9 tips on social media recruitment strategies
Social media is quickly becoming a popular tactic to attract, find, and hire top talent. More than a decade ago, in 2011, only 56% of organizations used social media to recruit candidates. In 2016, that number had grown to 84%. Today, over 90% use social media to hire talent.
Social media recruitment, often called social recruitment, is so popular because of how effective it can be. Not only does it help you connect with active job seekers, but it also allows you to reach passive candidates (those not actively looking for a job).
Social recruiting also meets people where they’re at. It’s safe to say that most job seekers use some type of social media when on the job hunt.
If your company hasn’t harnessed the power of social media recruiting, you’re missing out on opportunities to connect with top talent – especially candidates from younger generations.
Here are nine tips for your recruitment strategy so you can hire better candidates, see more traffic on your job postings, and improve your staffing retention rates.
Identify your target audience
The first step to any effective social media recruiting strategy is to define your target audience. Doing this will help you develop an action plan for which platforms you’ll use and the type of content you’ll produce.
Pick your platforms
Identifying your target audience will inform which platforms you’re going to use in your recruitment strategy. LinkedIn is by far the most popular social media platform for finding and sharing jobs. However, other platforms are gaining popularity too.
Instagram and TikTok are seeing huge gains in recruiting, especially among younger generations. Meanwhile, most job seekers want to see more opportunities posted on Facebook groups and career pages.
Your social media recruitment strategy will only be successful with effective content creation. Social content posted on your company’s pages should be interesting and eye-catching enough to stand out against the noise.
Be sure to vary the content to ensure there’s something for everyone’s taste. The type of content you choose to create will depend on your target audience and brand and may include:
- Videos
- Photos
- Blog posts
- Infographics
- Personal accounts
- Podcasts
Be active and responsive
As you implement your social recruiting strategy, the most important thing you can do is stay active online. Participate in comments, reply to direct messages, and join different pages and online groups to find the best candidates possible.
Most people turn to social media during their job hunt when they’re trying to Learn More about what it’s like to work at a company. Sharing your company’s culture through social media channels will attract candidates who identify with your brand.
You can share your company culture by creating content that shows potential candidates what it’s like behind the scenes. What do the offices look like? What kind of things do employees do together? What unique benefits do employees at your company receive?
By answering questions like these, you’ll establish company culture with potential candidates, and they’ll be more likely to engage with your social accounts.
Involve current employees
Who better to help your company recruit high-quality candidates than current employees themselves?
Turn the people you work with into ambassadors by asking them to tag your company accounts when they upload anything related to their work. Ask them to share positions online as they’re posted.
Posting content that uses hashtags and follows trends will garner more views for your posts. It also shows that your brand is timely, knows how to stay relevant, and can keep up with the ever-changing landscape of social media. Personalizing hashtags to your company is also a great way to track its usage across several platforms.
Don’t just jump on every hashtag or trend you see, though. Be intentional with the trends you follow. Everything you do should come back to the brand identity and culture you’re trying to cultivate.
Different social media platforms offer powerful tools that recruiters can use to their advantage. For example, LinkedIn Recruiter allows you to filter for positions and find candidates that best fit the position you’re trying to fill.
Another great tool you can use in your recruitment plan is paid advertising. Set narrow filters on social media ads to ensure your recruitment content only reaches people in your target audience. You can also track each ad’s reach and engagement to measure success.
Track metrics for success
The most important piece of any plan or strategy is having a method to measure success. To do this, identify different metrics and data points that are important to defining a successful social recruitment campaign. For many companies, these metrics include the number of visits to your employment page, likes/comments/follows on social media, time to fill a position, and cost to hire.
Frequently asked questions
The time it takes your strategy to produce noticeable results depends on your company’s online presence. If you already have a strong or engaged following across different social media channels, you’ll likely see results much faster (weeks) than a company that needs to build its social media presence from the ground up (months).
Social media recruiting is an effective strategy for any type of job where ideal candidates are likely to have a social media profile. Of course, social media shouldn’t be your only method of recruiting – varying your strategy is vital to getting the best candidates. For highly competitive or specialized roles, you may want to invest in an advanced recruiting service.
Yes. You can boost retention by giving candidates a more personalized experience while applying to your open roles. Social media recruiting also attracts candidates who identify with your company culture, making them less likely to leave if hired.
Measure success by identifying and tracking metrics that are important to your recruitment goals. These metrics may include:
- Traffic to your company’s employment page
- How many qualified candidates apply for a job
- The time it takes to hire a candidate
- The cost of hiring a candidate
- Engagement levels on your content (likes, comments, follows, etc.)
- Your primary source of leads and hires
- Performance of employees hired through social recruiting
While this isn’t a definitive list of all the metrics you can track, it should give you an idea of the different data points you can focus on.
Are you taking full advantage of digital resources to find and retain the best candidates?
It may be difficult to find candidates who match the specific skill sets and abilities that your company requires. You can tackle this challenge with Arya Quantum, an AI recruiting tool that can be easily integrated into your existing ATS or VMS. You’ll find qualified candidates faster while simplifying the recruiting process.
This technology also allows you to communicate with potential candidates via text, email, and chatbot, all in one consolidated chat board. You can communicate the skills you’re looking to obtain from an employee and answer any questions that candidates may have.
Arya empowers you to achieve your recruitment goals, ensuring that your hiring process puts you in position to find the right people every time.
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