Combining quality content with the wide reach and variety of options available for use is essential to make social hiring an effective part of a recruitment strategy
Plugging products and services across a variety of social media is de rigueur for individuals and brands. After all, it is a great way to maximize the reach and appeal of your offerings, along with presenting your brand and yourself in the best way possible.
It is no surprise, then, to know that a majority of recruiters use social media to find the candidates they need. After all millennials and Gen Zs, a big chunk of the workforce, are also among the largest users of social media, which they make use of to find jobs and to share other aspects of their lives. Social recruiting is, thus, something that must be a part of recruitment efforts. The following are some great strategies to employ in this endeavor:
Put up quality content
Social hiring, as with any other social media endeavors, requires high-quality content to be put online. The content should answer the questions that the audience asks, which will also put it outside the spam category. The format can be varied i.e. videos, blogs, images, podcasts, infographics, and more, as long as it is more than a simple retelling of a dreary fact.
Use hashtags
Often underestimated in their utility, it is important to understand the value of proper hashtagging. A proper hashtag must target the key audience – in this case, prospective candidates matching the job and company requirements – to be successful. Effective social recruiting requires you to know the reach, number of users, geography, and demographic of the hashtag to make it effective. Also, try to be inventive and personalize the hashtag as per your company and your aims.
Get employees to share posts
Social media by definition works only with extended reach, and who better to do this than your own employees? Involve employees in the social hiring efforts by asking them to share recruitment posts on their personal social media channels, as personal recommendations through employee sharing have been proven to be among the most successful tools for social hiring.
Engage potential hires
Effective social recruiting requires that content posted online must engage prospective candidates and weave them into a community of like-minded people. Start and continue a conversation, rather than just throwing information at them. You could talk to them about the company, the benefits offered, and the potential opportunities of working there. The approach must be proactive i.e. seek out the potentials, rather than wait for them to come to you.
Video is a particularly effective tool of engagement. It is estimated to provide multiple times the engagement offered by other content, courtesy the human brain processing visuals much, much faster than text.
Brand building
Social media is a common tool to build the reputation of the brand, which automatically makes it attractive for candidates too. Target existing customers as well as other potential hires, giving them something to be passionate about. They should want to be part of the company, and a uniform voice that provides relevant information without losing sight of values and ethics will be key to this effort.
