In part 1 of this series I wrote about how to select the right technology to support your social recruiting efforts. In this post I’m going to be looking at social places. Which ones to set up and how, the purpose of each channel and what features to add.
Everything really starts with understanding your target audience and their social habits. This is fairly easy to do by surveying your existing staff to find out what they do and where they go on and off line. It is reasonable to assume that you are looking to hire similar people, and that their social habits will reflect the people you are trying to hire, people like them. Your also going to be looking to your existing team to post and share content and be your brand ambassadors. This will dictate your content strategy, so it is important that you build social places that support this. When your thinking about social places, think on and off line. It is as important to plan in physical in person events like meet up groups as it is to plan to use channels like Facebook.
The template questionnaire that I use is sent to all employees in the organisation and looks at:
- What social media channels do you use?
- What do you use each channel for?
- How often do you visit each channel?
- What on line groups and forums do you contribute to?
- What meet up groups do you attend and how often?
- What blogs do you read?
- Do you have a blog? (If yes, what is the nature of the blog.)
- What type of work content would you be prepared to share?
- How do you think we could best use social media for recruiting?
- What other comments do you have?
The answers that come from the questionnaire will help you shape your plans as to what social places to concentrate on. What I’m seeing is that each channel is beginning to be differentiated in purpose by the users. The channels themselves develop features according to user preferences, and users vote with clicks.
Concerning the main channels, the patterns I’m seeing are:
The professional reference source. Increased mobile use makes apply with LinkedIn an essential consideration. As the professional reference source, LinkedIn is the best channel for identifying and sourcing talent, and for getting very relevant content sharing in a targeted way.
The browsing channel. Great for driving visitor numbers and applications. The applications are usually highest, via an automated feed. The introduction channel where strangers connect. Use to share content and promote other social places, as well as having public conversations.
The engagement channel through fan pages. Brand communities with view/apply applications added get the best results. People connect with brands on Facebook and look for an insight in to culture and values, connecting early in the process. Results are showing that volumes of applications via Facebook are lower, but conversions to hire are much higher.
The biggest feature for recruiters is hangouts. This feature is ideal for creating opportunities to engage with potential candidates through live discussion and video. The segmented nature of Google+ circles mean content or activity can be shared with specific target groups.
As a minimum you are going to need a Facebook fan page, Twitter feed and engagement accounts on an individual basis, a Google+ page and a LinkedIn company page with career features. How you use these, and what content will be used is determined by the results from the survey. Either way, you need a blended approach covering all the channels.
In part 3 next week I will be posting on the people, considerations and plans when implementing a social recruiting plan. I will be hosting a webinar and publishing on a white paper on the findings from 4 companies at different stages of the process. Let me know the questions you might want answering in comments.
Until next week,
Bill
