Social media is on the rise as never before: which is no small statement, considering its presence has been a solid force in the world of business for a significant block of time. Social media has been engaged and employed at nearly every level of operations for so long that entire departments are now geared specifically toward rendering the highest quality results. In essence, the adept application of social media engagement produces stronger outward connections as well as more consistent buy-in with current employees in your business; and these benefits also extend largely to the process of recruitment.
Recent statistics indicate that the majority of all companies continue to turn to social media for their hiring needs, and these markers show no sign of declining.
When it comes to attracting new talented personnel, a social platform that reflects an organization’s present mission, as well as their objectives for the future, is indispensible in today’s business and employment climate. Yet, there is still one resource that companies often overlook when it comes to enhancing their social presence for recruitment purposes. That is their employees.
The Internal Focus
A robust and well-developed internal focus on social media applications can yield phenomenal results. For instance, the face of a given company isn’t nearly as singular as it used to be. In days past, the CEO was the figurehead of every company. Today, employees at every level can influence the public’s awareness and perception of your business. How? Of course, the answer is social media. Therefore, it can be nothing but beneficial (and more than a bit preventative) to include social media awareness as part of every employee’s training path.
The External Advantage
Is this an investment? Absolutely, but every investment should yield positive results; and this one does, in spades. Not only will this boost your company’s profile in public arenas, it will also do wonders to ensure that said profile is positive and accurately reflects the core values and practices of your company. Furthermore, these efforts lead to demonstrably better returns in terms of more highly qualified and already-aligned applicants.
Integrating the Two
So then, how do you go about strengthening your social media image and company branding? One thing that hasn’t changed over the years is good word-of-mouth. For this, your quality and respected employees are, once again, your greatest resource. They have more insight and understanding about your company—both its operations and its track record—than anyone else. Therefore, they are the perfect resource to utilize in your search for high quality talent. The word-of-mouth advantage that your employees provide is often two-fold: As they supply you with the feedback you need on an internal basis, they can often get the word out to the masses via the right type of direction and encouragement.
Engaging Your Staff
- Hold Brief Meetings – One way to glean the pertinent information you need from your employees is with a few easy informal interviews, perhaps over coffee or a short break. Beginning with simple questions, such as: “What do you like most about working here?”, “What do you think makes our company different from our competitors?”, or “What do you think we need to work on?” is a terrific start.
- Offer a Feedback Forum – Another option is to put the word out on a more wide-ranging company level. A slightly bolder employer might even implement a version of the “Glassdoor” approach, creating their own internal forum where employees can anonymously share thoughts pertaining to their experience as a member of the organization.
- Spotlight Your Most Talented Workers – While this method may not necessarily help you gather information, per se, employers shouldn’t hesitate to offer their most trusted and knowledgeable employees some direct influence on the company’s social media platforms. Does a certain employee possess notable expertise in an area that directly affects your organization? Perhaps they’d be willing to create informative written (or even video) content that could be shared throughout your company’s social media outlets. Sharing posts in this manner not only displays the talent and quality of your current personnel, but shows prospective job applicants that you are an organization that values and respects the input of your team members.
The Next Step
As far as the data you’ve received through employee interviews and/or surveys, remember that the feedback needn’t necessarily be overly exhaustive — or even exclusively positive — to deliver actionable information. In fact, negative feedback is sometimes more useful than positive, provided your employees feel comfortable delivering honest constructive criticism.
Using this information, you can now move forward to construct a targeted marketing campaign for professional social media platforms (such as LinkedIn and others) to not only publicize openings effectively, but draw in the most suitable applicants. Building public and consumer awareness of your company is always effort well spent.
Extra Tip: Tapping Into Other Networks
While you as a business owner, likely have an extensive online following, don’t underestimate the networks of your employees. Have you just completed a new job posting that’s ready to be shared online? Find out which staff members might also be willing to share that post on their own social media pages. Even if only two or three employees agree to participate, you’ve already likely already doubled your viewing audience.
In Summary
Overall, the intentional pursuit of an effective social media strategy—with a complementary internal and external focus—allows for a plethora of tangible benefits, ranging from a more robust referral program with increased company awareness and public interest to a considerably more engaged and knowledgeable employee base. The astute executive won’t hesitate to take advantage of each of these aspects to their utmost potential.
Stewart, Cooper & Coon, has helped thousands of decision makers and senior executives move up in their careers and achieve significantly improved financial packages within short time frames. Contact Fred Coon – 866-883-4200, Ext. 200