Social media is a wonderful tool for brand promotion and sourcing. While most companies know this and have at least forayed onto some social sites, too many don’t strategize effectively when it comes to using social media for sourcing. If you’re not doing the following things, you may be spending time and effort while not yielding the results that you’re looking for.
What Is Social Media Recruiting?
Social media recruiting is the process of using social media to recruit candidates to hire. Because so much communication now occurs on social media, it can be a great place to reach potential candidates for your company. Social media recruitment involves having a robust social media strategy and presence. Job openings can be posted on your social media accounts where potential candidates can apply.
How to Leverage Social Media
Using social media for recruitment can be an effective method of recruiting. But it’s important to leverage social media correctly. Social media is a very public expression of your company’s brand and if not done right can actually harm how others view your brand. However, it’s a risk worth taking for the increased online presence, which can lead to both improved recruitment and increased sales.
Connect with Your Audience
As a business, your social media audience consists of customers, current employees, prospective employees, and other stakeholders. Failure to connect with this audience can come off as arrogant or negligent while connecting with this audience can make the company appear caring and community-oriented. Connecting through messaging is very personal and connecting through public posts addresses a larger audience, so both methods have their merits.
A bit of humor or positivity in a response to a customer or candidate comment or question can improve brand image dramatically. Showing personality can help to entice passive candidates to apply and can spark enthusiasm for the company in applicants and existing employees.
Post Regularly and Reliably
Social media posts promote brand visibility, keeping a company fresh in the minds of customers and candidates. To increase the value of posts for prospective candidates, post blogs, photos, infographics, and quotes that answer questions about what it’s like to work for the company. Alternate these types of posts with other informative posts so that there is variety in content and candidates don’t get the impression that the company is desperate.
Use Specific Keywords for Searches
Searching social media careers pages or career-oriented social sites like LinkedIn using keywords is tricky. Very broad keywords will yield a huge candidate pool with a wide variety of experience levels and types. It’s important to use specific keywords to narrow down your candidate search, but it can take some practice to identify which keywords work – and those effective keywords can change with shifting trends.
Expand Your Network
If your number of followers, friends, or connections isn’t growing, your social media strategy needs work. You should be reaching out to people and expanding your network if you hope to connect with that top talent that you’re looking to bring on board. If your numbers don’t seem to be growing, it may be helpful to reach out to social media experts that can help with strategy.
Narrow Your Focus to Certain Social Media Platforms
Trying to be on every social media platform that is popular can be time-consuming and can minimize the impact of your posts on your target audience. Instead of stretching yourself thin, do some research to figure out which social sites – and even which pages and categories within those sites – your target audience uses most. By narrowing your focus to the most relevant social avenues, you demonstrate your knowledge of your target audience and concentrate your efforts.
How to Use Social Media for Recruiting
Using social media for recruiting can be a very powerful recruitment tool. If you already have a social media presence for your company, you may already be familiar with some of the steps. But how do you go about recruiting on social media?
Choose the Right Social Media Platform
Not all social media platforms are created equal. Each platform attracts different types of people for different purposes. LinkedIn, for example, is designed to be a professional social media platform, and Facebook is trying to go the same way by offering a Jobs section. Twitter, on the other hand, may not be the best for recruiting, but it can help your job listings to reach more people. Instagram isn’t typically a recruitment tool for many companies, but it can be for those in very visual industries.
Showcase Your Company’s Personality
You don’t want to hire just anyone. You want to recruit the people who will be best suited for not only your open position but also for your company as a whole. By showcasing your company’s personality in your social media posts, you’ll attract applicants with the same values as your company. That way, you’ll be better able to hire candidates that fit in with your company’s culture.
Create a Social Media Calendar
Social media for companies shouldn’t be something that just happens. It should be a carefully planned process that is heavily strategized. Social media is a great tool for SEO in addition to interacting with an audience and recruitment. You should have a calendar of posts planned out in advance and each post should be scheduled ahead of time. That way, you can ensure that posts occur regularly and all posts fit within your strategy.
Share High-Quality Content
Social media users don’t interact with just any post on social media platforms. They want to see interesting content. This means that every post must be well-thought-out and should provide value to your audience.
Use Hashtags
Hashtags are how users find what they’re looking for on social media. Make sure you research hashtags and include them in your social media strategy and plan. They’ll make it much easier for users to find your posts. Hashtags also can serve the dual purpose of letting users know what your content is about. For example, job opening posts can be marked as such with hashtags.
How to Use Social Media with ATS Software
If you’re using social media to source applicants, don’t overlook the simple things. Make sure there is a link that can be easily used to transfer to an applicant tracking system (ATS) application page that is well designed and sleek. Providing additional links that will supply more information about careers, qualifications, and opportunities can also be helpful. An ATS that can integrate with social media can help ensure that your social media recruitment fits within your overall hiring strategy.
Is your company looking for an ATS that can integrate with social media? We can help you find the right software. Stop by our Software Match page to start your search today.
