There is so much potential to use social media for recruitment, but whatever you say or do, all of it will fall flat if you don’t have the right audience. Many firms make great use of their web capital and are very active on all forms of social media, but simply don’t have the audience for their tweets, updates and articles to make the required impact.
Though a great portion of good social media management is creating quality content, it’s no use without the right followers. However, growing a social media network isn’t always easy and does require delicate handling, so make sure you stick to the tips below:
Organic Growth
The best way by far to grow a social network is to generate organic growth: that’s people subscribing to your page out of their own interest.
To maximise natural subscriptions you need, firstly, to create great, readable content, or at least be offering something to your followers, but you can use various tricks to maximise who clicks. Attracting shares and re-tweets should help to expose your network to those not currently inside.
Adding Subscribers
Careful adding (or following) of those who may be interested in what you have to offer can be an effective way of reaching new contacts, but it can be very time consuming. ‘Random’ adds are unlikely to get you very far, particularly on networks like Facebook or LinkedIn where the target may reject you in one click.
However, use the resources you have: most email addresses on your mailing list will be linked to a Facebook or Twitter profile, so an add may be appreciated.
Quality Links
The most successful preacher speaks to the most interested audience, not to the biggest one. A large social network may seem like an obvious target, but it’s much better to have a small number of active and interested followers.
Size will help you to attract new links, but be careful: it’s very easy to make someone lose interest in your business if you’re too forward with your social media.
Great web capital should, in theory, bring in readers by itself, but you should be active in finding new links and growing your network. The right audience is essential to maximising the potential of your web activity, so make sure you’re nurturing it carefully.
Tom started his career early; taking on an associate role at Deloitte just a few days after his eighteenth birthday, working in a technical role but with a focus on identifying and recruiting talented undergraduates. He is now entering his final year at Exeter University and he continues to work with the recruitment side of the firm and remains an active brand ambassador on campus.
Over the last few years, Tom has spent time building up a reputation as a freelance writer and has developed both a strong client base and good knowledge of social media along the way. Though there’s still plenty to learn, experience working in both the smallest and the largest of businesses has served him well and given him a feel for balancing strong corporate ideas with a personal tone.
As a student, Tom is able to offer a valuable insight into the way graduate recruitment works from the other side and how students and interns react to particular styles of marketing and recruitment. Eventually he hopes to take off his copywriting business before embarking on an MA in philosophy.
