3 Questions To Ask Before Social Media Sourcing
When I was in college, I had no interest in joining Facebook. Ultimately my friend’s convinced me to join Facebook my freshman year of college because I joined a sorority.
OK, pick your jaw up off the ground. I know a few of you are a little surprised to hear that I was in a sorority. Not only was I in a sorority, but I was also president of that sorority. I enjoyed working with friends to do good and have a little fun. Just a little bit of fun…
Anyway, they used Facebook groups to tell our pledge class what to do. I wasn’t on Facebook. I kept missing events, and that was unacceptable. Ultimately I got peer pressured into joining. I don’t remember why I was so against it, but I was not too fond of the idea of spending all of my time talking to my friends on the computer instead of spending time with them.
It’s ironic because my first job out of school was working in social media. I got the gig because of my Facebook friends and no other reason. No one knew how to do social media, so it didn’t matter that I was fresh out of college. I had the most friends. Therefore, I have the largest audience, and I would be best at it. Of all the tools I was taught to use in college, Facebook is the one I use the most. Most people have an account. It’s great for social media sourcing.
Choosing Wisely: Social Media Sourcing
There are so few truly universal social media sites with that reach now. TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram – there’s not one thing that everyone uses – there are 10. That can make it particularly challenging for recruiters who are looking to try new social media channels for sourcing. They don’t have the opportunity to use it for 10+ years before using it to source and recruit.
So how should a recruiter decide if a channel is a good place to start? Should they be sourcing everywhere or only on the media they know well?
The social media sourcing methodology has always been, yeah, sure. Hunt everywhere, but here’s the reality? You don’t have that much time. It would help if you weren’t wasting it. Watch this video to learn a few questions you should probably ask yourself first.
Recruiting is about building relationships. It’s not just about finding the person. Find the channels where the people you recruit hang out and make a reputation there instead of trying to be on every channel all the time.
Kat Kibben View All →
Kat Kibben [they/them] is a keynote speaker, writing expert, and LGBTQIA+ advocate who teaches hiring teams how to write inclusive job postings that will get the right person to apply faster.
Before founding Three Ears Media, Katrina was a CMO, Technical Copywriter, and Managing Editor for leading companies like Monster, Care.com, and Randstad Worldwide. With 15+ years of recruitment marketing and training experience, Katrina knows how to turn talented recruiting teams into talented writers who write for people, not about work.
Today, Katrina is frequently featured as an HR and recruiting expert in publications like The New York Times, Chicago Tribune, and Forbes. They’ve been named to numerous lists, including LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Job Search & Careers. When not speaking, writing, or training, you’ll find Katrina traveling the country in their van or spending some much needed downtime with the dogs that inspired the name Three Ears Media.