What is social media recruitment? 5 keys for a good strategy

Did you know that currently about 79% of professionals use social media to look for new job opportunities. Are you familiar with social media recruitment? Are you making the most out of the possibilities this channel offers? If you work in the world of talent acquisition, you need to harness its full potential. 

Recruitment in social networks is used to be one of the most important trends, but now is slowly becoming the new standard in Human Resources. If you want to understand this concept and know how to recruit in social media correctly, this article is for you. 

What is social media recruitment? 

As the name implies, it is a modern variant of recruitment which uses social platforms to source and contact professionals for a certain position. However, this is not only useful to find active candidates, but also can help you a lot with building your talent pool with passive candidates. 

Despite what many people think, recruitment in social media is not just about posting recruitment ads in Facebook and waiting for people to send their resumes. That is too basic. If you want to have good results and keep them in the long term, you have to create a good strategy. 

Creating a social media recruitment strategy 

1. Select the right platforms 

There are many different social networks, but not all offer the same results for recruitment. Keep in mind that each platform aims to a particular audience. That’s why, as part of your social media recruitment strategy, your first action must be finding what are the platforms frequently used by the professionals you are looking for. 

You are probably thinking of starting with Facebook and LinkedIn since they are some of the most important ones. That’s not a bad idea and helps you increasing your presence in social media. However, we don’t recommend focusing only on the most popular platforms. Keep in mind that the biggest platforms do not guarantee candidates that fit the profile you need. 

This is especially relevant when it comes to find very specific profiles. For that reason, you should familiarize yourself with some niche networks that the candidates you are looking for usually use. For example, platforms and forums such as GitHub or StackOverflow are the perfect places to find developers and other IT professionals. 

You might like: How to Recruit IT Talent in 3 Essential Steps 

2. Sharpen your company image in social media 

Ok, let’s imagine you start looking for candidates for a position and you find many potential candidates. Without wasting time, you contact them. What do you think they’ll do? The first thing those professionals will do is to check your social platforms. These offer the first impression of your brand. You should pay attention to your employer branding and the image you create from your business profiles. 

If a candidate checks your name on Facebook and find nothing but many unsolved claims made by your clients, they probably won’t apply to your company. All claims, doubts and questions clients might have on social media must have timely replies and be quickly solved. For that reason, you should work closely with your Marketing team. 

3. Offer valuable content 

Since you want to recruit professionals through social media, it is very important to have active presence on these platforms. For that reason, you need to make frequent posts. Part of the image you build for your brand will be based on the type of posts you create. 

Therefore, if you start creating content that is useful and informative for the professionals you want to attract, they will reach you organically. This way, you will create an audience of candidates that know and value your brand. This is a point where Marketing and talent acquisition join forces to create what is known as inbound recruitment. 

4. Interact with your audience 

Your objective shouldn’t be just increasing your number of followers, but creating a community of talent. That requires a little more time, but is really worth it. Don’t worry, the secret for the success in social media lies in the interaction you have with your audience, Of course that also applies in recruitment in social media. 

Once you build an audience made of professionals that recognize your expertise through the content you create, it is time to interact with them. Speak to them directly with the content you post, conduct surveys and show genuine interest for their opinion and thoughts in the field your company operates. 

That is the best way to build a core of active and passive candidates. Those professionals who actively interact with you will be the ones who are more likely to apply for the position you offer. Never forget that the key for achieving that is in the interaction. 

Now you know what is recruitment in social media and how to create a basic strategy. Keep an active presence on the right social platforms and build an audience. That is the best way to succeed in social media talent acquisition. 

At Talent2Win, we strive to align your company’s business objectives with the best Talent Acquisition strategies available. If you want to learn more about the services we offer, do not hesitate to contact us.