Did you know that 92% of recruiters use social media in their recruitment efforts? This is mainly because we are in the 21st century, and most of the workforce encompasses Millennials and Generation Z groups that have embraced technology. These groups use social media to look for jobs using LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Snapchat, TikTok, and their lives largely depend on one or more social media platforms. According to Glassdoor, 79% of job applicants use social media in their job search, and this gives companies a significant opportunity to find talent using social media recruitment methods.
Recruiting via social media is still growing, with 84% of companies using it and 9% planning on using it, according to SHRM. A study conducted by the Aberdeen Group revealed that millennials are changing the social media recruiting practices, with 73% of millennials attesting that they got their last or recent jobs through social media platforms. That being said, 70% of the hiring managers say they have successfully hired with social media, according to Betterteam. According to CareerArc, in 2020, Employers believed that social media marketing would be the most in-demand HR skill by 2020, followed by Data analysts and Predictive modelling, which we are already witnessing. In this article, we will explore how companies can leverage social media recruiting methods and find talent to drive business performance.
What is social media recruitment?
Social media recruitment is the process of attracting candidates through social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, talent databases, or posting job opportunities and roles. It is a recruitment approach that combines employer branding and recruitment marketing components to reach out to active and passive prospects on the digital channels they use. Recruiting the top people necessitates far more than simply posting a job on your employment website and waiting for applications to flood in. You have to go where the best people go to interact with them, and these days that includes social media. Nowadays, 82% of companies attract passive candidates by recruiting through social media. Those companies using social media for recruiting reported a 50% increase in the quality of the candidates.
Using social media for recruiting might involve posting job vacancies through HR vendors or crowdsourcing, in which job seekers submit possible job openings through their online social networks. It is the process of identifying, recruiting, engaging, and hiring both active and passive applicants through social media. Recruiters might look at social media accounts of potential applicants to get a feel of who they are and what they are looking for. According to CareerBuilder, 68% of employees believe their experience as job candidates during social media recruitment reflects how the company treats its people. The image below shows a breakdown of the use of the various social media channels used by several companies in the recruiting process:
Source: Harver
Social media recruitment strategies
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The recruitment process has changed, and the job market has also changed. However, companies still need to stay above the drastically evolving digital world we live in now and leverage the new opportunities to their benefit. According to the SHRM, 71% of recruiters said that social media recruiting was effective in decreasing time-to-fill for non-management, salaried positions. This is why companies need to have a social media recruitment strategy in place with executable action plans to guide them as they search for skilled professionals in this digital era. The following are essential social media recruitment strategies every company must have to be able to recruit successfully through social media platforms:
Create a positive online image for your business
Millennials are the generation that is most accustomed to searching for information on the internet. You should use social media to effectively promote company principles if you want to locate the most outstanding professionals among these folks. The values that your brand represents are now more crucial than ever. The emotional connection is important to millennials. They want to work for the appropriate company without compromising their values and ideals. You may use social media to portray your company idea in the best light possible. As a result, being active online and establishing oneself as an authority in your profession is the first step toward effective recruitment. Utilize tools such as a background changer for photo editing to create a visually appealing profile. When it comes to developing a social media presence, most businesses keep customer relationships in mind. These channels, on the other hand, can be used to achieve a wide range of tasks.
Select the appropriate social media platforms. On specific networks, the possible employees you are looking for are more active. Although Facebook and Twitter provide fantastic prospects, your company might also use a variety of other channels. Experiment with different ways to see which profiles get the most interest. Remember, 73% of millennials found their last position through a social media site hence it is essential to build an online presence for your business.
Make the Right connections
According to Clutch, 1 in 10 find their job through social media, and this means that everyone is looking for connections online. This is why you will have to elevate your social media presence to the next level at some point by getting in touch with the relevant people immediately away. Maintain industry-specific profiles and make connections with industry leaders, experts in the sector, and others who specialize in a specific niche. You will need to personalize your strategy to accomplish so. You cannot expect to build a strong community by sending the same general message to everyone. Communicate with others genuinely and appropriately. If you want to generate the correct kind of response, appeal to their interests.
Explain what you have to offer and why you would like to stay in touch with possible connections. True, customization involves time and effort. However, if you rely on generic communication, you will likely miss out on several possibilities to engage with and potentially hire people. Pay close attention to what individuals in your network are interested in. This data may be beneficial for professional copywriting, developing the correct content, and coming up with new ideas to keep social interaction high.
Use live video streaming to your advantage
Periscope, for example, provides you with fantastic, unique ways to engage with a passive applicant and industry professional audience. Periscope is a live-streaming platform that allows viewers to participate in the broadcast. It allows you to easily host Q&A sessions or provide customers with a behind-the-scenes look at the companys culture. People enjoy seeing behind-the-scenes footage, and Periscope makes customizing the live stream a breeze. This video has a massive advantage over pre-recorded footage. You can customize the content to appeal to a specific demographic. Based on the input you receive during the live stream, you can make changes on the fly.
Holding weekly Periscope sessions or broadcasting twice a month is simple. What matters is that you give folks feedback and pay attention to them. Experiment with the format and content until you find the magic formula for keeping passive prospects interested. You will find it much easier to narrow down the live streams and make them useful once you have built up an audience.
Use Hashtags that work
Hashtags are practical tools for broadening the reach of your content on social media. Identifying the hashtags that job seekers use on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram could be a smart idea. However, keep in mind that these are broad and not specific to your sector. After you have taken the initial step, you will need to narrow it even more. There are industry-specific hashtags that will help you find the best talent in your field even faster. If you cannot find any relevant to your situation, it might be time to make your own and get it trending. To achieve your goal, you will need to concentrate on creating valuable content that people will want to share. If your hashtag is associated with educational content, it will soon become popular. This is when the value of high-quality material comes into play.
Before starting a new tag, double-check everything. You dont want yours to sound like anything else already out there. Make sure your job hashtag has some personality and is brand-appropriate. It is critical to avoid overdoing it, just as it is with all other social media methods. Youre not a teen who uses Instagram and tags each post with 35 hashtags. Youre aiming to create a professional online identity. Rather than going overboard, a single hashtag will suffice to get the job done. Rather than focusing on a variety of clever tags, you should concentrate on advertising the most relevant recruitment opportunity you have to offer.
LinkedIn Profile
It is only sensible to concentrate on your LinkedIn profile when it comes to hiring. According to statistics, 87% of recruiters use LinkedIn, making it the most popular social media platform for identifying qualified applicants. With 55%, Facebook is a distant second, and Twitter is third with 47%. Even though LinkedIn is a niche platform, its importance in hiring top talent will continue to grow in 2021. Updating the first 200 characters or so of your LinkedIn profile is one way to make the most of it. People will be aware that the company is looking for new employees without navigating to the dedicated corporate page. Anyone interested in the message will engage with the brand and learn more about job opportunities in this way.
It is just as crucial to join LinkedIn groups. There are a large number of specialist groups on the social network that attract professionals in various industries. You will find it much easier to locate top talent and influencers if you participate in relevant communities. When it comes to attracting the proper professionals in a highly competitive niche, such information might be helpful. LinkedIn Pulse is the final option to consider. Pulse allows you to publish an article on any topic that interests you. It might be highly specialized, amusing, or related to your recruitment efforts. Pulse posts of high quality are shared in the correct LinkedIn communities, increasing their reach.
The use of Pulse can help you establish yourself as an expert in your subject. Building a positive reputation is one of the most critical aspects of successful recruitment, and many companies use reputation management services to achieve so. Establishing yourself as an influencer in your field will increase your visibility and make it much easier for the organization to get great talent.
For a little more fun, add Instagram to the mix
Recruiting attempts do not have to be solemn or solemnly professional. When it comes to reaching out to millennials, the rules are shifting. This generation differs from previous generations in that it has far more particular demands and preferences. This is the major reason why you should inject some humour into your recruitment efforts. Setting up an Instagram profile is one of the most effective strategies to achieve the goal. You may believe that Instagram and recruitment are incompatible, but you are mistaken. Even where other social media fail, the social platforms visual network can help you accomplish a lot.
Let us start by looking at the demographics of Instagram users. In December 2016, the number of active monthly users hit 600 million, according to 2016 figures. In December 2014, the number of monthly active users was only 300 million. Over 60% of Instagram users check in daily, with 90% of them being under the age of 35. This is a huge talent pool, and the folks you're hoping to contact are probably already on Instagram. This is why having a humorous corporate profile can make connecting with these people a lot simpler. Make use of Instagram to show off the lighter side of your company's culture. You may shoot images around the business, display your employees work, and show off corporate celebrations and team-building activities. The goal of the profile is to showcase the hip, young, and exciting crowd that works for the company.
You can announce that you're hiring once you've grown your Instagram following and started communicating with the right folks. Using the appropriate hashtags to accompany your announcement can help you achieve a lot to increase your audience and perhaps go viral. You have much freedom when announcing the news on the social network because it is more informal. A video recruitment ad can be more entertaining than simply posting a photo.
Encourage your employees to assist you
The goal of using social media is to increase your reach and spread your message. If you want the greatest possible results, you should consider involving your employees in the recruitment process. Request that your specialists share a job posting or publication on their social media accounts. You will obtain fantastic outcomes, especially if members of the relevant department participate in the process. They will be the ones to broaden the messages scope first. If you followed some of the preceding steps successfully, the message has a reasonable possibility of going viral. You must create a corporate social media policy to achieve the greatest possible results. This set of standards will make it much easier for employees to communicate the correct message without jeopardizing the brands reputation.
A strong social media policy requires a collaborative approach and the establishment of the appropriate culture. When it comes to business updates, how often should they be posted? What kind of tone and style should you use? Is it possible that only a few people will be involved? These are critical questions to address ahead of time. If feasible, give specific instances of posts that adhere to the criteria and those that are simply unsuitable. The more detailed the directions, the less likely you are to deliver a divisive or contradictory message. As you may have guessed, this method can be highly efficient, but you must be cautious while employing it. If you don't develop a strong social media presence ahead of time, your strategy will likely fail.
Advertising on Social Media
If your organic efforts aren't yielding the intended results, paid advertising campaigns may be an option. These are very similar to the Google search paid inclusions. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and a slew of other social media platforms allow users to rely on paid ads to reach a wider audience. The average click-through rate (CTR) for Facebook ads is 0.9%, and the stats are comparable on Instagram. In online advertising, these are some fairly good results, and few other approaches can match these click through rates.
The number of businesses with Facebook pages has surpassed 30 million (and the number is likely to continue to rise). What's more, the average cost per click on Facebook ads is 0.64 dollars, making such campaigns inexpensive for both small and large businesses. Because of these figures, its no wonder that 75% of brands on Facebook employ this method to advertise their pages.
For reaching the correct demographic, social media advertising is a cost-effective and hardly focused solution. You can give it a shot and change or cancel the campaign if you don't get the results you want. At any time, you can change the demographic profile of your audience, the message you're utilizing, or the budget. Its ideal for running a campaign like this when you're already actively recruiting. Consider the amount of money you want to spend and the types of people you want to target (age, interests, educational background, etc.). You'll obtain an exact estimate of the campaigns cost based on this information, and you'll be able to evaluate whether its worth the investment.
Keep in mind that paid LinkedIn advertising is likely to be more expensive than placing advertisements on Facebook or Instagram. Nonetheless, the platforms nature warrants paying a little more to interact with active specialists in the industry. In general, a strategy that combines various social platforms will yield the highest results in terms of bot traffic.
Keep Potential Candidates Engaged Using a Variety of Techniques
Following all of the processes outlined in this article so far, you should have been able to connect with a large number of qualified individuals for your company's vacant roles. It will be critical to keeping top people engaged once communication connections have been established. The good news is that social media platforms offer a variety of tools to assist you in forging deeper connections with the right people. There are several things you can do to maintain high levels of engagement. The first and most straightforward option is to send direct communications. Approach people in your network who would be a good fit for the talent cloud. Tell them a little bit more about the company and the job openings. Respond to queries to present the brand in the best light possible.
Maintaining experienced and competent workers within the network will need video calls, delivering helpful content, and successful customization. Don't wait for someone to contact you; take the initiative and take the first step. Once again, the company's social media strategy should include a detailed description of how you communicate with potential prospects. Offline policies should be considered for improving interactions with candidates. Your first objective is to provide that individual with a favorable experience. During a potential job interview and a company tour, a pleasant experience should be present. Your social media messaging should reflect what's going on in your real life. If people notice inconsistencies, your attractiveness will likely suffer.
Consider it this way: social media is nothing more than an extension of your business. It encapsulates everything that the brand stands for and represents. You cant just make up an internet persona based on nothing. Such an approach will lead to a great deal of dissatisfaction, as well as a negative impact on your image.
Investigate Candidates Using Social Media
Finally, you may use social media to learn more about people interested in a particular firm position. We live in a digital age, and almost everyone has a digital footprint. Being active on social media can help you learn a lot about prospects, including information that they arent looking at during the interview process. The ideal candidate will have a social media presence that is sensible, polished, and professional. People who post personal details about themselves on social media and act like teens on vacation are unlikely to be good brand ambassadors. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram can provide you with a wealth of information on the people with whom you want to collaborate. You can find out a lot more about their professional experience, work ethics, and knowledge of the industry they operate in. You can quickly check for flaws and discrepancies in the information they supplied during the interview.
It is important to note that conducting a background check is not the same as snooping. You should be looking for omissions and outright lies. Its none of your concern what a person shares only with friends and isnt part of their public profile. While social media can provide you with a lot of power and opportunities, you must not abuse them. Otherwise, you risk squandering confidence before a single employee has been employed.
Social media recruitment tools
Today, social media is one of the most effective ways to recruit new talent. Before you even get them in for an interview, you can get a sense of who they are and what experience they have. If you are going to start recruiting online, these are some of the greatest tools to utilize:
This is a go-to channel for companies that want to recruit using social media. It is a highly effective sourcing tool and a method of networking, forging strong connections, managing talent, and developing candidate relationships. However, not everyone makes full use of the social media platform. The recruiter will benefit from LinkedIns quality features. It is one of the most effective social media platforms for digital advertising. Users can join and engage in groups based on their field of study, self-identified talents, and job interests, and it features interest-based filtering. It also features the worlds largest business professional network (almost half a billion), indicating that the social platform is teeming with the people you want to reach.
LinkedIn is one of the best tools at a recruiters disposal because it is ranked as the top social network for generating recruiting leads. Successful recruiters may receive hundreds of connection requests. Engage with passive prospects and be open to who they may lead you to. Your profile will be viewed by more people the more active you are. Check out who has viewed your profile; its a fantastic way to get in touch with them.
The 280-character limit on Twitter may appear restrictive at first, but that's just half the battle. The limit forces individuals to pare down their messages to the bare minimum, resulting in straightforward social communications. This is beneficial to recruitment. You're able to make succinct pitches to possible individuals and corporations while still being open to feedback. This is not a forum for splurging on the content or wasting scarce character space with excessive messaging. Its straightforward, and it'll help you connect with your target audience. Unlike LinkedIn, which is broad in the sense that it is a platform for entry-level and above professionals, Twitter allows you to focus on certain audiences and streamline your search.
Hashtags are a feature that distinguishes Twitter. They're fantastic for recruiters and marketers in general. You may start a debate and engage specific individuals of your demographic by using hashtags. Furthermore, you have the option of making it local. You can target a certain area of your country and make it very exact by hash tagging your position. Twitters game is exposure, and if played correctly, it can result in exponential development for recruitment companies in your country. Tweets like "Are you looking" and "do you know someone for this position?" can irritate anyone. Mix up your material by tweeting and retweeting industry-related stories. Simply asking users questions regarding what they've shared on Twitter can start a dialogue and engage them. They are, after all, humans first and candidates second.
Facebook, a big name in the social media world and many peoples first platform, should not be underestimated - it has much clout in the recruitment sector. This social media platform is one of the most effective recruitment firms to get out to their target market and audience. According to a recent survey, 81% of job seekers prefer to view job openings listed on Facebook career pages. When you consider that 84% of job seekers have a Facebook account, it becomes clear that the platform is a must-have for recruiters. It reaches out to people of all ages across various industries and skill levels and allows us to share material with the right people.
Recruiting firms may utilize Facebook to discover more about prospects and acquire information into the types of content people share, like, and value. Agencies can then use this information to draw inspiration from that material and create comparable pieces to attract their target audience. This type of information can spell the difference between a successful social media marketing effort and...well, a flop. Make your job postings stand out! Remember that you're up against breaking news, liked pages, and, of course, the most recent memes in your employees feed. Use video or an eye-catching image with engaging copy that is brief, sweet, and to the point to stand out. Recruiters have the freedom to be inventive.
YouTube
You may be missing out on a wealth of information on the worlds second most popular website if you aren't using YouTube to look for employment applicants. With 2.527 billion monthly unique users, you can assume that some of them are looking for work. With video content causing such a stir in the digital marketing world, you'll want to make sure your recruitment firm gets a piece of the action. You can develop interesting content for a variety of purposes. You might meet the staffs video or some day in the life content to raise brand recognition for your agency. To entice potential candidates? From tutorial videos to Q&As, the possibilities are boundless. YouTube job postings can provide engaging information that differs from those seen in print. With a great recruitment video, you can find better applicants. Focusing on culture can be a wonderful place to start.
It has been established that 62% of WhatsApp users are still active a year after downloading the app. Were not sure what else to call it if that isn't brand loyalty. The WhatsApp community is still growing. It is, without a doubt, one of the most popular direct messaging apps available today. Recruiters can use WhatsApp to form WhatsApp groups to advertise relevant positions to group members and then wait for a response. Its straightforward, and it lets you organize and classify prospects based on their profession, region, and seniority. WhatsApp, like LinkedIn, allows you to check if your message has been viewed. As a result, you'll know right away whether or not your prospects are interested. If you've been left on Read, you'll be able to proceed.
Increase your bonus. If you pay to boost your post on Facebook, you can insert a Call to Action that says "Send WhatsApp Message" at the bottom of your post. You can link this button to the WhatsApp number of whoever is in charge of a specific role, allowing candidates to query with a single click. WhatsApp video calling has become increasingly popular. With a one-on-one video call, you can nail down busy applicants. Its more personable and less time-consuming than a standard phone conversation, which is a win-win from a recruiters perspective.
Instagram is ideal for recruitment companies trying to reach a younger, probably millennial audience. With 90% of Instagram users under 35, its a terrific way to reach out to a younger audience. Image-based content has similar potential to video in that it may be used for various purposes, from staff photos to inspirational quotations. The app can also give users a sample of the entire agency, allowing them to expose themselves to a larger audience. There are no restrictions on the types of photographs you can submit because they don't have to be related to the posts content. Consider advancements, employment openings, and industry changes. When it comes to Instagram, anything goes. Consider who your target audience is for each post and how it fits into their lives. Do they visit Instagram during their lunch break or on their way home? Knowing when to post at the proper moment is crucial to getting the most out of your post.
Periscope
If you're not already using this social media platform, now is a good time to start. Recruiters will fall in love with the live streaming application. It can be an excellent complement to your social media recruitment approach, especially if you're targeting a younger market. Consider short uploaded video snippets obsolete because Periscopes live streaming function allows you to live current stream events while also receiving real-time comments. Its a highly engaging program that allows recruiters to get the most out of their contact efforts with potential millennial recruits. Recruiters can provide information on job openings and training in a stress-free environment by using live broadcasting sessions. Periscope is linked to your Twitter account, so the stream is saved and archived after each broadcast.
Candidates should be notified in advance of a live webcast. This allows them to be prepared and tune in at the appropriate time. If you don't respond to remarks, applicants will become disinterested.
Although Pinterest is primarily an image-based platform, recruiters would be mistaken to dismiss it so hastily. If there are coloured graphics, a persons inclination to read a piece of text improves by 80%, and this is where recruiters may use the platform to their advantage. Pinterest users spend more time on the network than users of other social media platforms, averaging 75 minutes per visit. With 150 million users globally, its a terrific way to connect with hard-to-find talent you might not be able to find elsewhere. Making pinboards will help you attract talent. To expand your reach, organize, save, and share your pins. You will need to construct as many boards as feasible to hire certain applicants.
Pinterest is still in its infancy, with only a few recruiters using it as part of their overall approach. By joining the social media bandwagon, you'll be one of the few companies utilizing and attracting top talent. Knowing when to pin, like knowing when to post on Instagram, will help recruiters find and engage with candidates. Pinterests peak hours are 2 pm-4 pm and 8 pm-11 pm. Also, keep in mind that different themes peak on different days, such as Tuesdays for technology.
Vimeo
When compared to Youtube, Vimeo may appear to be a pitiful option for recruiters. However, with a monthly unique user base of over 65 million (roughly one-tenth of that of Youtube), the video-sharing website gives the potential for recruitment firms to acquire talent that other companies may be missing. Vimeo has a smaller group and a more engaged audience. Recruiters can use these specialty groups to find more specialized prospects in terms of recruiting. You can also create a brand page on the social media platform. Consider making interesting videos about available job openings to engage and attract specialized individuals to your firm. A key point to remember is that people value well-produced videos, and good material goes a long way.
Personalize your videos to provide even more value. The more engaging they can be, the better applicants youll be able to recruit.
Snapchat
Is there a match made in heaven between recruitment and Snapchat? We recommend integrating Snapchat as part of your social media recruitment plan if your agency isn't already on it. Every day, 187 million individuals use the smartphone application, and these so-called "snappers" watch 10 billion videos worldwide, indicating a highly engaged set of potential applicants waiting for recruiters to attract. Recruiters looking to fill graduate positions and apprenticeships, this millennial audience is your new best friends. Unlike other social media platforms, Snapchat users are mainly young (45% are aged 18-24), therefore this millennial demographic is your new best friends. Snapchats interface is geared toward telling stories. Recruiting companies might focus on items potential applicants want by sharing stories, such as the company values of their future employer. Once your agency has established a solid following, you can advertise job openings creatively to attract prospects. A few suggestions for developing effective promoted job ads include exclusive material, filtered lenses, and employer takeovers.
Use Snapchat to debut new content. Provide candidates with early access to available job ads before they are made public to the general public.
Social media recruitment
Social media recruitment is important for companies to tap into the current 3.5 billion social media users to find skilled professionals that will drive business performance. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are the big names in social media recruitment but don't overlook their smaller social connections. Your stepping stones to creating and expanding your social media presence are the social media strategies above for recruitment. However, keep in mind that, depending on candidate demographics, not every social media network will be appropriate for your social marketing approach. You will get effective and efficient outcomes for your recruitment firm if you have a strong social presence.