With each passing year, social media seems to extend further and further beyond the social engagement concept it started out as. We take a look at how social media recruitment has grown in popularity. Today's social media tools are utilised in a variety of scenarios with varying purposes, from education, to business, and even employee recruitment. Because of its unique application and significant benefits, social media is a recruitment tool all modern organisations should experiment with. To get you started, we’re sharing five tips for boosting your social media recruitment process.
Use social media recruitment to stand out from the crowd
Like anything on social media, in order to attract the right attention, you must develop a strategy capable of cutting through the competitive noise. There are dozens of other companies and individuals with similar goals, so to make sure your message is being received by the right people, you need to make yourself stand out. Remember the mindset people often approach social media with and keep that in mind when developing your campaign; this should be something that attracts their interest and presents a positive, engaging message. Customised hashtags, consistency and employee inclusive posts are all effective ways of achieving this. Additionally, don’t be afraid to show some personality. Potential candidates are more likely to be attracted to your company the more humanised you make your social posts. Avoid repetitive, impersonal postings and rather take the time to create individualised and engaging content to stand out from the dozens of automated messages being presented.
Show off your best features
The goal of social media recruitment is no different than any other strategy — you want to attract top talent to your team. Well, what’s so beneficial about recruiting via LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or Instagram is the ease of showing off your company culture, employees and current projects. Social media recruitment offers the opportunity for organisations to go beyond just posting open roles, but also demonstrating the additional features of your organisation that may entice people to want to work for you. Company culture is hugely important right now. In fact, 74% of surveyed HR professionals believe a company’s reputation is critical for successful recruiting, and that building a company culture helps companies hire the right people and get a greater number of qualified candidates. It’s in your best interest to create a positive company culture and share it with your audience. Building out your social profiles to demonstrate what your organisation has to offer is a great way to get the conversation started. Any company events, attractive office sceneries, employee recognition announcements and anything else that encompasses the culture and personality of your brand should all be featured on your business accounts.
Embrace hashtags when adopting social media recruitment
Hashtags are an excellent tool for getting your open positions in front of a relevant audience. Depending on your recruitment strategy, there are several ways you can best use hashtags to your advantage. Location For recruiting on Twitter or LinkedIn, it can be helpful to localise your job postings with hashtags like: #ManchesterJobs or #BirminghamJobs. This ensures viewers of your posts are aware of your location and helps get you in front of potential applicants in your area. Industry For instances where you are recruiting for a number of positions, more general, industry-focused hashtags can help you attract a broad yet relevant audience. Fashion brands may use #HiringInFashion or a technology company might post #JobsInTechnologyField. Position Should individuals be interested in a specific position, hashtags can be useful for narrowing down the overwhelming number of postings. For example, #RecruitingSalesReps or #HiringEngineers is straight to the point and can be utilized on any platform. Brand-specific Unique hashtags are a great way to get people to recognise your brand and engage with your postings. Any campaigns you’re running or post themes you may regularly share should utilise your company hashtags. For example, #ShareaCoke or #WantAnR8 This way, when people see it in recurring posts, they can easily recognise your brand.
Include your employees
Employees can be your strongest asset when it comes to recruiting, especially through a social media strategy. Many companies offer a monetary reward for referring a new employee, thereby encouraging current employees to participate in recruitment efforts. Involving employees can be achieved through a couple of useful ways, beginning with employee inclusive content. Perhaps you celebrate employee birthdays every month or host a bring-your-child-to-work day event. Sharing photos of employees enjoying these events on your page as well as quick personality pics with a fun fact about an employee, can show off your teams’ satisfaction with your company. Secondly, employees should be encouraged to share information regarding any job openings with their respective audiences. This not only makes employees feel included in the process, but also demonstrates the positive culture that comes along with employment at your organisation. This sort of strategy is especially useful over social media as, like any marketing campaign, people tend to trust their peers over structured advertisements.
Personalise your social media recruitment strategy
Another great benefit of social media recruitment is the flexibility. Unlike traditional job boards, interactions with potential applicants can be a little less formal and more customised to each individual. To most effectively engage a candidate via LinkedIn or Facebook message, avoid any pre-meditated templates that give off the impression you’re messaging just anyone. Take a moment to share why you think this specific person is right for the position and what drew you to them. People will appreciate the time you took and will be more likely to follow through with your offer than just push it into spam. 94% of professional recruiters today network and post jobs on social media, while 59% of employees say a company’s social media presence was part of the reason they chose their workplace. If your company is active on social media, you’re already halfway there. Test using social media recruitment for your next vacancy, we assure you that you won’t be disappointed. Author Bio: Maddie Davis is co-founder of Enlightened Digital and a tech-obsessed female from the Big Apple. She lives by building and redesigning websites, running marathons and reading anything and everything on the NYT Best Sellers post.
