Four Social Media Tactics You Should Abandon

By Jessica Miller-Merrell

Aberdeen reports that 88% of companies are incorporating social recruiting and social media tools into their existing strategy. Finally, the majority of organizations are getting social. Welcome laggards.

Now that social recruiting is progressing, we must ask “How will HR professionals deploy social recruiting tactics?” Of course, this is an obvious question for the social newbies who may have no idea how to begin. But some recruiters have already implemented social strategies for some time now and I am here to tell you that some of you are doing it wrong.

It’s ok. I applaud you for stepping up, taking a risk and adopting social early on. But you need to know that social business has grown up and you need to too.

As technology platforms have evolved so have the users. Users are expecting a level of social etiquette. Some of your social behaviors are in bad form and are most likely reflecting your company’s brand poorly. Sloppy or lazy social activities may also be limiting the outcome of your efforts. Therefore, you need to update your approach to social media. Let me help you.

Here are four common social media tactics that need to be abandoned for social recruiting success. If you are doing any of these, please stop.

1.     Using Twitter and LinkedIn as your own job feed.

There are valid benefits to posting your company’s jobs to your social media platforms. After all, social tools are effective search engines, however if you are only posting job opportunities to your Twitter and LinkedIn site, then you are missing the full purpose of social networking.  The key in relationship recruiting is to build a long-term relationship and conversation with the ideal candidate. You certainly would not attend networking events only to shout out every job vacancy you are seeking to fulfill would you? Likewise, don’t go to your social network sites foolishly.  

2.    Creating boundaries to protect you from the masses of job seekers.

Are you hiding behind your social profiles in attempt to control your interactions with job seekers? Maybe you feel overwhelmed by the quantity of job seekers who are disgruntled. Stop trying fix everything. There will always be unhappy job seekers. You will not be able to please the masses and job seekers are entitled to be angry the hiring process. Instead of fearing these engagements, embrace them. Allow them to drive change on your recruiting team or company.

3.    Limiting social activities to Facebook and LinkedIn search bars.

It’s time to move beyond Facebook posts and LinkedIn searches that are superficial and deploy social recruiting as a priority for your hiring plan and human capital growth strategy. I’m not suggesting that you abandon social search. I think done correctly it can be a valuable candidate and engagement source to connect to targeted job seekers. Social recruiting must go beyond the social search bar because there is so much more opportunity available.

4.    Automating your social.

Scheduling updates using a tool like Hootsuite or Buffer can be productive. However, don’t rely on this activity as your only social tactic. Remember that social success is about engagement. Dedicate efforts to be conversational. Add comments. Get involved with chats. Send direct messages. Share or retweeting other people’s updates. Want to get really social? Pick up the phone. Meet someone for coffee. Invite someone who is a key connector and possible future candidate to an event you plan to attend. Don’t rely on the social tools to do all of the work for you, less you will be a tool yourself. Remember you are not a robot. You are human and you are in the business of developing human capital.

Are you doing any of these social tactics? Stop and be more social savvy with your recruiting efforts. Are there any other social habits that need to be abandoned that I didn’t mention? Let us know!

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media. She’s is the Chief Blogger & Founder of Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter @jmillermerrell.