Following on from our series of blogs on SEO tips, we can now look towards how recruitment agencies should use social media. Focusing on how it can improve your search engine optimisation and allow you to remain competitive within a difficult field.
Social Media and SEO
In today’s fast-moving world, Social Media has changed the dynamics of many business practices which, in the past, worked wonders.
The days of mass-producing leaflets and paying for large advertisements on a billboard or in a newspaper used to be able to capture a large percentage of your target demographic, and many who you weren’t expecting to directly appeal to.
The internet – and in recent years social media – has changed both marketing and advertising in such a way that appealing to your direct audience can be done with a few taps on a keyboard and a click of a button. Because it is so simple, it’s also created a highly competitive market, especially when it comes to the recruitment industry.
We’ve already discussed about the importance of SEO here on the Strategies blog pages and the world of social media has become a vital part of search engine optimisation.
More links and mentions that your recruitment website receives can only be positive, and with social media’s ever increasing importance in search results, Google and other search engines have noticed. As a result, these links on social media channels can help with your authority levels on Google, as well as other search engines.
But which social media channels are the ones that you should target?
Out of all the social media channels, Twitter is the one where business objectives mix with personal opinion. Unlike Facebook’s more personal touch or LinkedIn’s business orientated approach, Twitter features a range of users in both camps. Some use it to promote their business, while others utilise the service as a way of expressing opinions on a variety of subjects.
Its restrictive 140-character limit does its best to try and limit what you can say in a single Tweet, but those with enough know-how will be able to take advantage of the limit and create a direct and concise pitch to potential clients and candidates.
Because of its general appeal, Twitter is a great service for recruitment firms to take advantage of. It not only allows them to appeal directly with candidates of certain demographics precisely, but also allows them to build their branding and presence on the platform itself.
One way that you can manipulate who you’re trying to approach is through the use of Hashtags.
Hashtags allow you to actively join the Twitter conversation. If there’s a popular trend happening it will likely have a hashtag associated with it. While these are often attached to TV shows or political debates, there are also encouraging hashtags which appear on a regular basis, such as #MotivationalMonday or #FridayFeeling which are always trending on their specific days of the week.
Recruiters can take advantage of these by linking job posts to particular trending hashtags to ensure that more people see them. However, if trying to attract workers in a specific location, adding #Aberdeen or #Liverpool will attract candidates from that locale.
Naturally, the hashtags you should use depends on what you’re posting and the people you’re trying to attract. But by using Twitter’s search functionality, you can quickly research and assert which hashtag can give you the most exposure. Spending time researching correctly is most of the battle when looking to get the most out of Twitter.
As the most popular social network, Facebook seems like it would be the obvious choice to focus on for recruitment agencies. The sheer number of people on the platform should, in theory, provide you with the best group of people to identify and share your jobs with. But that perception would be wrong.
There are a number of boundaries to attracting an audience on Facebook, one of which is actually getting people to ‘like’ your company page; and while you may think you have the greatest recruitment agency in the world, unfortunately, the reality is that most people tend to like things that they have an active interest in, like celebrities, news feeds or sports teams.
While there is an avenue to use Facebook’s advertising methods to target specific demographics, it’s difficult to build brand recognition, especially when you consider that those who use Facebook on a regular basis are attuned to ignoring the many adverts that litter their feed. Instead focusing on the personal posts of friends and family, rather than side-bar adverts.
Facebook isn’t recruiter friendly. While Facebooks initially personal-only setup has matured in recent years to be more open to companies and large organisations – including recruiters – it’s ultimately a battle against users who use Facebook for anything but business or jobs.
LinkedIn is the complete opposite of Facebook, focusing on business professionals and an audience that recruiters should be tapping into if they aren’t already.
Because of LinkedIn’s modus operandi of helping professionals to network, it’s the most natural fit for recruitment agencies to take advantage of, as its essentially a database of not only potential candidates but also clients.
Unlike Facebook, people using LinkedIn are actively looking to talk, network and look for recruitment opportunities, whether as an individual or for their company. Posting links to LinkedIn means that you can directly connect with the demographic that you want to, a demographic that is tuned into and open to the world of recruitment.
Much like Twitter, with proper research LinkedIn can be ripe for recruitment opportunities if used correctly, while at the same time also helping your SEO through the use of blog and job postings.
Video-based Social Media
So what about other social media channels? Especially those that don’t conform to the normal written approach like Snapchat and Periscope.
While being highly focused on camera and video-based content, the key thing for recruiters to keep in mind with approaching Periscope and Snapchat is that there is a lot of untapped potential in how to engage and approach your target market.
You could hold a candidate Q&A, present examples of different types of jobs or just use it to be more visible to clients and candidates. These platforms are much more free-form than Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn in terms of content delivery, and do require a bit of time and effort, but for firms who can come up with an innovative video marketing strategy, the rewards of a strong brand could open up numerous doors. It’s an area that very few have ventured into, let alone mastered.
In Closing
Pro-actively using social media is a key part of any companies marketing strategy, especially in a competitive environment like recruitment. But the rewards can be plentiful. Used correctly, it can help your SEO and strengthen your brand, but most of the battle is in making sure you’ve researched your demographic correctly and can tap into where they’re most likely to be receptive to seeing your work.
Make sure that you:
• Understand your audience
• Research key terms
• Identify keywords
• Provide genuinely useful information for your target market
• Keep up-to-date
More Information
We’ve covered a number of SEO tips for recruitment agencies in our past blog pieces, but it’s a tricky subject to truly master. At Strategies, we have the experts and knowledge in order to get the most out of your website, make sure you get in touch with us for further information.
