6 Social Recruiting Facts You’re (Probably) Still Ignoring

By Michael Altiero

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You might not like hearing this, but you’re probably not giving social networks the attention and resources they fully deserve as a recruiting channel in 2016.

Jobseeker expectations have changed greatly over the last decade, and something that is now considered normal to them is social media. Not only do they expect to find your company and employees on social networks, but they also use these channels in their research and decision-making processes. 

As a recruiting team, this means you must be ready! Social media can provide your organization with a competitive advantage in the battle for talent, enabling you to show off your culture and employer branding in creative and exciting ways.

But in order to get the most out of social recruiting, your strategy cannot ignore these six facts.

1. Your LinkedIn Company Page Is More Important Than You Might Think

At Jibe, we have spent a lot of time talking about the concept of the candidate journey – the process today’s candidates go through that takes them from a passive job seeker to being an actual applicant. Believe it or not, LinkedIn plays a crucial role in one of the first steps of the candidate journey: researching companies.

In fact, LinkedIn Career pages came in as the 3rd most popular candidate research channel (behind only Career Sites and Job Agents) in the Talent Board’s 2015 Candidate Experience Research Report. This data makes it clear that having a great LinkedIn page should be a requirement for your recruiting team. This starts, obviously, with how the page looks, but more importantly what type of content you share. Content around company values, product info, and employee testimonials are the top three that candidates find most valuable while doing research.

2. Job Seekers Don’t Care For Twitter Feeds That Only Share Jobs

Chances are your candidates are on Twitter, and are actively using it in their job search. However, most candidates aren’t using this social network to specifically apply for a job at your company.

Accounts that only share job openings (and there are plenty!) probably are not seeing too much return-on-investment. In fact, according to the Talent Board, Twitter feeds ranked 2nd to last when it comes to channels candidates use when researching opportunities at a company.

Instead, make Twitter a focal point of your Employer Branding strategy. Share company pictures and videos, allowing potential candidates to see what it would be like to work for you. This will prove to be a better use of your Twitter strategy than only tweeting jobs!

3. Social Media and Mobile Devices Go Hand In Hand

Research from eMarketer shows that as many as 31.1 million U.S. citizens will only access the Internet from a mobile device in 2016. That is a lot of people! Something even more amazing? 51.7% of Facebook users access the social network on mobile ONLY. That’s roughly 823 million Facebook users who only log onto Facebook from their phones.

When coming up with a social recruiting plan, these trends must be a part of your strategy. If you are sharing original content from your website on your social channels, but your site is not mobile-responsive, you can bet large amounts of your candidates are having a poor experience while interacting with your brand. This can have wide-ranging negative impacts for your company.

4. Interacting With Job Seekers On Social Media Improves the Candidate Experience

One mistake many brands make is forgetting to be social on social media. In other words, not actively engaging with their audience. This represents a huge missed opportunity, especially when it comes to recruiting and the candidate experience.

Gerry Crispin, during his recent visit to our NYC headquarters, said that letting candidates feel like they are being listened to and have a voice will improve your net promoter score and as a result your candidate experience.

Don’t be afraid to invite candidates to ask questions on social media and be viewed as a responsive. It will go a long way in increasing the popularity of your social channels and, most importantly, how candidates view your brand.

5. Focus On Quality, Not Quantity

I have worked in Social Media since I was a sophomore in college, and the one number everyone always cares about more than anything is the number of followers/likes your accounts have. This is one of the most misleading numbers for someone who runs a social media account.

What really matters is how much engagement you are getting on social media. If you have 50,000 followers, but get no engagement on any posts on Twitter or likes on Facebook, then does the number of followers really matter?

Instead of worrying about quantity, focus on quality. Social media users are way more likely to engage with posts/tweets/accounts that have higher engagement numbers. Don’t forget that social media is all about relationship building and engagement, which is the backbone of recruiting and candidate experience.

6. Social Media Delivers The Most Benefits To Employer Branding

We recently released our inaugural State Of Employer Branding report, which is comprised of responses from nearly 300 HR and recruiting leaders. Among the amazing data we collected, we asked which outlet had delivered the most benefits to employer branding efforts so far in 2016.

40% of respondents said social media, more than double the next closest channel (employer review sites like Glassdoor). That is a pretty astounding number, but why should your recruiting team care?

Many companies are aware of the benefits that social media can provide in their recruiting efforts, especially when it comes to branding. Chances are your competitors are already taking advantage of what social can do for their image. If you are lagging behind, it means that you are losing out on attracting top talent!

Make Social Media A Recruiting Win

By continuously looking at and improving your social recruiting strategy, you set yourself and your recruiting team up for success. Keep these facts in mind when approaching your strategy, and you’ll see better results.

If you have any social recruiting recommendations, tweet them to me @MichaelAltiero!

Michael Altiero is the Digital Marketing Manager at Extensis Group. Follow Mike on Twitter @MichaelAltiero and connect with him on LinkedIn.

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