Building a diverse talent pipeline is crucial for employers who value diversity at work. According to Experian Simmons, 98% of online US adults aged 18-24 use social media, so it makes sense that employers want to use it to connect with candidates. As an employer, you don’t want to connect with everyone, though, so let’s cover some tips on building the talent pipeline that will give your company the best candidates.
1. Get Clear On Who You Are Targeting
First, you should get clear on who you are targeting. Depending on the age group or gender of who you are targeting, you may decide that you need a different social media strategy. As you are building your employer brand, who you are targeting will become clearer.
If you are primarily targeting college students, you’ll likely want to work to improve your Twitter, Instagram, and text messaging strategy. Older candidates might use sites like Facebook or LinkedIn for their job search needs.
Being aware of precisely who you are looking for before you start creating social media content is imperative because you don’t want to waste time on a platform if your audience isn’t there.
2. Be Consistent
Consistency is the key to success on any social media platform. Since organic reach is on the decline, one of the best things you can do to be seen is to stay consistent on social media.
- Use programs like Hootsuite to plan your content so you can show up on your candidates’ timelines when they are more likely to use social media.
- Spread out your content throughout the day instead of posting all at once. When you spread out your content, you show up at multiple times during the day.
- Create some fun content series like “Work With Me Wednesday,” so your audience has something to look forward to each week.
3. Spotlight Your Employees and Programs
Can your candidates see themselves working at your company? People join people, not organizations, so your candidates should feel like they will fit right in. No one wants to be singled out at their job. If you want your company to stand out to diverse candidates, spotlight employees of different backgrounds. You don’t need to overcorrect and share just diverse employees, but candidates shouldn’t have to scroll far back in your archive to find employees of color or women. Create a healthy balance of people, so your candidates can get to know who they’ll be working with.
Spotlights don’t need to be static images. Consider adding some video content on your feed and Instagram Stories. Share those same social media spotlights on your career site so candidates can get to know your employees no matter where they find your company.
4. Use Your Employees to Share Content
Employee advocacy is crucial for social media success. Since your candidates are joining people, not the company, it’s imperative to use your employees to share brand messages. There’s a reason why your company likely has an influencer marketing manager. People trust individuals more than corporations. Your employees’ posts can garner 8X the engagement of the posts you make as the brand. Encourage your employees to be advocates and share the content you put out on social media with their followers.
5. Don’t Forget Your Direct Outreach Strategy
If you run across a candidate that you think would be the perfect fit for a job, why not reach out to them directly? Social media is a fantastic place that’s built on making connections. While you could wait for that candidate to apply, there is no guarantee that they’ll see your post or think they qualify for the position.
Keep up with candidates that you love on social media and send them a message and start a conversation. If you don’t want to connect with them as a brand, pass their information to your recruiter. Direct outreach won’t build a massive talent pipeline, but it will let you connect with various candidates who will be more likely to apply since you asked them to.
6. Don’t Be Afraid to Purchase Ads
While the majority of your social media strategy should be organic, occasionally, you might need to purchase advertisements. The best part about social media ads is how specific you can get. You can target your perfect candidates with a well-built ad strategy. Make sure you are using your advertisements strategically. You should keep an eye on spending to make sure you are getting the results you expect from the ads you run.
7. Track Your Social Strategy Progress
Last but not least, it’s crucial to track your social strategy progress. If you are putting time or money into social media, you want to be sure that your strategy is working. There are two primary ways to track your social strategy progress:
- Use sites like Google Analytics to see how many clicks you are getting to your career page from places like Instagram and Twitter.
- Have your applicants self-report where they learned about the job opening. Make sure you list specific platforms instead of “social media,” so that you understand what’s bringing you the most traffic.
Using both of these strategies will help you understand how you can improve your social media strategy in the future.
Conclusion
Social media can be an excellent way to target candidates of all backgrounds. Today, we walked through multiple tips that will help you build your social media strategy foundation. Use our tools at The Whether to connect with diverse candidates. For example, our mobile career site is the perfect companion to your social media strategy because it’s the ideal place to send potential candidates after they find you on mobile-first sites like Instagram and Twitter.
