According to Pew Research, 65% of American adults are using social media sites. This should not be a surprise to anyone. What might be a surprise, however, is the number of businesses that still don’t use social media to recruit employees. These days, there is so much that can be done on social media for free, and there are so many potential new employees on social media.
So why aren’t more businesses embracing this as a tool to grow their companies? In many cases, social media can be intimidating. Most business owners don’t know where to start, so they go with what they know and what is comfortable. If you’re ready to give it a try or are looking to improve what you are already doing, here are some simple tips any business owner can follow to recruit via social media.
Create and maintain your brand.
Before you start trying to get potential hires to find you, make sure they can find something nice. Create corporate profiles using the major social media outlets—LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, etc.—and fill them with positive posts about your company.
Start a conversation.
People love to answer questions and surveys on social media—and they are great ways to engage—but make sure to keep it light. You don’t want to get into politics or other divisive issues. Depending on the product or service you offer, you can get people talking or have them vote on their favorite X, Y, or Z.
Ask people to share.
People also love to share things with their networks. Once you have an opening to post, ask your employees, friends, and family to share it. Then, watch the magic happen. Before you know it, thousands of people will see your posting, and guess what? Some of them will share it too!
Be helpful.
You can still build a candidate pool and spread goodwill in between job postings by being helpful. Share news and tips that will help people, and you will be seen as a resource. If you can become a resource to more and more people, you’ll have no problem finding excellent candidates when the right positions become available.
Get creative.
Think outside the box with your social media recruiting. Create some interesting videos about your business, or develop some infographics to catch a candidate’s eye. Try using Vine or Instagram in creative ways to draw some positive attention.
Post, post, post, and post again.
Don’t be afraid to share your content multiple times per day on various social media outlets. Not everyone checks their accounts at the same time, and posts can easily become buried. It’s difficult to know what time of day your ideal candidate will be using social media, so you might as well cover as much as you can.
While social media certainly isn’t the only way to recruit, it’s quickly becoming an avenue every business owner should use. It’s very low cost, extremely effective, and you should be able to reach at least 65% of your target audience (probably more). So what are you waiting for?! Start making social media work for you.
Has social media recruiting worked for you? Tweet us at @MyGenesisHR, and let us know what you think!
