Recruitment via social media: how does it work?
Social media has a huge impact on society. Platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok influence the way people communicate with each other. In that respect, it is no surprise that many companies use social media. For instance, staff recruitment is increasingly taking place via social media channels. We would like to explain exactly how this works and what is involved in this article.
What is recruitment via social media?
The current form of social media has only existed for about twenty years. Recruitment via social networks is therefore a relatively new phenomenon. In short, it means that companies use social networks to attract new staff. For example, a company posts a vacancy on LinkedIn and tries to pique the interest of potential candidates.
Why should you recruit staff via social media?
Companies are increasingly using social media as part of their recruitment strategy. It is an effective way to reach a large target audience because many people have at least one social media account. You also attract the attention of individuals who might otherwise overlook the company vacancy.
Which methods are available for recruitment via social media?
Another term for recruitment via social media is ‘social media recruitment’. This business area has grown considerably over the past decades. To maintain an overview, the methods for social media recruitment are divided into different categories. Let’s list a few of them:
Method 1: Active sourcing
People often share their own education and employment details on a social network such as LinkedIn and Facebook. A company that uses this data for staff recruitment is engaging in ‘active sourcing’. For example, a recruiter sends a message to someone with the vacancy and hopes to attract a ‘dream candidate’ in that way.
Method 2: Content marketing
As the name suggests, this method revolves around content, for example in the form of texts and photos on social media networks. Posting videos is also an effective method for attracting a specific target audience.
Method 3: Links to career portals
In the past, people looked for a suitable job in the newspaper; nowadays, vacancies can be found in digital career portals. This means that a company places a link to the career portal on a social network. Interested individuals then immediately see all open vacancies.
Method 4: Social media campaign
To create extra reach among (passive) job seekers, you can deploy a social media campaign. This boosts the vacancy much more than a regular post via your own channels and ensures more traffic to the vacancy page.
Our Recruitment & Selection specialists know exactly how to reach the right target audience with a social media campaign. Look here for more information about our promotion package.
Advantages of recruitment via social media
Companies do not use social media to attract staff without reason. This method of recruitment brings all kinds of advantages, such as:
- As a company, you reach a much larger target audience.
- You get in touch with potential candidates who are not actively looking for a new job.
- People often share their education and employment details on social media. This makes it much easier to select and approach suitable candidates.
- Via special software, it is possible to track the recruitment campaign and the associated results 24/7.
Challenges and pitfalls of recruitment via social media
Finding the right target audience via social media is certainly no simple task. Not everyone is happy to be approached by a company via social media. For example, people are afraid that personal data will be exposed. In addition, there are many developments and new technologies in the field of social media. Expert knowledge is often required to use new software effectively.
Furthermore, on Facebook and Instagram, it is not possible to specify by age and gender to prevent discrimination. This means you must be extra alert to how you frame your message so that the right target audience is triggered.
Step-by-step plan for effective recruitment via social media
Does your company want to start with recruitment via social media? Then follow this step-by-step plan to make it a success:
Step 1: Determine the target audience you would like to reach.
Step 2: Choose the right social media channels to attract the attention of your desired target audience.
Step 3: Create a powerful content strategy.
Step 4: Build a community of loyal employees who might also want to share the vacancy on social media.
Step 5: Post and share vacancies on social media.
Step 6: Measure the progress of the recruitment campaign with special software.
Measuring the ROI of social media recruitment
In the step-by-step plan, we already mentioned measuring the results of the social media recruitment campaign. In this case, companies focus primarily on the ROI (Return on Investment). Are your efforts for the recruitment campaign paying off? You can only find out by measuring the ROI in the following ways:
- The reach: the number of unique users who have seen your content (from social media posts to vacancies).
- The engagement: How many people have ‘liked’ the post or the campaign? The number of comments, shares and clicks are also ways to measure the ROI.
- Applications received: By tracking the campaigns, you can see from which campaign the application originates.
Looking for professional support in your search for the perfect candidate? Our Recruitment & Selection specialists will be happy to help you with this!
