Social networks are everywhere – built for everything from professional networking, to micro-blogging and connecting with people you haven’t seen since school. The average user spends almost 2 hours on social media sites every day, and whether their intention is to connect with recruiters or not, if you can make your social media updates sexier, they’re more likely to connect with you. This type of social recruitment can open up entire new candidate pools. So, how can you make recruitment social media more attractive? Take a look at our top tips to reach new social audiences and improve your return on recruitment social media.
Create Urgency
People tend to scroll through social media sites thinking they’ll come back to posts to read later; don’t let this happen. Create a sense of urgency that makes people read and respond to your posts now – this will increase candidate engagement and improve your online following as others see your audience chip in. Keep ahead of news stories in your industry and comment on them, ask questions and interact with your audience to get a debate going about a topic that is relevant to your recruitment field. You can also re-share your updates with new titles, new commentary and across different platforms; keeping social media sites updated regularly and frequently will build loyalty.
Make it Memorable
Creating unique content is no easy feat, but get this one cracked and your social recruitment returns will definitely increase. Update your social media with topics, jobs and ideas that your audience won’t see elsewhere; establish an online personality for your professional brand and stick with it. This could include sharing anything from the ‘fat Friday’ treats your office is indulging in at the end of a hard week (#FatFriday, but more about hashtags later), to running polls on Twitter to assign the next tea-maker in the office. Quirky and unusual updates stand out and stick in the mind of a potential candidate, making even the notoriously challenging cold call just that little less frosty.
Hone your #Hashtags
You want to create social media content that’s more tweetable, more clickable and more engaging, to do this it’s crucial that you draw attention to your updates by ensuring they can be found and shared easily. Hashtags are a simple and effective way to do this. Start with basics such as #jobs or #hiring, and then hone your hashtags according to the specifics of the post. Take notice of the other hashtags applicable to your updates; #peoplemakeglasgow for roles around Glasgow, or #whywedoresearch for scientific research news pieces are good places to start. Take a look at what’s trending on Twitter; piggy-backing on bigger news items can improve your reach quickly.
Simplify it with Software
Keeping all your social media accounts up to date and relevant whilst engaging with users and followers is a full-time job in itself. Simplify the process of posting by using software packages to share, cross-post and schedule your recruitment social media. This will allow you to get everything scheduled, checked for typos, and ready to go in one fell swoop, leaving you to interact with the new candidates that come to you as a result of your updates. (We’re being cheeky here, but Firefish can post to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn if you want it to...)
Social media has completely changed the world of recruiting, and the concept of ‘going viral’ (for the right reasons!) is something that could transform the reach of our networks. Get it right through consistently high quality and memorable content, create a sense of urgency and make it easy to find and share your recruitment updates – whether you use software to help or not. Reach out to candidates and build trust by establishing a coherent online personality for your business, and do your best to interact where possible.
A cheeky plug every now and then doesn’t go a miss either; follow us on Twitter @firefishnow #lovethefish to keep track of our updates, and tag us so we can see yours too!
