Social Media Recruiting: How Companies Find New Employees Via Facebook & Co.

Social media recruiting is on the rise and dwarfs traditional hiring strategies. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Co. offer numerous opportunities to get in touch with applicants. Elisa Pietrasch from Clevis explains what needs to be considered.

The discipline of social media recruiting is part of human resource management and refers to recruiting via social media such as Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn. However, social media recruiting is much more than just posting job advertisements. Successful recruiting via social networks make it possible to contact potential candidates and cultivate relationships with one another early.

The basis for a successful recruiting process is a positive employer brand. Social networks enable companies to present themselves as attractive employers. A good employer brand allows the company to stand out from the competition and attract attention.

Why A Particular Recruiting Strategy Is Necessary

Social media channels are ideal for giving valuable insights into the company and strengthening the employer brand. It is essential to pay attention to authenticity. If a company pretends to be something it isn’t, this is quickly revealed and has adverse effects. Social media recruiting takes a lot of skill. Users use the platforms – except for career websites – primarily for private purposes and usually not to look for a job. As a company, a sophisticated strategy is therefore required to attract qualified candidates nonetheless.

For social media recruiting to work, the company has to

• Define the target group,
• Identify relevant channels,
• Create a company profile on the platforms,
• Post relevant and creative content regularly.
• Why rely on social media recruiting?

Social media is becoming more and more critical. As a result, recruiting via social media platforms is also becoming increasingly important. As can be seen from the graphic, most users can be found on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. It is precisely these platforms that you should therefore include in your recruiting strategy.

Social media recruiting has various advantages over conventional recruiting strategies. One of them is using social media channels to address a particular target group in their familiar environment directly. You can attract the attention of actively and passively searching candidates and take advantage of the wide range of social networks.

This form of recruiting is also very suitable for active sourcing. In particular, career websites such as Xing or LinkedIn make it possible to approach qualified talent and attract them to the company actively. The various platforms are just as suitable for employer branding. The multiple channels offer countless possibilities for this. Last but not least, various analysis tools are also integrated with most social media channels. This helps the target group more closely and determines the success of active sourcing and employer branding measures.

Suitable Platforms For Social Media Recruiting

There are different target groups on each platform. That means, depending on the target group that your company wants to address, other media are required. However, there are also target groups – especially older generations – that you are less likely to come across in social networks. If you want to achieve this, you should instead use conventional recruiting strategies. Once you have defined your target group, it is a matter of choosing the right platform. From the wide range of social media channels, the following four platforms are particularly suitable for recruiting measures :

Facebook: The venue is home to a pretty extensive target group, and you will find users of different age groups there. Formats such as photos and live videos are prevalent here. Content in text format is possible but in a shorter form. To be visible on Facebook, you need to post something at least once a day. If you don’t do that, you will go under in the news feed.

• Facebook also offers the option to place paid ads and thus achieve a higher reach. With the Audience Insights tool, you can quickly obtain information about your target group. In addition to demographic data, this tool also provides information on page likes, Facebook usage, and buying behavior. So you can quickly adapt the content of your profile to the target group.

Instagram: The platform is mainly used by the younger generation and is used primarily on smartphones. Users open Instagram several times a day and scroll through the latest posts. Because of this, you must post several times a day. These are preferably pictures or short videos. It would be best if you only used text in the captions on Instagram.

• These are also the place for hashtags, which link the post with other thematically similar posts and make it findable for the search engine. So don’t forget to add the appropriate hashtags to your post. The so-called Instagram stories are also popular. These make it possible to show specific content for 24 hours. Companies often use this format to integrate followers into content production via surveys.

YouTube: is the number one video platform. YouTube is a video search engine. Therefore, be sure to upload SEO-optimized videos. In addition, these videos should be professionally produced video content. Amateur videos from companies tend to be less popular. YouTube videos, for example, are ideal for letting employees have their say. So let your employees talk about the company and become brand ambassadors. Again, you must present the company authentically and credibly.

Typical Mistakes In Social Media Recruiting

Since most social media platforms are not used for active job searches, recruiting via specific channels is challenging. A significant problem arises with job advertisements. These are often unimaginative and boring, resulting in which the users do not notice them. Tailor your job advertisements to the target group. Design them creatively and try to arouse curiosity. To attract more attention, it is advisable to supplement the text with a suitable image.

If you prefer to use active sourcing, you have to pay particular attention to the approach. Do not use bulk emails, but make your request as personal as possible. Show genuine interest in the person. Social media recruiting often fails because of the content. Companies post either too little or irrelevant content. There is also often a lack of variety. So please make an effort to tailor the content to your target group and orient it towards their needs.

Do not be afraid to enrich your recruiting process by integrating social networks. With the necessary strategy and good planning, nothing stands in the way of successful social media recruiting.

Also Read: Social Media Goals For SMBs – Tips, Tricks, And Common Mistakes In Practice