How social media can help to attract the talent you need

Most people these days use social media - at least one platform, if not several. But how well are you using it as part of your talent attraction strategy? Are you making the most of the opportunities it presents to support your company’s approach to recruitment by getting a wider audience for your job adverts, and also to help get your employer brand messages out as well?

Increase the number of people who see your vacancy

Obviously it’s sensible to post your vacancy onto your company website, but unless someone happens to specifically visit your site, perhaps an active jobseeker who’s already come across your advert on a job board, they won’t see it. Sharing it on social media effectively ‘pushes’ the role out in front of more people. It’s another avenue to market your role and will give passive job seekers the opportunity to see it too.

Unless you have your target audience demographic following you already, go beyond posting just on your dedicated company social media pages though. Think more broadly about your social recruiting strategy and aim to be as creative as possible – both the words and visuals too as content with relevant images is far more likely to be viewed.

Add some relevant hashtags onto your posts and make sure your adverts stand out on mobile devices as well as on desktop. Add a clear call to action so the reader knows what the next step should be. And post frequently too, to make sure as many people as possible are getting to see the advert. You can increase your exposure even further by paying to promote your posts if you wish.

Articulate your employer brand

Social media platforms don’t only help you broadcast your job advert more widely; they’re also a really valuable source of information for candidates who are thinking about whether to apply for a role they’ve seen. Potential applicants will want to get a feel for what it’s like working for you and what your company’s culture is like. They’ll be interested in the type of people that are working at your company already. Social media’s a goldmine of information to help them learn more about your employer brand – so think about the messages you can put out there to increase your company’s appeal.

Which platforms should you use?

By using social media in a carefully targeted way, you’re increasing the likelihood that your vacancies will be seen by the kind of candidates you’d like to attract. But with so many social media platforms out there, which ones are the right ones to promote your opportunities on? These are four of the main ones to consider:

• LinkedIn

LinkedIn is generally the site that’s perceived as being the best place to find professionals. And for that reason, if you were only going to advertise your vacancy on one social media platform, this would probably be it. It’s particularly strong for specialist and senior roles, and it’s also a great place to check out potential candidates too.

• Facebook

Facebook tends to be a more informal site, often used as a platform for friends and families to connect with each other and share posts, so in recruitment terms it doesn’t offer the same level of targeting that you can do on LinkedIn.

But don’t dismiss it - even if you don’t have your own company page on Facebook it can be great for locally promoting entry level roles and vacancies that you want to be seen by a wider talent pool. If you’re keen to employ someone who’s based locally, posting on community pages can be a really good way to get your advert seen.

• Twitter

Again, Twitter can be a more informal platform, but it can reach suitable candidates and can be good for highlighting vacancies to people who are already interested enough in your company to follow your account. Both Facebook and Twitter can be great platforms to share general employer brand information like corporate social responsibility activities and employee achievements too. There’s a character limit on Twitter but you don’t have to make the tweet itself long – a short post with key hashtags and a great visual can be all you need to generate enough initial interest.

• Instagram

Instagram’s highly visual format has led to it becoming increasingly popular for recruiting for creative roles like design and marketing positions. It’s a site that’s very popular with the younger generation too, so if you’re looking at recruiting graduates for example it’s a good platform to post your vacancy on. You’re likely to do well with posts that feature carefully crafted, quite stylised content – it’s a great place to really let your company’s personality show through. Again, hashtags are a big part of how it works so make sure you’re including some relevant ones to maximise engagement.

Finally…

Remember that if you’re using social media to promote your vacancies and employer branding messages, you need to be prepared to engage with potential applicants through those platforms too. Deal with any questions and direct messages you get in response to your posts to create a really great impression. And encourage your employees to share your posts too.

If you want your company’s vacancies to stand out, then a strong presence on the right social media platforms will help you do just that. If you’d like to know more about our recruitment marketing services, which include actively promoting your vacancies across several targeted social media platforms, please do get in touch with us.