If social media is the greatest thing since sliced bread, consider Pinterest hot and fresh out of the oven. A social platform in the form of a virtual bulletin board, users can pin interesting photos, recipes, art or just about anything to their personalized boards with a link back to the original online source. Similar to other social-based platforms, users can follow others, comment and even re-pin something they’ve seen.
The Facts About Pinterest
Since its launch, the site has seen unprecedented growth. According to Compete, not only have the unique visitors skyrocketed from 700,000 to almost 20M in the past year alone, about 25% of consumers say they have purchased a product or service after initially discovering it on Pinterest. Additionally, research shows that 25% of consumers are spending less time on other social sites to devote more time to Pinterest, while 15% of Pinterest users say they aren’t even present on other social sites.
For recruitment and employer brand, Pinterest has a lot to offer. It provides a unique space for fun and professional brand building, opening the door for companies to communicate visually and engage talent in a new way. It is a space where you can promote original content – like infographics and charts – while sharing great content from other organizations. Similar to other social platforms, the key to success is a balance between sharing and actively engaging your network.
Pinterest for Employer Brand Building
So, how can you use Pinterest to visually communicate your employer brand? Start by developing a strategy that appeals to your audience and go from there. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
1. Showcase your values
2. Target your audience
3. Engage current employees
4. Build unique boards that feature careers, culture, departments, etc…
5. Actively connect with users that display similar interests and values
6. Just be present
Want more on how to use Pinterest for recruitment? Check out our post, highlighting each of the topics above. And don’t forget to share your Pinterest employment branding examples in the comments.
Author: Katy Zimmerman
As a self-proclaimed social media junkie, Katy has helped numerous companies extend their brands into the ever-evolving world of new media. With over a decade of experience in marketing and PR, she is currently a social media consultant and freelance writer. Katy is a cake decorating extraordinaire and a proud mother of two little boys. Connect at linkedin.com/in/katyzimmerman.
Great post! It looks like employment brands are just getting started on Pinterest. Our profile (http://pinterest.com/carouselconsult/) was just featured on Radian6′s blog today as an example of a way to share valuable resources on Pinterest (http://www.radian6.com/blog/2012/02/4-approaches-to-sharing-social-media-content-on-pinterest/). When getting started, it helps to take a look at examples, as you said. I look forward to seeing your follow up post!
Thanks Holly! I’m glad you enjoyed the post and I agree with Autumn you’re doing great stuff on your boards! Perfect examples of how to leverage Pinterest for recruitment. What kind of response are you seeing?
Thank you, Holly! Appreciate you sharing your Pinterest boards with us… those are fantastic examples of what we were talking about. Now, as an agency, do you use Pinterest to engage candidates for clients or for those looking to work at your company? Just curious.
Thanks for your question! We’re mostly looking to engage with candidates for clients and also with clients themselves (via the business books and management and HR tips). Having said that, we are hiring at the moment, so anyone looking to work with us can also engage with us through our Pinterest profile!
Very cool! We really do appreciate you sharing. Let us know if you ever make a Pinterest hire… would love to case study that
Oooh…Pinterest hire! We’ll definitely let you know. I’ll think on how I can express that on a board. Great idea! Thanks again.
Thanks again for the idea. I was so tempted to give this a try, I’ve put a board together. We’ll see. Feeling a bit funny about being salesy rather than social, but I made a pin about that, so I think we’re set!
http://pinterest.com/carouselconsult/we-re-hiring/
No pressure! But I do like the idea of a ‘We’re Hiring’ board… Not salesy at all, in my opinion. Featuring the position at the top but including fun pins that show why your opportunities are great makes perfect sense. Keep us posted on any feedback you receive and how it goes.
Great post, I think it is going to be very interesting to watch the growth of companies using Pinterest for branding. I think it is such a great way to provide visuals and interact with fans through boards and possesses great potential to be used as a recruitment tool. I recently wrote an article about this, take a look for some other tips on how to recruit using Pinterest: http://employers.identified.com/blog/bid/78818/Using-Pinterest-for-Social-Recruitment
I would love to hear some thoughts and feedback!
Thanks Merima! I agree with you… visuals are a great way to encourage interaction and boost overall appeal. I really enjoyed your post because it touches on the actual targeting of users with similar interests and also posting boards for specific opportunities (something our friend Holly from Carousel Consultancy – who’s also discussing this post – recently did)!
Keep us posted of any new success stories or feedback you receive on this topic
Autumn
Thanks for sharing your post Merima! Good stuff! I agree, the potential for brand building and recruitment is immense on Pinterest! It will be fun to watch this explode over the next year and see how it grows and evolves. There are 100 brands on board now. How many do you predict we’ll see this time next year?
So far, lots of retweets of the “We’re Hiring” board. General comments are around “love the use of Pinterest board” for hiring. I look forward to seeing what others do!
That’s awesome, Holly! Did you see Merima’s Pinterest for Recruiting post (link in comments above)? She outlines this exact idea. Love all the discussion we’re getting around this!
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[...] discussed in Part 1 of this set, Pinterest provides a unique platform for fun and professional employment brand building. So, now that [...]