Although many business owners aren’t aware of it, social media has become a huge part of HR and recruitment over the past few years. From relationship building to large-scale hunts for top veteran talent, there are countless ways in which social media is changing the way we all think about HR. If you haven’t already integrated social media into your recruitment efforts, then there’s a fair chance that you’re lagging behind some of your closest competitors. I’m sure this isn’t a nice prospect to consider, so it’s time to take action! Here are some of the biggest reasons to integrate your social media presence with your HR.
One of the biggest reasons to mesh HR and social media together is the wide variety of talent pools you can draw from. If you were told to find someone to fill a vacancy through social media, then I’m sure your first stop would be LinkedIn. Sure, this platform is specifically made for professional networking. However, if you think that it’s the only network that’s valuable for executing a recruitment drive, then you’re greatly mistaken! While LinkedIn may have been your only real choice a few years ago, recruitment has quickly become multi-channel. Twitter and Quora have proven handy in sifting through candidates to find the best talent, and various Facebook groups exist specifically or career networking. Aside from that, there are many niche and industry-specific platforms which are steadily gaining popularity. Furthermore, social networks can be a great resource for finding blog posts and articles to educate yourself on HR. This can be extremely useful when it comes to nitty-gritty details like understanding TUPE.
By making social media a big part of your HR strategy, you can also up the quality of candidates you have to choose from. Whether you’re going for niche groups or not, the way you apply social media can have a massive impact on the quality of candidates you get for a posting. If you pay for an ad on a site like Indeed, you’ll probably get a fair amount of responses. However, that doesn’t mean that you’re not missing out on candidates who are better suited to your company. Let’s say that you have a position to fill, and the perfect person for the job is already employed. There are things they don’t like about their job, but they’re not quite ready to start looking for something else. However, if they or one of their friends happens upon your listing on Facebook or Twitter, and they decide that they’d love to work for your company, you could end up with a valuable new addition to the team. By utilizing social media channels, you can cast your net a little wider, and ensure that you’re not cheating yourself out of the perfect candidate.
Social media also offers you a powerful channel through which to shape and improve the image of your brand. When a company’s social media presence becomes large enough, it becomes the primary source through which people get information on the brand. If you leverage this in the right way, it can attract candidates who share your vision of your niche or industry, as well as your company’s values and culture. The modern professional learns about individual businesses by reading engaging blog posts, news features, conversations with their friends and family, and various other forms of interaction. If you can craft all that buzz to your advantage, it will do wonders for your business’s Social media also offers you a powerful channel through which to shape and improve the image of your brand. When a company’s social media presence becomes large enough, it becomes the primary source through which people get information on the brand. If you leverage this in the right way, it can attract candidates who share your vision of your niche or industry, as well as your company’s values and culture. The modern professional learns about individual businesses by all reputation. The information explosion that’s constantly happening on different social channels works both ways. Just as users have a huge amount of access to information on businesses and their staff, you have a massive resource for finding out more about your potential candidates. A whole encyclopedia of skills, experience, and culture is at your fingertips, so don’t let it go to waste!
Another reason why you should be utilizing social media as part of your HR strategy is that it’s by far the best resource for finding freelancers and remote talent. As I’m sure you’re aware, what people consider the standard makeup of a business has changed massively in recent years. As a business owner, it’s no longer a given that you have to find an office to house all your workers and equipment, and provide them with comfy chairs for desk work if you want them to be efficient, or set strict working hours for all of your staff. In fact, all you really need to start a profitable operation these days is the skills to provide a service, a computer and an internet connection. When you’re looking to recruit remote workers and freelancers, social media is going to be your greatest weapon. If you’re after cheaper or more specialized skills, or simply want to make more contacts in a certain geographic area, then you should be utilizing as many social channels as possible. Proactive networking through LinkedIn and other platforms will give you access to a huge variety of talent, scattered all over the world.
As you can see, social media can be an incredibly powerful tool in bringing new talent into your company. However, it also has another big application which you need to be thinking about: engaging your current employees. Although a lot of people use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to escape from work, it can be a very effective method for broadcasting important news and updates to everyone at the company. If there’s been a sudden change of plans for a meeting, or you’re buying a new piece of equipment soon, a simple status or group message will ensure that all your staff are up to date. If you’re planning a team-building day, or some kind of charity event, then you can use it as an open forum and get ideas from your employees. This, in turn, can help to strengthen your brand. Utilise this end of social media in the right way, and your staff will become much more engaged with the business as a whole.
If you thought that HR and social media were completely divorced, then I hope this post has changed your tune!
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