You know social media is huge for connecting with talent, but are you using it effectively in your recruiting efforts? As an HR pro, you have a key role to play in your company’s social recruiting strategy. The good news is, when done right, social media can be a valuable tool for attracting top candidates.
The Growing Importance of Social Media for Recruitment
Social media has become a crucial tool for recruitment. As an HR professional, it’s important to leverage platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to connect with top talent.
Expanding Your Reach
Social networks give you access to a huge pool of potential candidates. Posting job openings on the major sites exposes your roles to millions of users. You can also join industry-specific groups to target niche talent pools. Make sure to share openings in a way that encourages sharing and tagging to increase visibility.
Building Your Brand
A strong social media presence helps establish your company as an attractive place to work. Share updates, photos, and stories that highlight your company culture and values. Engage with followers by responding to their comments and messages. Use a friendly, approachable tone to make personal connections. People want to work for companies they feel they have a relationship with.
Keep an Open Mind
The key to successful social recruiting is adaptability. Networks, tools, and best practices change rapidly. Stay up-to-date with trends and experiment with new platforms as they emerge. And remember, social media is a two-way street. Listen to candidates and be open to feedback. Valuable insights can come from anywhere.
Top Social Platforms to Leverage for Recruiting Talent
When it comes to recruiting top talent, social media platforms should be an important part of your strategy. Here are some of the major networks you should leverage:
LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network with over 675 million members. This is the ideal place to connect with high-quality candidates in your industry or job function. Post jobs, engage with your followers, join relevant LinkedIn groups, and search profiles of potential applicants.
Facebook has over 2 billion monthly active users, so the potential to reach candidates here is huge. Create a Facebook page for your company to build brand awareness, post jobs, share content, and engage with fans and followers. You can also join Facebook groups related to your industry to connect with potential applicants.
Twitter has over 300 million monthly active users. Use Twitter to raise awareness about your company culture, post jobs, engage with candidates and industry influencers, and build relationships. Retweet relevant content from thought leaders in your space and engage with followers by replying to their tweets.
Instagram has over 1 billion monthly active users and is a great platform for showcasing your company culture and employee brand. Post photos and short videos of your office, team events, day-to-day work, and company values. This gives candidates a glimpse into what it’s like to work for your organization. You can also post jobs on Instagram to reach potential applicants.
With a comprehensive social recruiting strategy leveraging the major networks, you’ll be connecting with more high-quality candidates than ever before. The key is to be active, engaging, and build real relationships – not just post and run. Put in the work, and the rewards of social recruiting will be well worth the effort.
Best Practices for Social Media Recruiting
When leveraging social media for recruiting, there are several best practices to keep in mind. Following these dos and don’ts will help you attract top talent and build your company’s brand.
Do optmize profiles and pages
Make sure your company profiles and pages on major networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are optimized to look professional and share key info about your company culture and job openings. Include photos and videos when possible.
Do engage with followers and connections
Don’t just broadcast messages—actively engage with people by liking and commenting on their posts, and sharing relevant content. Respond to any direct messages or comments on your posts. Building authentic relationships and connections will make people more interested in your company and job posts.
Do use a mix of organic and paid content
While organic posts are important for engagement, paid ads and boosted posts will help you reach more of your target audience. Especially for entry-level roles, paid social recruiting can be an efficient way to drive applications. Consider promoting open positions, employee spotlights, or content that showcases your company culture.
Don’t automate interactions
It may be tempting to schedule posts and automate interactions, but people can often tell the difference. While scheduling tools have their place, make sure your profiles also have real-time, authentic interactions. Respond in a genuine, personalized way to anyone who engages with your posts or sends you a direct message.
Don’t neglect other recruitment channels
Social media should be part of a balanced recruitment strategy, not the sole channel. Don’t neglect your company careers site, employee referrals, campus recruiting, networking events, job boards, and other channels that are also important for finding great candidates. An integrated, multi-channel approach will yield the best results.
Common Mistakes to Avoid With Social Recruiting
Avoiding common mistakes will help ensure your social recruiting efforts are effective. Here are some pitfalls to steer clear of:
Not Having a Strategy
Don’t just jump into social recruiting without a plan. Determine your goals and the platforms you want to focus on. Figure out how you will engage candidates and build your employer brand. Create content and messaging guides to keep your efforts cohesive. A strategic approach will yield much better results.
Using an Impersonal Tone
Social media is meant to facilitate real human connections. An overly formal or impersonal tone will turn candidates off. Share a glimpse into your company culture and voice. Highlight current employees and their career stories. Respond to candidates in an authentic, personable manner. People want to know the human side of an organization.
Forgetting to Optimize for Search
If candidates can’t find you on social media, your efforts are wasted. Use relevant hashtags, @mentions, keywords and phrases in your posts to increase searchability. Choose a consistent username and profile image across platforms. Complete all profile information and add a link to your company’s career site. Make it easy for interested candidates to discover your brand.
Avoiding these common mistakes and maintaining a strategic, targeted approach will help you build an authentic connection with candidates through social media. With time and practice, you’ll gain valuable experience, allowing you to refine and improve your efforts.
An incredibly powerful tool for connecting with top talent
Social recruiting can be an incredibly powerful tool for connecting with top talent if you approach it strategically. Focus on building authentic connections, showcasing your company culture, and promoting your employee value proposition. At the end of the day, social recruiting comes down to basic human relationships. If you build real rapport and trust with candidates through social, you’ll gain access to an invaluable talent pool. But if you spam, scam and sell, you’ll turn off the very people you’re trying to attract.
