and curated social media presence. 79% of candidates are likely to use social media channels to research on companies they are interested in. If you don’t have an active presence on at least some social media channels, this can put candidates off of applying for your job roles, and demonstrates a lack of transparency and openness.
Even if you don’t post breaking news, or industry-leading thought pieces, maintaining a social media presence that offers some interesting insight into your industry, company and working environment will not only help you win customers and new business but will also attract candidates, giving your company visibility.
You can use social media to really sell your USPs as an employer. Do you have any perks or benefits that other employers can’t offer? Do you have a great office location or staff with a healthy out of hours social life? Whatever your recruitment USP, social media channels are the best way to showcase these types of perks to potential candidates.
How Can We Help?
Enhance Media have years of experience of running successful digital recruitment marketing campaigns, including successfully recruiting candidates from social media channels.
If you are interested in how we can help you utilise social media as part of your recruitment strategy, why not contact us at [email protected], or call us on 01483 719020.