A thriving social recruiting presence isn’t easy to create. It’s tempting to automate some of the work and prioritize only the tasks related to filling urgent openings. Beware – a shortcut mentality can undermine your efforts and jeopardize the long-term benefits of social recruiting.
Check out the five most common social recruiting mistakes to see if you’re in need of a Facebook intervention.
- Posting Too Often. From recruiting events to new job openings, you have a lot to say. But heed caution – fans are more likely to hide a page in their newsfeed or ‘unlike’ it when posts are made in excess of 3 times per day. Pare back posts or occasionally target posts by location or language to prevent fans from being inundated by irrelevant updates.
- Posting All At Once. Some Facebook careers pages publish a handful of posts all within 5 minutes – a practice that can seem like spam in your fans’ newsfeed. Facebook will truncate multiple posts made within a short timeframe to show up as one update in your fans’ newsfeeds. This means, only one post from your page is seen – not the specific details about recruiting events or individual jobs you intended to share. Prevent this by posting at morning, mid-day and evening intervals throughout the entire week.
- Auto-Feeding Jobs. Social media users are savvy. They know when a “bot” is filling their feed instead of a human. Instead of automating your updates with links to job postings, take the time to rewrite job details especially for Facebook. Post the info as a photo or note with a conversational description and call to action to apply.
- Posting in All Text. Every Facebook post doesn’t need an image, but every few posts do. Images add interest and catch a user’s eye when his or her newsfeed is full of competing information. Photos and video are the most-clicked content on the site, and when visitors land on your page, rich media helps break up the text and entice readers to linger longer. Search around on CreativeCommons.org or use the YouTube Remixer to come up with images and video you can use for free as long as you provide a credit. Better yet, enhance your posts with photos from company events or of real employees on the job.
- Posting Only Job Listings. Facebook pages do best when there’s a mix of content. Intersperse job listings with interesting articles, open-ended questions for your community, video content and news about your company. Remember that each post doesn’t have to link directly to a job – your conversational tone, the trust you’ve built and the interesting content you share can also nudge someone to apply for a job on their own accord.
Image courtesy SueAnnaJoe/Flickr.
Author: Aubre Andrus
Aubre Andrus is a freelance writer and official word nerd based out of Madison, Wisconsin who specializes in creative copy with a fresh and fun kick. This word warrior has championed all types of written wonders as a tech blogger, social media consultant, web copywriter, national magazine editor, and reporter. She’s acted as the voice of much-loved brands including American Girl, EXPRESS, and WIRED. Catch up with @aubreandrus on Twitter or visit aubreandrus.com.
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