8 benefits of using social media to hire – and how to get it right

It’s no secret that social media is huge, but did you know that 60 per cent of the world uses it? That’s 4.8 billion people. In the last 12 months alone, there have been around 150 million new users.

With this kind of outreach, companies would be crazy not to utilise it to reach potential candidates. Social media does more than just reach people, however. There are advantages of using these platforms that traditional recruiting can’t manage as effectively.

Eight of the top benefits of using social media to hire, as listed by Zippia, are:

1. Increases job visibility
2. Higher quality candidates
3. Better employer brand awareness
4. Reduce cost to hire
5. Opens the door to engagement
6. Allows you to target your vacancies more
7. Screen your candidates
8. Shortens hiring time

The power of social media should not be understated. According to the 2021 Future of Recruiting Study by Career Arc, 86 per cent of jobseekers use social media in their job search.

Meanwhile, 50 per cent of candidates use Facebook to learn more about the employer they’re considering working for. Another 44 per cent use LinkedIn.

Getting creative with social media hiring may see increased awareness and applications. According to the report, 49 per cent of respondents use YouTube daily, yet just 24 per cent of organisations are using it to hire.

Meanwhile, just 15 per cent of people use LinkedIn daily, yet 96 per cent of companies are advertising jobs there.

Even considering TikTok, which has 1 billion users, could be a great place to reach candidates. Yet according to Career Arc, only 1 per cent of employers advertise jobs there, and 78 per cent have no plans to.

Reconsidering social media hiring strategies and evaluating just how much potential can be achieved through these platforms can help organisations avoid talent shortages.

To assist in effective social media recruitment implementation, Test Gorilla released an eight-step guide to getting the strategy right:

1. Focus on amplifying your employer brand: Show the community behind your logo and brand name by shining the spotlight on team members. Don’t just post about open roles – provide insights into other roles.
2. Do NOT post the same thing to every platform: Use platforms like TikTok and Instagram to post call-outs for applications for internships and other early-career roles. Post the same core content to each platform, but tweak the messaging and formatting for each one.
3. Use short videos to engage passive candidates: Post videos of your office space or fun features of your working environment. Use videos to introduce the team or make lighthearted jokes about working life.
4. Reshare employee-generated content: Reuse or reshare videos that your employees are already making. Reshare your employees’ posts when they celebrate their achievements on LinkedIn.
5. Share thought leadership about your industry and niche: Create a podcast in which your team pushes forward interesting topics about your industry. Encourage your senior leadership to build a following by sharing their insights on LinkedIn.
6. Display your good candidate experience: Share your HR team’s tips for reducing the time-to-offer. Make job descriptions and salary expectations easily shareable, and emphasise that you do this when other organisations don’t.
7. Show off the impact of your work: Share testimonials from customers on your social media. Publish data about the good your work does for customers and the wider community. Invite senior leadership to reflect on how their work has pushed the conversation forward in your industry, and reshare this to your socials.
8. Use analytics and retargeting tools to your advantage: Retarget job ads at potential employees who have clicked through to your application page but have not submitted an application. Use retargeting data to notice at which point candidates drop out of the pipeline and improve your processes accordingly.

Jack Campbell

Jack is the editor at HR Leader.