If you’re one of the few recruitment agencies or recruiters who don’t use social media as a part of your recruitment or marketing strategy, then you’re way behind the times. In 2018, it seems crazy that you can stumble across a recruitment business which doesn’t have a Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or an applicant tracking system, but believe it or not, there are a handful out there! For those of you with existing accounts who need a little direction, these are a few things your agency shouldn’t be doing on social media.
Not having a strategy
Just like with anything, you need a plan in place when it comes to your social media. It doesn’t take long to put together and is crucial if social media plays any part in your recruitment strategy. All you need to do is outline the following:
Who your target audience is: Who makes up the majority of your following? Is it candidates or people working in the recruitment industry?
What content your target audience enjoy and naturally engage with: Do they prefer polls, images, videos, infographics, articles, fun facts or tips and tricks? Do you write your own blog posts which you can promote?
Who will manage the social media: Is it your marketing department or can consultants get involved too? Does anybody need to sign off content?
What accounts you have: Do you have a separate ‘jobs’ Twitter account to your usual one? Do you have a LinkedIn profile or page (because some businesses still promote themselves on a personal profile rather than a business page)? Is your target audience present on the social platforms you are using?
What sort of content you will post on each channel: Will you be publishing different content on your Facebook page to your Twitter? Will your LinkedIn account be more business focused? Will you only be sharing your own content or other useful articles as well? Do you plan on having ads?
Your posting schedule: How many times a day are you going to be posting on each channel? Will you be posting on weekends or just weekdays?
What hashtags you should use: Have you done your research? What hashtags do your competitors use? Do you keep an eye out for events and trending hashtags?
How you will monitor your channels: Do you have any KPIs? How will you measure success and ROI? Will you be using scheduling software?
Only posting job ads
There’s such a huge range of content which you could post on social media so why just limit it to job ads? If that’s all you ever share, then your following will get bored very quickly and it could even encourage them to hit that unfollow button! It’s also a poor social media strategy to have, if it even is one at all, and a complete waste of your channels! Instead, try sharing some interesting blog posts or articles, what you’re up to in the office or a poll to engage your audience.
Not engaging with content
One of the best ways of getting your brand out there is to engage with other accounts’ content. It’s not particularly time consuming and is a simple gesture to inform others that you enjoy their content. Whether it’s leaving a comment on a LinkedIn post, liking a tweet or answering a poll and retweeting, it only takes a moment and can go a long way. Eventually, the industry might look up to you as a thought leader and start tagging you in posts for your opinion which is essentially free promotion!
Forgetting you need to grow your following
Interacting with new people and boosting your engagement is great but don’t forget one of your goals should be to grow your following. Put aside some time each week to go through relevant accounts, people following your competitors and accounts you’re already following and put the groundwork in to build a relationship with them. Read their content, let them know what you thought about it and share it with your own followers if it’s appropriate. These are all great ways to start developing a connection and increase your following. You can also consider running giveaways and competitions where people will need to follow your social media accounts in order to be entered.
Buying followers
This goes hand in hand with the previous point but it’s so important to remember! Whatever you do, do not buy followers! It’s unprofessional and can never result in anything positive. It’s so easy to be found out now with websites like Social Blade and just isn’t worth it! It will also lower your engagement rate as it’s highly unlikely that the followers you bought give two damns about your content or company!
There are obviously a lot more dos and don’ts out there when it comes to social media but these are just a handful which you definitely shouldn’t be doing! If warning lights started flashing when you read any of these points then make sure you kick the habit now!
