What kind of social media recruiter are you?

Social media marketing is a given for today’s recruitment marketing professional. Every recruiter or TA specialist knows the core platforms and has a strategy to engage in some way with candidates. However, every individual does things differently. We thought it might be fun to take a look at the three types of approaches NAS commonly sees among our clients. Maybe you’ll see yourself here!

The Worker Bee

You use social platforms mainly to try and fill immediate needs within your organization. Your goal is to get lots of eyeballs on that job opening, right now. You post a specific job on LinkedIn or Twitter, and you add it to your feed on Facebook. You might consider a paid promotion to boost the job and get it seen beyond your followers. But your whole strategy is around filling openings and meeting needs.

• While this approach can certainly help to fill positions, it is ultimately a limited view of how to best use social media. After all, the word is “social.” This transactional approach is only taking advantage of social platforms to meet a need, not to engage candidates and interact with them.

• In addition, it is often difficult to fill niche needs through social platforms, which are designed to communicate more broadly. Many candidates could be interested in your company, but very few might be interested in a specialized role that comes with its own requirements and qualifications.

• Broadening targets to a job family or using promotions to drive candidates to a page that highlights a specific career area are ways to move beyond the focus on an individual requisition while still getting actual applicants.

The Great Communicator

You focus on creating awareness of your organization by posting a variety of content across platforms on a regular basis. You understand that your social media channels may be the first level of engagement with potential candidates, so you’ve created a schedule to post often on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other platforms.

• The right content is key. We see a lot of clients who create posting schedules, identify different types of posts (jobs, news, culture information, etc.) and then work hard to generate content so that something is always being posted. While regular communication is important, posting just for the sake of it is not necessary. Post when you have interesting content, not just to fulfill a schedule.

• Promotion is key to reaching new people. Posting something on your Facebook page is nice, but it only reaches people who are already engaged with you and visit regularly. A finely targeted promoted post can expand your likes and bring new candidates to your content – often with very little cost compared to the results.

The Culture Vulture

For you, social media offers a front-row seat to your company culture. You’re all about showcasing your people and company, then getting others to spread the word. You might use your Facebook feed to showcase fun corporate events or highlight charitable efforts of your teams. You’ve created an Instagram account to show your associates at work and play. You may even have a Pinterest page to post photos of your environment and people.

• This type of social engagement is focused on the long term – selling your company in an organic way that might not yield a ton of immediate applications, but will ultimately bear fruit by creating a buzz that ignites candidate interest.

• The key is to focus on conveying your company culture in an authentic, personal way. A compelling, honest depiction of who you are will appeal to an audience that demands honesty and can “spot a fake” within seconds. Testimonials and company videos can show the human aspect of who you are and what makes your organization unique.

• Content creation is the most challenging aspect of this approach. Without the time and resources to generate great content, it’s hard to keep your channels full. Consider a program that encourages your employees to participate and post their own photos and videos using a common hashtag. That will give you the authenticity you seek and a way to pull it all together on your site (using a widget to display cross-platform content under one banner).

Consider a blended approach

Chances are, you are already blending all of the approaches above. If not, consider combining aspects of all three of the personas described above, based on your resources and needs. Social media recruiting is not a one-size-fits-all concept, and the more open you are to new ideas, the greater your success.

If you need assistance with your social marketing efforts, learn more about our suite of offerings:  NAS MediaGo

Download our e-book on How to Maximize Social Media for Recruiting.

• What’s new in ACTIVATE for Q1 2018
• 3 common mistakes in media buying