What’s Your Social Media Saying to Your Candidates?

By Molly Spelts:

Social media has a strong influence amongst Millennials and upcoming generations. If your company or business is new to the social media bandwagon, WELCOME. For those of you who aren’t, but are still trying to figure out how to better your social presence, you’ve come to the right place.

First and foremost, the instant you decide to put down roots in the social realm, you’re creating a digital footprint and your brand is now exposed to billions of users. Actually if you want to put a rough estimate on it, there is now 3.196 billion people (AKA potential candidates) using social media.

Is your #SocialMedia hurting your chances of #recruiting top talent? Check out these tips to build a better online presence: Share on X

Smile, Your Brand is Your Business

These candidates are going to go to your social channels to get a better understanding of your business, it’s culture, the products/services and more. That’s why it’s NECESSARY (notice, I didn’t say optional) to build a brand that represents and encompasses everything your business stands for and possesses.

A lot of those young professionals (or even your passive candidates who are just curious) will go straight to social media pages to find your business. If they are not up to par, you could potentially leave a bad impression while giving the wrong idea of who you are. Even worse, it can cause a domino effect of constantly losing out on top-notch candidates and minimizing your talent pool. And all because you didn’t put in the effort to your social media brand.

Key Branding on Social Channels

So, how can you make sure you hit some key branding aspects on your social channels?

• Fill in all info areas offered on the social channel, including a short bio filled with attention grabbers that really highlight your business.

• Keep up-to-date photos and tagging. They want to see that you are active on social and who their potential co-workers could be.

• 80/20 rule. While it’s important to promote your latest product or service, don’t overdo it. Social media was built to break down that corporate wall between consumers and the business. That being said, 80% should be engaging with your audience and developing your brand, while 20% should be product promotions.

#LetsGetSocial

Does anyone else think it’s insane that we are able to connect and engage with millions of users all around the world from the comfort of our own home? I work with social media platforms all day long and sometimes I forget what an incredible tool we have at the touch of our fingertips. And it’s completely revolutionizing the way we do business, talent acquisition, relationships, communication, everything.

Businesses are often hesitant to start using social media as a tool in their marketing strategies because they don’t know how to approach it or fear engagement with their audience. The funny thing is, it’s REALLY SIMPLE. What isn’t so simple is understanding the nuances. And some organizations are overwhelmed by it as a potential burden or time restraint for their team. Don’t fall into this trap. Remember: you’re ultimately sharing updates and stories with your buyers and employees. If you know how to talk to them, you know how to talk on social media.

Engaging Your Audience (Candidates)

How does one engage with their audience? First, evaluate what your target audience is and determine your tone of voice. When you have a company profile, you’re aren’t just representing yourself, you are speaking on behalf of the company as a whole. (You might want to jot that one down on sticky note – it’s a crucial point to remember!)

You might be sourcing candidates through #SocialMedia... but what happens when they seek out you? Don't lose talent to bad online appearances. Check out these tips and tricks from @Molly_Spelts: Share on X

Engaging with your audience is also a great way to casually recruit – while your candidates are looking at you, you can source them as well. 70% of hiring managers have been successful when recruiting using social media and now 89% of companies are planning on using social media to recruit. If you plan on using it to recruit, you better make sure your engagement is superb. Even the dullest of companies can be engaging and connecting with their audience on social media.

I’ve compiled a few ideas to help kickstart your engaging:

• Ask questions. How else do you get the ball rolling? An intriguing question is always a great way to get people to interact.

• Start a poll. Twitter and Facebook have launched a poll feature for your entertainment. Take it for a spin and ask a fun and interesting poll for your audience to take part in. You never know, it might give you a great idea to expand your business strategy.

• Do a giveaway. A lot of businesses have leftover swag from conferences or extra office swag laying around…and everybody loves free swag! Bonus: now people outside your organization are giving your brand some advertising.

Pick a Platform or Two

Choosing the right social media platforms is essential to making sure you hit the right target market and audience. This is completely up to the company and where you see a fit. Take comfort in knowing that you don’t have to be on every single social media platform, unless it makes sense for your brand and team.

Consider whether you have a small social team who will be managing your accounts or just one person. Don’t spread yourself too thin by trying to maintain too many platforms, this will only deteriorate your overall brand on each channel and you won’t be able to maximize your engagement.

Common platforms for big and small businesses include: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. However, if you want to step it up a notch and dabble in Instagram, Snapchat or YouTube…feel free! While those might be more visual focused platforms, they reach a large portion of the younger generations and they will seek out those channels when looking into your business.

So, how do you know what is the best platform for YOUR business? Focus on what industry your company falls into, for example, a staffing agency should focus it’s social efforts on LinkedIn and Facebook, whereas the retail industry is more of a visual area so focusing on Instagram and Snapchat is better for that particular industry.

Want to explore more social media content? Explore our RBM blog to find stats, guides and tips to help you build your marketing strategies!