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. 

Candidate Recruiting Retargeting Through Content Marketing (Part 2)

By Jessica Miller-Merrell 

In part one of CandidateRetargeting Through Content Marketing, I shared about the benefits and basic strategies of recruiting passive candidates by using ad retargeting. In this second installment, my focus is on a common internet marketing tactic, ad retargeting and how employers can use in their online recruiting efforts. I’ve long been a fan of using traditional consumer marketing strategies to recruiting candidates, retargeting is relatively new in the marketing and online marketing space. These specific strategies are the key to reaching your passive candidates in a way that will make an impression on them and leave them wanting to know more.

Ad retargeting uses a series of advertisements on websites and pages after you have left subtlety suggesting that you purchase that handbag from Nordstrom on the website you visited earlier that day. The ads from sites and products you recently visited show up new sites as you are surfing the net.

Retargeting is effective because the career site or job posting you visited is still top of mind. Maybe you got distracted and didn’t join the talent network to learn more about the company. Retargeting allows you to target a very specific group of website visitors who might have gotten away. And that’s likely since over 90 percent of visitors to your company career page, do not formally apply for the job. Can you capture a top candidate you may have missed with retargeting?

While your ads should be appealing and catch someone’s attention just like an advertisement, you are “selling” one of the largest things they can buy into: employment with your organization. Ads must grab attention and stand out, leave the clearance red and flashing lights behind and opt for genuine, personal advertisements that create a storyline of your organization. The most important thing to keep in mind as you reach candidates through retargeting is that you have a story to tell. Your story is made up of your brand ambassadors, or employees, your employment brand and your workplace culture.

Tell the stories of your brand ambassadors

I’ve talked quite a bit about how your employees are built in brand ambassadors and this is just one more place you can utilize the power of engaged employees. In general, people connect with other people, especially when they can relate or envision themselves in the same position. By providing and advertising real stories, candidates learn a bit about what it’s like to work with your company. There are several ways you can do this but it especially lends itself to video opportunity and content for a customized landing page created just for that advertisement. Allow your candidates to connect with employees by hearing their stories and you have accomplished a major feat.

Convey your employment brand

Your employment brand is a powerful thing that creates brand recognition and consistency across your retargeting storyline. Consistency in your branding is especially important since it often takes multiples interactions with your employment brand before candidates take the ultimate step and apply for a job with your company. Your employment brand encompasses the look of your advertisement and career page, the tone of your advertisements, the format of your job postings and more. If you want to be at the forefront of passive candidates’ minds, creative consistency is key.

Share your workplace culture

Surprises are fun when it comes to birthday parties and Christmas presents, but they’re not so welcomed when it comes to a new job. Candidates want to know what to expect about their day-to-day lives at your company, so creating stories about your workplace culture in advertisements could give candidates confidence in your company and make them more likely to click through to your careers page and even apply. In the storyline you create, your company’s culture should be evident throughout.

These three elements are very important to creating your retargeting storyline strategy but there’s one more aspect to consider that weaves them all together. Customized landing pages and your company’s careers page or talent network are where deals are made, so it’s important to put just as much attention, effort and detail into them. They should be consistent with your ads but also able to stand on their own so that when employees forget about the advertisement that caught their eye, they won’t forget about your company.

Check out the first part of our series on Candidate Recruiting Through Retargeting by clicking here. 

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.