Strategies for Recruiting on Social Media

Since the early 2000s Social Media has offered a new way companies can represent their brand and in the past decade, the way companies use Social Media has grown substantially, which has opened a new way for recruiters to find the right candidates.

Now in 2020 it’s important to create a competitive Social Media strategy because unlike 10 years ago when social media was revolutionary for companies, around 94% of recruiters are now using these online platforms so the competition is tough. (Agency Central)

Build your online reputation

It all starts with how your brand is seen by others online. What do you want to achieve from your online presence? Ideally being in a competitive industry you will want to become as close to an industry leader as possible and share industry news first. If you take a look at existing industry leaders, you can see what they are doing well and how you can coordinate your strategy towards these ideas.

Millennials are essentially your key demographic as a recruiter, and millennials like to establish an emotional connection with companies. So give them something to be passionate about and prove that you are the right recruiter to go with.

To do all this you need to establish what content you are going to post…

Post the right content on the best channels

Many recruiters are under the impression that being on all social platforms is best to get the most exposure, when in reality if you are not consistent in what you post, the platforms won’t offer much.

Top social channels that work for recruiters are: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter (in that order), with LinkedIn being the most successful.

So what content works best?

It’s not enough to constantly share new job postings and spam your social media feeds, even the right candidates will tune out. Look at what you can offer and split this up into content categories. In addition to new job listings post company events, industry news, and even videos of yourself telling followers what new jobs are available or what’s new within the company.

Video content works well, in fact 52% of marketing professionals around the world agree it provides the greatest return on investment so use this to your advantage.

Utilise LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the key platform for recruiters. In addition to creating an optimised branded page, Join LinkedIn groups for your specific industry and connect with those who you think would become successful candidates. You can do this by using search filters to find the right candidates and include a personal message when you connect potential candidates. Many see LinkedIn as a digital CV, use this to your advantage while sourcing new talent.

An estimated 94% of recruiters currently use LinkedIn to source talent compared to other social platforms (LinkedIn). However, don’t fall into the trap of only using LinkedIn, research by Sprout Social suggests that more recruiters use LinkedIn but only 36% of job seekers use LinkedIn. This means you should become dominant on a variety of social channels (as stated above) in order to source the right talent overall.

Be consistent

If you are consistent with the type of content you post along with what day and time you post, this will help your target audience know exactly when to check their feeds for your latest update.

To work out what consistency works best for your posts, check each platform’s analytics tools and see when your audience is usually online. While you are in these social analytics, be sure to check out even more info about your followers, where they are located and what their social behaviours are to get a better feel of who your target audience is. You never know, you might be surprised and unlock new ideas to improve your social recruiting.

Engage with your followers

These days it’s not good enough to just post content and hope for the best. Social Media have their own algorithms that determine what posts people see and to work alongside this, you need to become more active on your active platforms with your target audience.

To do this you need to respond to followers posts or their response to your company posts. This will mean checking social media at least once a day and depending on what social platforms you are using, comment on their posts, respond to any comments they leave on your posts and even connect with new candidates who like or share your content.

73% of 18-34 year-olds found their last job through social media (Capterra). There’s a lot more to recruiting on Social Media than meets the eye. Ensure you create a strategy that will cover all points we have discussed in order to stand out from the growing recruitment crowd.