Before getting into how social media recruitment is a great option, let’s get the picture clear first. Why is it even worth going for?
The millennials are tech-savvy, and Gen Z is even savvier. They love staying in the digital world. The average internet user has 5.54 social media accounts. They prefer social media over anything else to engage in discussions and share moments from their day-to-day lives. And it’s not just personal; there are specific sites that cater to professional discussions too. But LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, among various others, have the largest share of active online people. Chances are, your prospects are definitely active on one or more of these sites.
iCIMS reported that posting a job on social media can increase applications by 30-50%. No wonder, 92% of recruiters use social media to find high-quality candidates. Social hiring is a trend in 2019 and is here to stay.
Read More: 5 Ways to Improve Your Recruiting Strategy
5 Tips to Ace your Social Media Recruitment Game
1. Build a community
The target audience is the key here. Likes on social media profiles and posts are just vanity metrics. What recruiters need to understand is that they are supposed to build a community of like-minded people. Create and share content that is relevant to what you do and your campaign should see relevant people engaging. Additionally, talk about your company’s culture, benefits, and how much fun it is to work there.
Having a well-polished LinkedIn page serves as an ideal start. 87% of recruiters report using LinkedIn to source candidates. LinkedIn groups are the obvious go-to place. FB and Twitter are behind, but can’t be neglected. 55% and 47% of recruiters use them respectively. In addition, Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat offer some great opportunities too as a larger chunk of the younger generation is active there. Recruiters should leverage those as part of their social media recruiting strategy.
2. Use Videos to Reach the Passive Pool of Candidates
Video is one of the most effective forms of engagement. Human brain processes visual data 60,000 faster than texts. Social media users engage 10 times more with a video than any other type of content posted. Hosting live videos has immense help when it comes to clearing the queries of the participants. Furthermore, VR videos can provide an even more immersive experience than traditional videos. A great way to enhance employer branding and to increase an online reputation!
The best part about using videos to engage your prospects is the fact that you can reach the passive candidates that aren’t looking for a job change at the moment but may consider in the near or distant future. This allows recruiters to have a ready-database of suitable candidates who can be reached anytime merely by posting updates, or my social media advertising.
3. Employ hashtags to your advantage
Hashtags on social media are great options to reach a specific niche of people. Those related to your industry may be used on a regular basis to reach a particular group of people interested in that topic. For instance, #ArtificiaIIntelligence can be used to target a group that is particularly interested in the field of AI and would like to read/see/watch anything related to it. Similarly, #JobOpening can be used to reach candidates who have followed this hashtag. People following hashtags of these sorts are most probably looking out for jobs or job changes.
It is important to check the reach of any specific hashtag – the number of people following and using it. Too less, and your post might not reach the desired number of people; too many, and it may get lost in a sea of posts. It’s sometimes good to get a bit creative with your hashtags.
4. Involve Employees in Sharing Job Posts and Company Culture
Employee advocacy goes a long way in promoting your work culture. Content shared by employees drive engagement not only in sales but also help with the hiring process. Be it a post related to the products/services being offered by the company, or about a vacant position at the organization, the current employees should be a part of the drive.
5. Use Social Recruiting Software
Using a social recruiting software program may sometimes be the simplest method to reach out to potential candidates. These can be used to schedule job posts and sift through the applications received in order to select those with certain skills. You can use the power of artificial intelligence to automate the responses for pre-defined queries. Jobvite, RecruiterBox, and Lever are some of the fore-runners in the field of providing applicant tracking system software for social media recruiters.
In addition to all these pointers, recruiters can also leverage the social media advertising option to further outgrow the reach. The key is to keep tracking the steps taken and engagements obtained. A bit of research is required in order to find the best social platform depending upon the type of industry and preferences of the target crowd. But once it’s established, the ROI will be manifold. Analytics has a key role to play in determining the success of any social media recruitment campaign.
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