5 social recruiting trends you need to start adopting—an EMBARC recap [Video]

The first virtual event in a series of EMBARC® Talent Talks is just two months away. And in case you don’t know what we’re talking about: we’re talking about a virtual event filled with high-impact, no-fluff content on social recruiting & social recruiting trends, employer brand, and talent acquisition. The series starts on October 20th, and you’ll be hearing from thought leaders like Bryan Adams of Ph. Creative, Karen Viera of Church’s Chicken, Kristen Ferguson and Brian Haukoos of Inspire Brands, Nirali Matalia of Saama Technologies, and John Graham of Shaker Recruitment Marketing—to name just a few.

And just to whet your appetite for the type of content you’re gonna hear at EMBARC, here’s an excerpt from a session from our previous EMBARC on 5 social recruiting trends you need to start adopting.

1. Using video

We’re just gonna come out and say it: if you’re not using video in your social media and recruiting content, it’s time to start. Video’s more than just another medium: it’s an engaging, entertaining, and—most importantly—hugely effective way to highlight and share your culture with prospective candidates.

Here are some video ideas to try:

• Employee spotlights and stories
• Videos about your culture
• Hiring and interview tips
• Things to know about the industry your candidates are entering.

And that’s just scraping the barrel.

Looking for some examples of video recruiting done right? Check out this post on Recruitment video ideas & inspiration

2. Automating your social recruiting

Here’s something you already know: there’s not enough time in talent recruitment. Whether it’s posting your jobs to social media, scheduling interviews, or just staying on top of all your candidates, there’s simply too much to do for any human.

That’s where automation comes in.

The power of automation in talent acquisition is only growing. But in our haste to automate and make our lives easier, we sometimes forget about the other side of the coin:

Automation has to make your candidates’ lives easier, too.

And although candidates don’t mind dealing with a partially automated process, they definitely don’t want a fully automated one. That’s why we recommend using automation as a top-of-funnel process and to personalize it at the middle of the funnel. Your staff—your real, living, human staff—are going to be the ones selling your brand and making that personal connection no robot ever can.

So make sure your automated processes are helping to make that happen and not hindering it.

(Oh, and just as an aside: there is one tool that can automate your social recruiting presence while still staying true to your carefully-curated brand message.

Curious to see how we do it? Just click here to schedule a demo with us today.)

3. Embracing the importance of mobile

You probably already know the importance of mobile, but just in case, here are some crazy facts. There are 5.27 billion unique mobile phone users in the world today, according to the latest data from GSMA Intelligence. The total number of unique mobile users around the world grew by 117 million in the past 12 months. And 92% percent of the world’s internet users are now connecting via mobile devices.

So how can you ensure you’re optimizing your talent acquisition to this new mobile era?

First, make sure your career site is mobile-friendly. Make your job posts mobile-friendly. Make your content easily digestible and optimized for mobile.

Second, get all your career messaging out on social media. (About 83% of social media usage is on a mobile device.) Not just your job postings: get all of your career messaging out there. Your hiring events, your value proposition, the candidate experience that you’re trying to create—all of it. The more social you are, the more effective your overall social recruiting strategy will be.

Further reading: Why mobile recruitment is more necessary than ever

4. Optimizing your social recruiting for engagement

Simply having a social media presence isn’t enough anymore. If you want to have an effect, you need to encourage engagement. And not just likes and shares, though those are important, too, but comments as well.

An easy way to encourage engagement with your recruitment posts is to use calls-to-action or ask questions. But there’s another, really fun way:

Employee spotlights.

How do employee spotlights encourage engagement? Simple. Those employees have connections. Perhaps close connections who are proud of them—family, friends, colleagues—or perhaps connections they lost contact with, like an old professor or a mentor. By sharing a story about that employee, you’re encouraging those connections to interact with you.

Curious about an example of just such an engagement? Check out this excerpt from the session.

Further reading: 15 ways to increase social media engagement quickly

5. Encouraging employee advocacy

Social media is like a rumor. The more people who know it, the more powerful it becomes. Which begs the question: how do you get people to engage with your social content when no one’s seen it yet?

One way: by encouraging your employees to engage with it.

Even if your employees have three social platforms with five followers each—that’s potentially fifteen followers you didn’t have before. And each one of those followers have their own followers. Multiply that by however many employees you have with their own followers, and you’ve got—well…a lot more reach than you did before.

(Of course, it’s important to temper expectations. Nobody’s social posts are seen by every single follower they have, let alone engaged with. Various factors play into who sees your posts, ranging from algorithms to people simply not paying attention. But tapping into your employees’ network definitely, without a doubt, helps.)

Here are some tips on how to encourage employee advocacy:

• Explain the importance and how it can help
• Allot time for your employees to engage with your social content
• Run contests to encourage peer advocacy

Further reading: 7 tips for developing your social media employee engagement strategy