Still not using Facebook Careers pages? 52% of job seekers used Facebook to find work last year!
In late January, during the last earnings call, Facebook shared that they had 1.06 billion monthly active users. So we have to ask – why isn’t every organization that is looking for talent on Facebook? Furthermore, with the launch of Facebook’s job board application “Social Jobs Partnership” this supports the movement towards utilizing social media to attract talent (on March 22, 2013 there were over 2.5 million jobs posted).
So where do you start…
Creating a company page on Facebook is easy but we strongly recommend that you take the following steps to ensure that you are fully realizing the value of using social media as part of your talent management strategy.
1. Do you have a social media strategy? Prior to implementing any people programs, practices, processes, you should have a plan. Your social media strategy should include your overall objectives, targeted talent pools, candidate profiles etc. Your strategy should outline all social media channels available and if/how your company will utilize them. For example, a bank’s social media strategy may include utilizing LinkedIn to target senior professionals and Facebook to attract tellers or customer service representatives. Prior to using social media in your recruitment efforts you need to have clear metrics that connect that social media activity to overall company goals like retention, profit and growth.
2. Does your organization have a clearly defined Employee Value Proposition (EVP)? Do you have EVPs for your targeted groups? As a best practice, you should have a clear employee value proposition prior to posting any information about your company on social media sites. A clear employee value proposition is critical to attract, retain and engage the right talent.
3. Do you have a social media policy and have your employees been trained on it? If you are going to increase your presence on social media sites, including Facebook, then you want your employees to be engaged. The majority of your employees are most likely on Facebook and/or LinkedIn so it is strongly recommended that you put together some guidelines to protect your company as well as turn your employees into brand ambassadors.
How to get the most out of your Facebook corporate page?
Like any employer branding initiative, utilizing social media sites to enhance your company brand is an ongoing commitment. The goal of your Facebook page should include increasing your number of fans and likes (59% of Facebook users who have liked a brand have mentioned a brand in a status update). Please find below a couple of quick tips for you to get the most out of your Facebook corporate page (lots of great examples but check out Manulife’s careers page on Facebook – well done!):
• Establish ownership. There needs to be a clear owner as content needs to be updated on a regular basis. A best practice is to create a publishing schedule to ensure that content is kept fresh.
• Get other people involved. Although there needs to be clear owners allow other people to contribute. Your brand ambassadors, employee representatives from different segments and your clients would be great contributors.
• Engage your audience by creating career alerts, incorporating employer branding videos and having contents and quizzes. Some companies have organized some incredible competitions amongst the student population creating excitement and more “likes” for that employer brand.
• Track and measure results!
Facebook is definitely a place where active and passive talent both reside. Ranked as the #1 website in terms of user engagement, more and more companies are promoting their company Facebook pages over their website.
The competition for talent is borderless so as part of your overall social media strategy should you not have a company presence on the largest social media site in the world? We feel you should.
Sources: blog.hirerabbit.com, pingdom