Using Social Media as a Recruitment Tool

Social media has expanded well beyond a place to connect with friends and family. Today, social media is an invaluable tool for marketers and sales professionals. 

Social media websites have also become integral to the job market. Over 95% of companies today are using social media for recruiting. Likewise, more than 70% of 18-34 year-olds found their last job through social media. 

The social media landscape changes frequently—with new platforms rising in popularity each quarter. These shifts represent a constant source of new opportunities to use social media as a recruitment tool. Regardless of what platform is trending at the moment, there are some key recruiting social media best practices to master to ensure your company is always top of mind for job seekers. 

How to use social media tools for recruiting

Using social media to recruit warrants a two-pronged approach. There are active steps you can take to reach out directly to potential candidates. And, there are passive ways to strengthen your employer brand and attract candidates to come to you. 

In an active social media strategy, recruiters reach out to candidates via direct message on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media channel that gets a lot of traffic. Social media can be used to post job ads, ask for referrals, or collect resumes. Facebook, for instance, allows businesses to post jobs and accept resumes on its platform, as well as use Messenger to contact applicants and schedule interviews.

The second approach, a passive social media strategy, usually entails social media marketing: using platforms to build your employer brand and communicate the company culture to a broad, diverse pipeline of candidates. Employer branding is a smart way to share content with those who may not be looking for a job now—but will be in the future.

Finally, recruiters can use social media to see how a candidate is representing themself online. Harvard Business Review reports that 70% of employers check applicants’ social media profiles during the screening process. These profiles can add another dimension to a candidate outside of their resume or cover letter. 

4 Benefits of a social media recruiting strategy

There’s a lot of evidence to suggest that using social media to recruit is no longer optional. With the right social media tools for recruiting, companies can set themselves apart in the competitive job market and attract the right applicants. Here’s why this approach matters. 

1. Increase job visibility

Consider this: the average person accesses at least six social media platforms on a monthly basis. Virtually every candidate you would consider for an open role is using social media. If you want to make sure your job posting is seen, it must be shared on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter—ideally, all three. The best case? You encourage your employees to share your open position on their social media networks, too (more on this in a minute). 

2. Attract more diverse candidates

Many companies are focused on improving the diversity of their employees. For this purpose, social media as a recruitment tool is highly effective.

“Because of its incredibly wide international reach, using social media as a job search tool can also help you meet your diversity and inclusion goals in recruiting,” wrote Zenefits.

Companies can use their social media channels to broadcast their DE&I goals, be transparent about their diversity metrics, and amplify their employer brand to a broader network of potential candidates. Tapping into the networks of their employees is another great way to find candidates with unique backgrounds. 

3. Lower recruiting costs

Social media as a recruitment tool is often more affordable than traditional recruiting techniques. In general, job sites charge around $200 to post a job on their platforms. Social media talent acquisition, however, can be free (unless you choose to boost your open position with a little budget). And, if you build a strong employee referral network, your costs could be even lower. 

4. Attract better candidates 

Data suggests that social media as a recruitment tool lends itself to finding higher quality candidates. According to one report, 42% of companies say the quality of candidates has improved since they started using social recruiting. In part, this has to do with building a strong employer brand. Businesses that provide tons of information about their work culture help candidates self-select into the process. 

Social media recruiting best practices

If you plan to expand the use of social media as a recruitment tool, keep these tips in mind:

Consider an Employee Advocacy Program

How has talent acquisition been affected by social media? In many ways, it’s become more personal. People talk about your brand on social media—and not just about the product or service you offer. Candidates and passive job seekers often turn to these platforms to get feedback about your company from their personal and professional connections. 

Recognizing this shift allows you to take advantage of word-of-mouth marketing to improve your recruitment. Employee advocacy software makes it easy to turn your employees into champions of your brand, encouraging team members to actively share content on social media. This humanizes your brand, providing an inside look at life at your organization. In turn, your followers perceive your company as reliable, respectful, and real.

Your employees are the secret to harnessing social media tools for recruiting. Content shared by employees gets 8x more engagement than posts shared on your company pages. A robust social media recruiting strategy requires a formal employee advocacy program that taps into your brand advocates to appeal to talent while promoting your brand as a whole. 

Learn more: Transforming Employees into Social Media Champions: Building a Strong Advocacy Program

Make it easy for employees to share content

If you want your employees to share on social media, you have to make it easy for them to do so. Clearview Social, for example, makes it easy to plan, post, and measure content shared on behalf of the brand. 

Social Shuffle, our AI caption generator, semi-automates the creative process of determining what to write on your social channels. Employees receive drafted social media content right to their inboxes, which they can then share with their networks in just a few clicks. 

Read more: How to Implement AI in Your Recruiting Strategy

Curated company content

Clearview Social makes it easy to pursue active and passive social media recruiting strategies simultaneously. On the active side, easily post open roles to Clearview Social and automatically distribute them to your employees to share on Linkedin, Facebook, and X (Formerly Twitter). Alternately, add thought leadership, company news, and other employer branding-focused content to your distribution feed to keep passive candidates interested and engaged. 

Get more referrals

Referrals are the holy grail of recruiting: they often have higher retention rates and cost a fraction of recruiting costs. The best way to get referrals is to encourage your employees to share job posts with their social networks. Clearview Social makes it easy to solicit more applications via referral. Gamify the process of sharing open positions to make sure your employees are actively looking for great candidates on your behalf. 

Learn more about the Clearview Social platform and how it can help supercharge your recruiting efforts. Contact us and book a free demo today.