Introduction
Great news, you’re hiring! Now how do you attract the right talent and spread the word? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Below is a comprehensive guide to leveraging your digital marketing to engage job seekers.
Recruiting is an active form of marketing.
When promoting current or future job openings, you should consider the strategy to be similar to any other form of marketing in the sense that the same techniques used to attract new clients are being used to instead attract appealing potential applicants. The precise branding and content marketing that you might be familiar with when it comes to reaching target audiences for your products or services is also beneficial when recruiting.
Why is it important to develop a solid hiring process?
To attract top talent, you must first make your business known, appealing, and engaging. What may sound like a daunting task can actually be simplified into a few target areas that must be addressed and fine-tuned in order to directly target applicants of your specific job offerings.
In the larger scheme of things, the process of developing this solid hiring process reaps some very noticeable benefits:
Limit energy necessary to compete for top talent:
According to LinkedIn research, a visibly strong employer brand is twice as likely to be linked to job consideration compared to a strong company brand. In fact, developing a strong brand and hiring process might actually pique the interest of top talent that was not even initially on the job search. Maintaining ongoing efforts to promote your company as a top employer even outside of hiring season is a sure way to attract interested candidates without even actively seeking them out.
Reduce cost per hire:
A strong brand image and hiring process limit the strain on financial resources as well. Instead of delegating part of your budget to expensive recruiting costs, you can implement some simple improvements to naturally help potential candidates find your job openings. Not to mention, by building up your brand and streamlining your hiring process, you can save the additional finances that some businesses offer new hires to make up for a poor brand reputation or lack thereof.
Where to begin…
While there are many different approaches to hiring depending on your specific industry, there are a few key areas to address when improving your hiring process:
The following strategies dive deeper into each of these elements of your company and help to guide the process of listing new job opportunities with your company. After all, acquiring the right talent is the most important key to growth within any industry.
Brand
At any given time, there is an abundance of job openings posted in various industries, making it very difficult to stand out. This competition for visibility makes it critical to utilize unique and creative branding strategies to help your company stand out in the crowd. While there are a few different approaches to establishing your own distinct branding, there are a few specific qualities of a brand that prove to be more effective in differentiating your company, and therefore your job openings as well.
Although it seems obvious, originality is a hugely important foundation on which to base your brand. No one remembers the ads that follow the same ‘template’ as every other company because they simply do not resonate as well as the out-of-the-box advertisements that make viewers stop and think. It should always be your goal to create content that has a better chance of being associated with your brand, and your brand alone.
Consistency is equally crucial. From the tone of your messaging to the color scheme of your social media posts and website layout, your brand needs to represent the clear and cohesive standards that are your brand. This carries over into the types of social media graphics you develop for each job opening. Ensure that when a prospective applicant is viewing your job listings on Instagram, they reflect the same, steady brand image on your website landing pages as well.
Website Development & SEO
For the majority of job seekers, their search begins online whether that be visiting job board sites or directly searching for keyword phrases based on their preferred position or industry. This is where strategic website development and precise keyword usage play a huge role as candidates often click on the first few results that appear in their search engine. As a benchmark to ensure the right applicants are able to easily discover your site, learn about openings, and quickly apply to roles that interest them, you should strive to improve a few specific website components and strategies to improve your chances of visibility.
Website-specific components:
One of the most important factors contributing to your success is your search rankings. Many components contribute to the level of search ranking your site achieves, but a few key factors can give your site the boost it needs to gain more traffic and thoughtful engagement.
Create company landing pages
Designate a specific area of your website to show off the unique personality of your company as well as details such as company culture, current team members, and benefits of working with you and your team. The video content you produce can also be showcased here making it a one-stop-shop for interested applicants to gather all the information they need to make the decision to apply. Make it powerful and make it easy to apply.
Other strategies to implement on your site
- Improve visibility: Targeting your messaging is crucial in order to get your job listings in front of top talent. Utilize keywords and frequent sharing of links on social media and additional platforms to strengthen search optimization.
- Utilize call-to-action elements: To give interested applicants the small push they need to apply, include call-to-action elements in various areas of your website including top banners and in-content links that make it easy for them to apply.
- Make sure it’s mobile-friendly: The majority of current job seekers utilize mobile devices during their job searches so leading potential applicants to a well-organized and mobile-friendly website ensures they will easily discover the content that makes it simple to apply.
Be aware of other search results related to your company
It is not uncommon for companies to rank on the search engine results page for sites other than their own. For example, a questionable review on an external site could appear when job seekers are looking into your company and its open positions. It’s important to be aware of these outside mentions as 55% of interested candidates abandon applications after reading a negative review online.
Video
Creating video content is another key asset that can be utilized among a variety of platforms. Especially because video currently accounts for 62% of all internet searches, developing your own unique video content is a strategic way to reach prospective applicants. Videos are highly shareable as well making for an effective approach to boosting content and increasing the number of eyes viewing your job listings.
Potential video topics:
Message from the CEO
Depending on the size of your company, developing a video that shares a special message from the CEO or other company leaders. Topics can cover a wide range of company aspects including industry, culture, current work, any potential achievements, and of course, their team.
“We are Hiring”
To take a different approach, current employees can also get involved through the creation of an ‘interview style’ video that allows potential hires to hear the background and experience of those who actually work there. Employees can touch on many areas including their personal onboarding, what an average day looks like within their specific role, and the reasons they enjoy working for their company.
Company Culture
This form of video may be seen as a bit more personalized, approachable, and informative for your specific hiring audience. There are many ways to tackle a company culture video. Tell a quality story, give a virtual tour, or show off the uniqueness of your company but no matter what, keep the energy high to keep your audience engaged and excited about the possibility of working with your team. Above all, the important thing to keep in mind is that your video should always promote a natural, honest image of your company and the role you’re seeking to hire for.
Whether you choose to create just one or even a combination of a few video varieties, ensure that this content is shared to the extent to which it will be of value to your hiring efforts. Videos can be shared anywhere that makes sense for your specific company or industry including your website careers page, any social media platforms, and even email campaigns. In terms of shareable content, video has the potential to reach wider audiences and resonate with candidates in a way that other forms of content cannot, so don’t be afraid to share it and share it often.
Social Media
In the exceptionally social world we live in today, it’s no surprise that social media platforms have become one of the most relevant channels to promote your employer brand. With 79% of candidates turning to social media during at least one point in their job searching journey, maintaining an accurate and enticing social profile on a variety of platforms will allow for more success in reaching your target applicants.
A few key platforms to upkeep:
There’s no denying that LinkedIn has become a major ally to businesses when it comes to increasing brand awareness, facilitating B2B connections, and maximizing lead generation. The same success is evident for recruiting efforts as LinkedIn is home to over 55 million active business accounts with over 14 million job openings. With 3 people getting hired through LinkedIn every minute, it’s no wonder why companies are consistently tuning to this social platform for hiring assistance.
Organic: As a dominant platform for job-related networking, LinkedIn provides many ways to organically promote your business to potential customers as well as possible employees. As a rule of thumb, it’s efficient to maintain an updated company LinkedIn profile for your business and encourage your team to do the same for their own personal profiles as well. Include creative and engaging content related to your company culture and thought leadership. As an added bonus, consider sharing more employee-generated content and testimonials to drive more personal engagement.
Paid: If you need to fill a position quickly or aim to reach a specific audience with your job posting, paid advertising tools are an appropriate method that strategically targets chosen job titles, skills, education levels, and years of experience to place job advertisements in front of suitable candidates for those roles.
Instagram & Facebook
Although the features of LinkedIn provide a more fluid application process for potential applicants, you should never ignore the power of other powerhouse social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.
Organic: The expansive audience available on both of these platforms alone is enough to make promoting your job openings organically a beneficial strategy. Utilize all areas and tools provided by these platforms to promote openings such as Instagram TV to share your video content, stories to provide quick and intriguing reminders, and highlights to expand visibility on these platforms. Don’t be afraid to take advantage of topics that may be currently trending when it’s appropriate as this strategy often resonates with viewers and allows room for searchable keywords via popular #hashtagging.
Paid: Although there are many strategies to promote your company and potential job openings organically (for free!), some job postings can benefit from promoting to a highly targeted audience through the use of paid advertisements. Both Instagram and Facebook allow for the utilization of paid job listings that would appear in front of a more specific audience that potentially would lead more viewers back to your website or job posting.
General social media tips
With thousands of job postings updated every day, it becomes crucial to stand out in the crowded world of online recruiting. To do so, switch up the formatting of your social media hiring efforts. Posting details about the role is just the starting point which should be followed up by posts including company values, current work that might interest potential hires, client reviews, a “day in the life”, or even quotes from current employees. Much of this content can be pulled from the videos you made to promote your job openings making it simple to repurpose and reshare.
After producing unique and intriguing content related to your company and its open roles, continue to share links to your site and to the job posting itself to improve site visibility, encourage engagement, and eventually increase the number of applicants applying.
Advertising
Similar to the social media strategies implemented by marketers, job postings can also be advertised and marketed. Creating LinkedIn posts featuring job openings and boosting that content to reach the maximum number of suitable applicants is another successful recruiting tactic.
The same job advertisements can be featured on other well-known job boards such as Indeed and Glassdoor. With over 250 million job searches per month, these sites make up the largest job posting boards in the world. The more eyes, the better chances of connecting with the top talent you are seeking. It is also often that initial search rankings for job postings direct individuals straight to these job board sites which would allow you to potentially improve the search rankings for open positions, even if it is not directed to your personal website job description.
How can you measure your employer branding & hiring success?
When it’s all said and done, looking back and reviewing the results of your hiring efforts is crucial to improving and, eventually, streamlining your recruiting process. Keying in on what is working and what is underperforming in terms of creating interest in your job openings is instrumental in gaining top talent.
Keep an eye on the analytics
Whether it may be views on your videos, clicks on your social media ads, or website visits, monitoring some of these key analytics can speak to how your hiring strategies are performing. If you find that one tactic is not reaping the benefits you’re hoping for, switch up your approach and monitor the results of those changes.
The same evaluation of key metrics applies after the hiring process is complete. In order to see how your strategy aligned with recruiting goals, take note of the time, expenses, and effort it took to secure talent.
At the end of the day, people are your most important asset.
Regardless of the industry, the size of your company, or the products you sell, valuable employees are the key to a business’s success. The strength of your hiring process will be equally reflected in the quality of the applicants you attract.
