Who Owns the Social Recruiting Channels on Your Recruiting Team?

By Jessica Miller-Merrell 

Social media is essential in today’s recruiting. In many organizations, a lot of time and effort goes into managing the channels, which can include everything from Facebook to LinkedIn to YouTube to Periscope. These networks connect us with candidates in an immediate and approachable way and are an important part of our job distribution, candidate engagement and employment branding strategies. They’re no longer just a luxury or something we can boast about because no one else is doing them. They’re a vital part of recruiting that deserve and require the attention that any other marketing channel demands.

Even though the majority of companies use social media, that doesn’t mean that every company has it figured out. In fact in many organizations, teams are still fumbling over how to manage it on top of everything else that they handle on a daily basis. It’s tough enough for a dedicated social media manager to ensure that voice, messaging and engagement is consistent, ongoing and effective, so it’s understandable why recruiting teams would experience trial and error before they find a rhythm and method that works for them.

So what’s the best practice for managing these social networks? Well, the answer is that it really depends on the team, its individuals and how much time each person can devote to it. There are essentially four ways to approach social media in recruiting:

1. Subject matter expert – Each recruiter manages a different social network, with it ideally being one they’re familiar and successful with. 

2. A single recruiter - One recruiter manages and engages on all the channels. This has its obvious advantages and disadvantages. 

3. Regional social recruiting - Some organizations assign social media accounts and activities based on locations or regions, often with the local recruiter or general manager overseeing the accounts.

4. Social recruiting shifts - Recruiters take turns managing networks during assigned shifts and time frames.

The approach that will work for you will depend on your people, organization size, expectations of your efforts and the time and resources you can dedicate. No matter what method you choose, remember that the key to social recruiting is that you ensure these four area of social success are being achieved:

Consistency

Your employment brand has a voice. Find it and use it consistently across all channels. Consistency also means that your channels are consistently active and updated.

Ongoing engagement

Social media is more about engagement than information sharing, so if all you’re doing is pushing out job openings, you’re missing out on an opportunity to build relationships and source candidates.

Response and follow up

In our day and age, candidates know they can reach a recruiter through social even when they can’t reach them through email or phone. They also expect quick response, so don’t let this area, one of the easiest ways to be successful in social, be something that leaves a lot to be desired.

Channel management based on the candidate community

Your efforts should be tailored and focused on those in your social network. That means that you’ll need to understand your candidate base, as well as understand the uniqueness of each network and who hangs out there. For instance, the expectations and demographics of a LinkedIn audience is probably going to differ from that of your Snapchat following, so tailor your approach accordingly. 

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Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology anthropologist specializing in HR and recruiting. She's the Chief Blogger and Founder of Blogging4Jobs and author of The HR Technology Field Guide. You can follow her on Twitter at @jmillermerell.