Social media has a huge effect on marketing and the way we communicate. Today, recruitment is digitally driven, and the candidate journey could just as easily start on a platform such as Instagram as via a traditional job advert.
It’s important to have an optimised recruitment process to make the most out of attracting the best job candidates. This will inevitably mean harnessing the potential of social media recruitment. A large part of this will rely on social media automation, where automated tools can schedule posts and content to maximise engagement. When using social media in recruitment, you can take advantage of paid and organic posts. When used properly, both paid and non-paid ads can be effective in targeting candidates.
Organic posting on social media
Organic content is posted for free. It’s often used by business to build their following online and strengthen their branding. One survey revealed that 96% of specialists in employer branding use social media platforms to communicate, making it an important element of their recruitment strategy.
With organic job posts, there are no charges. The more users engage with and share the posts, the more people will see them. Advantages of organic content include being able to engage with users directly and building brand relevancy by sharing valuable information. The downside is that it can take a lot of time and testing to work out what resonates with followers.
As a strategy, organic posting has drawbacks. The distribution of the posts can be random and may never reach the audience you most want to target. Social media platforms have also adapted their algorithms to make it more difficult for organic posts from businesses to reach a wide audience unless they have an extremely large following. Creating a post that goes viral post is every marketer’s dream, but building a strategy around that is a bit like planning to buy a house by winning the lottery.
Paid job posts on social media
When trying to recruit top talent, reaching new audiences is very important. Paid posts on social media can help achieve this, and get your post in front of candidates who might never see it otherwise. With paid posts, you can apply filters and target your ideal audience precisely to generate impressive and measurable results.
Another tool at your disposal with paid posting on social media is using it to boost organic content that has been socially successful. When a post has engaged loyal followers, a boost can get it in front of fresh eyes that are looking for this material. This has obvious benefits when it comes to recruitment, especially when you want to cast the net wide, but simultaneously target high-achieving, diverse candidates with the appropriate skills and experience. The cost of paid posts can be significant, so targeted implementation and monitoring performance is vital.
Mobile optimised job ads and social recruitment
Effective social media recruitment generally delivers the best results when organic and paid posts are used together in a dynamic partnership where they complement each other. Another issue to factor in is mobile optimised job ads. As many potential candidates scroll through social media on their phones, it is vital to produce ads that are designed to captivate and engage on mobile devices and are not merely mobile friendly.
Adaptive design, which yields an optimum version on laptop or mobile device, is recommended so that users have full functionality and features no matter what kind of screen they are using. Once you capture the attention of a talented potential candidate, you want to ensure their next steps are smooth and seamless to facilitate the recruitment process. Responsive ads that deliver full performance on any screen using adaptive design will ensure social users see mobile optimised job ads.
