Candidate Retargeting Through Content Marketing (Part 4)

By Jessica Miller-Merrell

If you haven’t had a chance to take a look at parts one, two and three from this series, click here to start at the beginning of what candidate retargeting is, why it should be a tool you utilize and which strategies bring results.

So far in this series, I’ve talked about several strategies that organizations can utilize to attract and retarget candidates who have visited their careers page without taking the plunge and applying for a position. The fourth part of this series looks at the ultimate retargeting, the type that seeks to pull candidates back to your site who have not only visited before but also have previously worked for the organization.

We all know it’s almost inevitable that employees will make the choice to leave your organization at one point or another. Whether it’s for a new opportunity or challenge, higher pay or even location, most employees stay with a company anywhere from two to six years and then move on. The majority of the time, it’s not personal, meaning employees aren’t angry or bitter at the organization. This is good news for companies who are open to re-hiring candidates who have previously quit because these former employees are actually the ideal candidates. They know your company, expectations and what it takes to perform there.

How to track them 
Obviously it would be virtually impossible to track when former employees visit your careers page, which means that any retargeting that occurs wouldn’t be strategic in nature but would be the same as a first-time candidate visiting your site. In order to facilitate keeping in touch with and retargeting former employees, you’ll need to create an alumni network where these people can connect. There are a number of ways to do this, including creating an alumni page on your website, launching a new web site just for alumni, password protecting the site or creating a group on a social networking website. These alumni networks are completely customizable based on your company culture but often have message boards, profiles or spotlights, a blog and a company news section. Creating this network allows you to retarget those who visit the site later on, using strategic advertisements that are more specific and unique than your general retargeting advertisements.

The strategy
When retargeting these former employees, there are three main things to keep in mind: Be transparent, play to your strengths and remind them of the company culture. Remember that these candidates already know what it’s like to work for the organization, so they’ll see through exaggerated statements. At the same time, they’ll have real experiences to relate to the words you write, creating a valuable connection to your advertisement. Feature the company’s culture and positive aspects of being employed there to remind these candidates of what they loved about your company.

Another aspect of your strategy to consider is successfully retargeting without spending an exorbitant amount of money and seeing minimal results. Retargeting can become expensive, so it’s important to conduct intelligent recruiting that involves creating a network of passive candidates so that every time you have a position open up, you’re not spending more of your budget to retarget passive candidates you’ve already connected with at some point. Rather than scrambling to seek out former employees with whom you haven’t connected since they left your company every time you’re ready to hire, you can simply tap into the network you’ve created that offers passive candidates who previously worked at your company and may be ready to come back.

The perfect candidate to retarget
The most important thing when analyzing your retargeting is that you’re seeing a return on your retargeting investment, which is why former employees are the perfect candidates to reach with retargeting. They have made the effort to join or view your alumni network, meaning that they likely view the organization in a positive way, so they’ll be open minded to the idea of working for your company again. As you continue to retarget these candidates, you’ll have immediate brand recognition and need fewer impressions to remain at the forefront of their mind than with new candidates.

Have you had success with an alumni network or retargeting former employees? Let us know in the comments section below.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media. She’s an author who writes at Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter @blogging4jobs. 

Photo Credit. 

C#7 of Social Recruiting: Content Marketing — Addressing real people

This post is part of a series describing the nine "Cs" that drive a successful social recruiting strategy and started with You do social sourcing. Now start your social recruiting strategy!

We have already discussed:

 C#1 Continuity,

C#2 Consistency or the art of following-through your branding,

C#3 Culture — your core values and credibility,

C#4 Courtesy and Candidate Centricity,

C#5 Conversation — Live video screening and discussions and

C#6 Curation — Pre-recorded interviews/questionnaires

By Marylene Delbourg-Delphis

Your network is not just an "audience." It's a group of individuals. You can't stick to a broad general marketing message. HR Marketing must be far more granular and personal: it must be context-driven content for the people you have attracted and whose interest you want to sustain. The quality of your content marketing strategy is what will make you stand out in the war for talent.

Understanding the mindset of a follower who morphs into a candidate

Your HR department or talent acquisition team must take advantage of the general branding and messaging that your marketing organization and social media group have created. However, that's not enough. For a simple reason: the very same person whom you attract as a brand changes mindset when she becomes a candidate. All of a sudden, this person is not a spectator of your company any more. She wants to be part of it. As a candidate, her reality check on your company gets deeper. She hears and reads your messaging differently.

As an example, let’s take one of the greatest slogans: Nike's "Just Do IT." This slogan is exceptionally energizing and makes you want to buy as a consumer. In a way, you identify as one of their athletes, no matter how much of an amateur you may be. When you are a job candidate, however, you don't simply want to imagine that you are going to be an athlete. You typically ask yourself "How Does it Do IT for me." You want to know more. You want specific information.

This is where your HR content marketing strategy must take it a step further. Your "Just Do IT" follower has surreptitiously morphed into a "How Does it Do IT for me" candidate. Understanding and addressing this change is a critical dimension of social recruiting: this is why you must develop a content marketing strategy.

Powering your content marketing strategy 

Content marketing is the ability to create targeted messaging to individuals or groups of people who share a common interest (communities). Content marketing demonstrates your expertise, enables you to share information and respond to questions that people may have. Developing an HR Content Marketing strategy using TalentCircles is easy, leveraging our mass email, blog, document posting or webinar capabilities.

Targeted blog posts in circles/communities

Segment your network into circles. You can have public circles (to which candidates subscribe based on their type of interest) or private circles (that candidates can join only if they have been invited). In all cases, a circle is an entity where you maintain a targeted pipeline of people who have something in common and will be addressed in the context of that circle.  Your circles can reflect functional areas, as well as diversity initiatives.

Once you have set up your circles, you can adopt a focused communication via blog posts or webinars. Posts can be written by anyone you allow: your team, employees, candidates, luminaries, etc.

Candidates have the ability to comment and share these posts (in order to read these posts, people must first sign into your network).

Webinars

You can also pursue this content marketing strategy using Webinars, within or across circles — or by inviting a selection of members of your talent network based on any criteria of your choice. These webinars can be "Invite only," but also can be shared by the members of your network, which enables you to grow your candidate network organically.

The value of your network is predicated on your ability to develop a relevant content marketing approach. Passive candidates will maintain interest in you if you become an industry resource through insight and leadership, provide solutions and advice to people in the real world and strengthen their trust in what you can offer.

In short, social recruiting is the art of making the human person of the brand live and breathe inside your talent network, not about sales pitches disseminated around public networks.

The purpose of content marketing is to showcase what it is for real people to work in your organization, and give them a real reason to come and work for you, or share with their friends what you offer.