Your potential candidates most likely spend a fair amount of their time making use of and perusing social media on the web. With networks like Facebook and LinkedIn growing larger and larger by the day, it is important for up-and-coming companies to know how to brand themselves and take advantage of the captive audience of talented, potential future hires. To help, we’ve put together a list of the top social networks online currently, and tips for how you and your company can put them to the best use:
LinkedIn, just like a networking event, allows you to make use of your various professional connections to view millions of professional profiles and company pages. Not only can you gain access to insightful discussions and helpful shared content, but you can also advertise your job openings, and gain an understanding for what your ideal candidate is looking for and cares about. It helps you to engage individuals in a dialogue about the industries you are passionate about, as well as to get a feel for potential hires before bringing them in for an interview. LinkedIn is a great tool for advertising and attracting applicants because it allows you to custom tailor the demographic you are advertising to and virally gain new professional connections.
As one of the most popular social networking sites, Facebook is home to a variety of profiles. Although it is not the honed professional environment that LinkedIn is, Facebook still has a lot of potential for your recruiting strategy mix. By designing your own company page, you make sure that you are creating a visible brand to represent your company. You can also have a designated “Careers” tab on your page that quickly allows potential candidates that have “liked” your company to view and share positions that you have listed as available. Facebook allows your company’s profile to be quickly perused and understood while making sure that you are also engaging with interested parties; sharing statuses, posts, and regularly updating your profile can encourage more individuals to interact and show interest.
Twitter is a constantly growing entity that has varying uses for all of its users. Some individuals use it to deposit their random quotes or information found throughout the day, whereas others use it to develop a professional strategy or persona that could help them to be hired. You, as a company, can implement it as a cross between the two. By utilizing hashtags, you can quickly get your job listings out in the faces of numerous interested readers, and make sure they are reaching the target audience. Along with these hashtags, you can cultivate a Twitter persona that makes your profile interesting to follow, informative, and helpful to individuals in your industry. By growing your list of followers, and the amount of relevant tweets you’ve made, you ensure that you will have plenty of people to share your posts and spread the word in the future.
Google+
Google+ is not yet considered on the forefront of social networks, but it is slowly making its rise. With Google’s implementation of the search feature, as well as their unique and creative “Hang Outs,” Google+ is quickly becoming more popular with the younger demographic. Because of the fact that it is so on the cusp, Google+ is a great place to find individuals with a more tech-savvy background. Similarly, unlike LinkedIn or Facebook where you often have to be friends or connected with an individual to see their profile, Google+ allows you to just add potential candidates into your circles to keep them connected for later!
Although we have just scratched the surface with social networking sites, we hope that the information we’ve shared has encouraged you to get out there and start making use of some of the great tools the internet has made available!