6 Aspects of a Social Media Recruiting Strategy Every Company Should Know

Six aspects of a social media recruiting strategy every company should know

The best way to use social media to build communities and utilize relationships is to create your brand, identify the networks used by your target audience and get involved. LinkedIn has become the de facto standard for business users, while networks such as Facebook and Twitter are seen as consumer services. However, both offer opportunities to build the talent pipeline and raise awareness of a company’s employment brand.

The key to success with social networking is to understand that each tool is used for a different demographic and job family. Companies need to ensure they have a consistent brand across the various networks they participate in, yet still ensure their contribution to the community is relevant. With thousands of professionals joining social networks each day, organizations should know the following when thinking about their social media strategy:

Social media has a low cost of entry

Organizations that use Web 2.0 technologies can choose from a host of low-cost, high impact options to build their brand and connect with candidates online. Starting a blog or creating a Facebook page is simple, requires minimal resources to startup or maintain, and helps an organization build a talent pipeline by establishing company-specific groups and committees.

Building brand equity is driven by social behaviors

Embracing a social media strategy requires a shift in mindset. In the past, recruiters were solely associated with their organization. Today, social networks require organizations to associate themselves with their people. For recruiters, this means demonstrating thought leadership on behalf of the organization, building trust and creating personal connections with members of a targeted community.

“The Four C’s”: Communication, Collaboration, Conversation and Community

Social networks foster communities where people tend to gather around a common goal or shared interest and interact regularly. Join the conversation, but remember that as a member of the community, you need to do a fair share of listening. Engage in conversations with community members, share ideas and actively participate. Recruiters should be transparent about their connection to the employment brand because creating an authentic brand is one of the most crucial pieces to online success. Recruiters on LinkedIn should also have a complete profile that includes their photo, career history and recommendations from peers, colleagues and candidates.

Candidates want to know that the recruiter can be trusted in guiding their career to the next step, and as the recruiter becomes active in the community, it encourages candidates to accept further recruitment invitations. While joining communities and participating in groups is valuable to connecting with candidates, creating a group can also help recruiters reach a relevant and defined audience. As a group owner, organizations can take advantage of access to group members and their contact information.

Perhaps they’re interested in candidates with a certain set of skills or experience at a particular employer— by creating their own group, companies can develop relationships with people who are likely to fit their recruiting needs.

Different networks appeal to different demographics

Part of a successful recruiting strategy is utilizing the networks that are relevant to your target audience. For example, organizations looking to hire recent college graduates may want to focus more heavily on Facebook, while organizations seeking a pharmacokinetics scientist may have better results using LinkedIn. You need to know where your target market hangs out, establish a profile and facilitate conversations.

Social networking can provide a greater depth of information about candidates and granular insight into target companies

On social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook, users create profiles that include their contact information, employment history, hobbies, association memberships and network connections. This enables recruiters to conduct more targeted searches when looking for a candidate.

When recruiters utilize the power of LinkedIn and tools like Capital IQ, an innovative data aggregator, they are able to creatively develop a targeted approach that results in a more authentic dialogue. Understanding who the “movers and shakers” are in a target company, who has received recent promotions, and, even more importantly, the inner makeup of the company’s demographics, will undoubtedly result in a robust strategy to attract top talent.

Targeted searches reduce cycle time

Once companies have created or joined a collaborative community, they’ll be able to gain rapid access to a community of people with the right skills and qualifications. Traditionally, recruiters don’t start the recruiting process until a requisition opens. With social networking, recruiters utilize scalable relationships to quickly meet business demands—creating transparent and proactive recruiting efforts.

There’s no denying the current cultural shift happening in recruiting. Web 2.0 is having a serious impact on the business world, and progressive organizations that admire creativity and forward-thinking top talent need to utilize their recruiting teams wisely.