Jump Start Your Social Media Strategy

Less than a decade ago, recruitment agencies were urged to join in with social media and conferences and webinars were dedicated to teaching people how to setup accounts. Fast forward to 2016 and you might struggle to find a recruitment agency that doesn’t have a presence on at least one social media network, but do they have a recruitment social media strategy?

What you might find instead is a surprisingly large number of recruitment agencies that don’t use social media beyond having a minor presence. Perhaps you will find a page without any content or a profile filled only with job opening posts. It isn’t uncommon to come across a company page on social media that actively posted for several months, but then completely stopped. I saw a website the other day that proudly displayed 6 social media icons…none of which actually linked to a social media site. If you are sheepishly hanging your head because I am describing your company’s social media reality, then it’s time to think about your social media strategy.

Pick a Network or Two

Having a social media strategy does not mean you need to be present on every single social media platform available. Most likely you won’t have the resources to keep up with all of them. There are two things to consider when picking a social media network – what is your goal and where is your audience.

[tweet_box design=”box_01″ float=”none”]Having a social media strategy does not mean you need to be present on every single social media platform available[/tweet_box]

To start, determine your goal for participating in social media.

• Are you trying to engage candidates and employees?
• Are you trying to attract new candidates or clients?

The next step is to determine where your audience spends their time.

• Facebook is the most popular social network with 1.65 billion users. Engagement may occur outside of typical business hours.
• Twitter has fewer users and users spend less time here than Facebook.
• LinkedIn is a professional network and is used to exchange industry information.
• Both Snapchat and Instagram are primarily composed of millennial users, but these two networks aren’t the only places to find millennials.
• Pinterest users tend to be female and are more active outside of typical business hours.

Once you have identified your goal and where your audience spends their time, pick one or two social networks and focus on being really active on those sites.

[tweet_box design=”box_01″ float=”none”]Pick one or two social networks and focus on being really active on those sites[/tweet_box]

Plan Your Approach and Measure Your Results

Once you have picked your network, determine the type of activity that will occur on your page. Your activity should be both proactive posts sharing with your audience and reactive posts engaging with your audience. Perhaps some of the following would be good content for you to share?

• Job openings (just be sure it isn’t the only thing you post).
• If you are attending a job fair, conducting a webinar, or attending another type of event, don’t forget to let your social network know about it.
• Photos of happenings at your office or employees on assignment.
• Information about your industry.
• Career advice
• Retweet or share the work of others. Nothing says that the content on your social media feed needs to be your own. If you come across content that you think is relevant to your audience, share it.

Your reactive posts are just as important (sometimes more important) than your proactive ones. If someone comments on an item you have posted or shares your post, engage them. You can respond to their comment or simply acknowledge their share with a like. The important thing is to engage.