Social media is increasingly becoming a part of everyone’s life and it’s the new way to conduct business. Many business owners advertise, engage with customers and conduct research all through social media networking sites. Now this online movement includes recruiting and hiring through sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. In the past few years, close to 76 percent of recruiters have been using social media sites to find and connect with potential candidates. That percentage is only increasing.
Top Sites
There are a variety of social media networking sites, and each one has its own quirks and its own etiquette rules. What will work for one site may not work for the next. It all depends on the type of employee you’re looking for and the job you’re trying to fill.
Popular social media outlets include Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ and Twitter. Twitter has more than 175 million tweets posted per day. Because of this, the site’s newsfeed is continually on the move. To use Twitter for recruiting, you must be willing to put the time in to engage with followers and post multiple times per day.
Facebook gives your company more exposure because the site has the most number of registered users and the most time logged in by users than any of the other sites. LinkedIn is used by many professionals and this site will give you a more professional pool of candidates. Pinterest has a large percentage of women, and you’ll find technical candidates on Google+.
Top Ways
When you start your employee search campaign you need to have a plan on how you’re going to put social media sites to work for you. Social media marketing requires you know your target demographic and aim posts, tweets and comments toward those individuals.
Start by getting the word out on the site you choose. Announce that you are hiring by sending out several tweets announcing you’re going to be hiring soon. Next, watch and see who likes or comments on the status update. From there, you can research those who expressed an interest and aim further posts toward these individuals.
Increase
More and more business owners are realizing they can find and select the best candidates possible to work for their company through social media. Over the past year the use of social media for recruiting has shown a rapid increase. Close to 90 percent of human resource departments utilized social media networks for their recruiting process. That’s a 14 percent increase over the average use of these sites in the past for this purpose.
Advantages
By launching a full recruiting program through social media marketing, you’re able to find the best candidate possible. You’re not limited to local applicants, making the pool of potential candidates that much larger.
Social media helps get the brand of your company out there so everyone recognizes your logo, colors and company name. This makes your business a reliable one and potential recruits will start coming to you. This method of recruiting also gives you a chance to learn more about the person before ever inviting them in for an interview.
Social media networking sites are a great way to also gain referrals for potential recruits from others in the same industry who already have a job.
Be creative and think outside the box before starting your social media recruiting campaign. There are many different sites available and no two are alike. Do you research and find the best site and method for your company and the position you need to fill.
