Amid predictions of a pre-Brexit ‘scramble’ for talent social media is a critical recruitment marketing tool to ensure a consistent source of engaged, qualified candidates for your vacancies.

Create an effective social recruitment campaign to boost your talent pipeline with the strategies outlined below.

Getting started

Review your recruitment data to evaluate the success of your existing social recruitment strategy. Is your social media presence directing qualified candidates to your careers site or talent pool? This is your base point to measure your progress.

• Agree what you want to achieve with social recruitment. Is it promoting your employer brand, focusing on sourcing talent with particular skills or a combination of both?
• Align your strategy with your brand message. Employer Branding Now[1], from Universum Global and the DHI Group, Inc found that when it came to employer brand, social networks saw the biggest increase in spend during 2017. A bad reputation can cost your company at least 10% extra per hire.
• Who is your target audience? Understanding what your potential candidates want in an employer will help to shape your strategy. For example, over 90% of today’s students are looking for an ethical employer and would prioritise that in their job search above salary or other issues. Developing a candidate persona helps you to identify the type of person you’re aiming to attract into your talent pipeline.

Selecting social media sites that work for your business

For the majority of employers, a presence on sites such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook offers a good starting point but understanding the demographic and how to engage with talent is essential. Consider the following in developing your strategy:-

• Understand demographics : Do your research. The average age of a LinkedIn user is 44 and only around a third of its 467 million members are active each month[2]. This compares to Facebook which has now reached two billion users[3]. Companies targeting young talent may be more successful on Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat. Snapchat hit the headlines this summer when McDonald’s announced its intention to recruit thousands of young employees[4] via the site.
• Review data : Insight into the most popular timing for your job posts assists in posting news of job openings. A recent survey from Indeed found that job searches across its site peak on Monday mornings, immediately before lunchtime. Post your jobs simultaneously across your social network through your recruitment software. HR analytics will indicate the effectiveness of your posts and enable you to adjust your schedule and content accordingly.
• Use hashtags : Tap into the popular weekly hashtags on Twitter to engage with candidates (eg, #WednesdayWisdom, #ThrowbackThursday) as well as more serious themes related to workplace wellbeing or mental health issues. Memes or gifs are also popular.
• Use video : Video is a highly effective way to create compelling content and engage with your talent pool. It also now drives an estimated 74% of all online traffic.[5] In June Jaguar Land Rover used video to promote its recruitment campaign with virtual band Gorillaz. Both Snapchat and Instagram’s Stories are useful to promote video content but knowing your audience is vital (and being aware that the content disappears after 24 hours). Universum’s report notes that visual content across sites such as YouTube and Instagram has increased by 15% since last year. Videos can also be used to promote company social occasions and team building events to build a positive employer brand.

Again, your recruitment data will track the results of social recruiting campaigns. 

6 things to remember

In creating an effective social recruitment strategy to engage with qualified candidates and build your talent pipeline, remember the following:-

• Don’t use generic content. Analyse your recruitment data to understand what people are responding to. Ensure it’s relevant to the interests of your candidates.
• Whichever sites you choose to target, consistency is the key. Agree a schedule for posting and ensure you stick to it. Share company and industry updates, company events, post company blogs and let your followers know about upcoming vacancies. Don’t bombard your audience with a long stream of uninterrupted job posts as they will quickly lose interest.
• A lack of engagement in the hiring process results in high levels of candidate drop-off rates. Social media offers an easy way of keeping talent informed of the progress of your vacancies. Build rapport to nurture your talent pool and monitor communication with qualified candidates.
• Your employees are your best ambassadors for your brand. Encourage them to share content and job posts across their personal networks. Tag and fast track employee referred candidates through your applicant tracking software.
• Be mobile. Deloitte’s Global Capital Trends describes recruiting as a ‘digital experience’ with candidates expecting ‘convenience and mobile contact’.  By 2020, it's predicted that 59% of US based Facebook users will access the site exclusively through mobile.  All content distributed across social media should be optimised for use on a mobile device, including your careers site and application process. Support your social media strategy with recruitment software that offers full functionality on all mobile devices and makes it easy to track and evaluate your progress.
• Monitor and compare your social recruitment strategy with other digital channels to streamline your hiring process. After social media, employee referral, digital advertising, employer/career websites and professional networks saw the highest increase in spend in 2017 according to Universum.

Save your talent pipeline. Support your social recruitment strategy with recruitment software used by some of the world’s leading organisations. Start your 30 day free trial with Advorto today.  

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[1] Source : http://universumglobal.com/articles/2017/08/universum-dhi-present-employer-branding-now-2017/

[2] Source : https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-numbers-2017-statistics-meenakshi-chaudhary

[3] Source : https://techcrunch.com/2017/06/27/facebook-2-billion-users/

[4] Source : http://uk.businessinsider.com/mcdonalds-snapchat-applications-2017-6

[5] Source : https://www.forbes.com/sites/ajagrawal/2017/02/01/lights-camera-engagement-2017-is-the-year-of-video-marketing