This is a guest blog written for us by Be Kaler of Futureheads. Be was due to speak at our May Directors event but due to circumstances beyond her control wasn’t able to. She has very kindly shared some of the themes of her planned presentation.
Whether you love or hate social media, there’s no denying that it’s everywhere and it’s here to stay. Each morning as I scan through my email, I’m flooded with emails about social media tips and tricks, how to use it and why it’s important for your business.
But what does social media mean to a recruitment business? And how has Futureheads adopted social media to engage with its community? I have answered some interesting questions about the importance of social media for a recruitment business to give a better understanding of how a recruitment agency can benefit from it.
Is social media important for a recruitment business?
Social media is an important component for a recruitment business especially when it comes to considering how they engage with their community. People are present on a variety of social networks both for personal and professional use.
Why is social media important for a recruitment business?
That “buy now” mentality doesn’t really work in a specialist industry, creating long term relationships with your clients and candidates for when they are ready to move serves you better – so that when people are looking to engage a partner they are familiar with your brand, your services and some of the opportunities and areas you work in.
Should you hire a marketing person?
Tricky. On one hand yes – a marketing manager can help put together a strategy, identify key objectives and ensure they are measured and analysed. However, if you have a team of people who you can skill up, that voice is likely to be more authentic and closer to the source. You will also have a mass of people helping to amplify the voice.
When should you hire a marketing person?
When you can afford one. When you have worked out what their objective is and you have got the processes in place to measure their success.
How do you decide which channels to use?
To help you identify this, you must first answer some key questions. Where are your users? Who are you looking to attract? At Futureheads Recruitment, because we are a specialist recruiter in the digital space our users use all the big ones, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. We are still working towards Pinterest but using the other 4, with different types of messaging to make sure that we are using the right channels for different types of content.
How do you decide which messaging to use?
Observe what sort of messages and frequency your audience prefers (observe etiquette – for example on Instagram you should only post 1-2 pics a day). Then mirror this, be brave, switch the frequency and type of content if you don’t feel like you are being successful and monitor this and change quickly. It’s all about experimenting and seeing what works.
How much time should your staff and teams spend on social?
Well, ideally this is something that can be incorporated into their day and mind-set without having to carve out big chunks of time. Looking at industry trends, news and posting jobs should happen daily anyway. If someone wants to carry out a thought leadership piece then this may need a few hours dedicated to the research and maybe that again for the writing – but you should plan clearly what you want the outcome to be.
How do you measure and track social media?
The hardest part is to track results, but the best way to measure what is possible is to keep a spreadsheet of your accounts and measure month on month so that you can reward success and change stuff that isn’t working so well.
What are the biggest challenges?
My biggest challenge has been getting everyone on board. We had to make sure that people had the skills and confidence and layer in some training, 121 times and group sessions.
What have been your biggest wins?
Our biggest win has been seeing our content being liked, shared and engaged with. More people spend time on the site looking at our content than anything else. We think it’s because we have empowered people to have their own voice as the content is driven by what questions people ask us on a day to day basis. So not only is it relevant and stuff we really know about but also authentic.
What do you think of social media and how has it helped you professionally? If you have some interesting thoughts or stories to share, please email me at be@wearefutureheads.co.uk.
