Instagram has a Billion monthly users and roughly 52% of those are female. When competition is tough you need to go where the talent goes. Instagram is a great resource to find and recruit tech-savvy users within major cities across the globe.
The way Instagram is structured is by users, followers, posts, following within the URLs. So, when creating different Boolean strings it will be to use these terms when manipulating a search string. You can choose internally on Instagram for People, Tags, or Places as well.
Most public profiles include some info:
- Job titles or company info.
- Where they work.
- Where they live.
- Which companies they follow.
- Events and conferences they follower.
- Other interests within the field.
Here’s some Boolean String examples:
site:instagram.com “computer science” post followers following
site:instagram.com “software developer” (saint paul or minneapolis) -jobs -inurl:company
site:instagram.com “UX designer” (minneapolis or mn) -jobs -inurl:company
More Creative Ideas:
- You can follow trending hashtags and discover the most active users within a city. (See below)
- If users are using a hashtag for a conference or event try and connect with them.
- Spy on your competition. If there’s a recruiter local to your niche odds are they are connecting and following professionals within that niche.
- Try using Facebook and Instagram ads to different likes or applications to your roles. I wrote a piece about using ads to generate leads (here).
Direct Messaging Profiles:
There are many ways to find a user’s email address and I’ve written about that in other posts. When it comes to DMing profiles I’ve included some ideas below:
- Being clear and direct with your message.
- Don’t jump right into talking about a job.
- Connect on different interests or topics in common.
- Highlight industry and projects connected to them.
- Direct the conversation off the platform and into an email.
SearchMyBio (My Favorite Free Search Tool)
This site is another great option for searching for public profiles. You can search for profile bio information, filter by followers, and connect with the most active users on Instagram. This tool has many other advanced features worth reviewing further.
Employer Branding Ideas
Outside of directly sourcing you can also use Instagram as a way to promote your company’s brand. Here are some creative and unique ways to engage with users:
- Sharing your company’s culture and environment.
- Sharing conferences and job fair event news.
- Sharing openings and recent recruiting news.
- Share a project that you are working on! (See Below)
Advanced OSINT Tools:
- Search user profile information and find user ID info using this tool called: Otzberg
- Search hashtags and other keywords with this Keyword Tool.
- Download a users information using this tool.
- Search for profile pictures with this tool.
- Search hashtags and videos with this tool.
- Download users information here.
- Search hashtags, names, and usernames with GramChecker.
- Download user information on PeopleInsta.
- Download and save Instagram Videos, Photos, and Albums on InstaSave.
- Advanced search engine for Instagram users here.
- Find information on users profiles using Grampages.
- Search trending hashtags using Tofo.
- Search hashtags here using Findtagz.
- Advances search engine for Instagram users using Bigsta.
Overall, Instagram is another resource for finding niche talent across the globe. I’ve just started using it for sourcing tech professionals within my own niche.
Recommended Reading:
The Best People Search Tools for Recruiters in 2020
Time Management Best Practices for Recruiters
My Favorite Recruiting Tools in 2020
- Unlocking the Power of Perplexity AI: Why Recruiters Should Utilize This Revolutionary Tool - February 11, 2024
- Exploring AI Interviewing Assessment Tools: A Comprehensive Review - November 30, 2023
- PartyRock a Sandbox for Talent Sourcing - November 29, 2023