Why Should the Human Resource Team Have Separate Social Media Handles: A Marketers Perspective
In today’s digital world, social media is one of the most prominent tools for recruitment; Social media channels (such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) not only increase job visibility but also support in reaching out to skilled candidates. Additionally, Social media also helps the organizations to build their employer brand online. Research has proven that brands that have a strong social media presence are considered more trustworthy, compared to brands that have limited visibility.
IMPORTANCE OF PROMOTING EMPLOYER BRAND ON SOCIAL MEDIA
The world is increasingly becoming more tech-savvy and it is easier to engage with millennials online. The survey indicates that an average individual spends 2 hours and38 minutes on social media every day. They also utilize these platforms to research potential employers, search for jobs, connect with company employees, and stay up to date with the latest developments in their desired organization. Nearly 79% of jobseekers have said that they use social media in their job search and about 80% of millennials look for people and culture fit with employers, followed by career potential.
Surprisingly statistics indicate that active candidates make up only 30% of the global workforce whereas passive candidates constitute 70% of it. As hiring managers, you cannot limit your search for the right candidates just to 30% of the workforce. Henceforth you need to promote your employer as a great place to work.
According to a LinkedIn survey, 50 percent of professionals on social media are following companies with the intent to stay updated with their job opportunities, which would have made the job of recruitment easy. However, that is not the case in most cases your updates are not sent to more than 5% of your followers, and the job posts also are buried in the continuous messaging that the marketing team shares on social media.
WHY THE COMPANY’S MAIN SOCIAL MEDIA HANDLE CANNOT BE USED FOR EMPLOYER BRANDING
The HR team’s primary objective to use social media is to build an employer brand, the company social media handles are built to promote the mainstream business of the company. The company profiles are focused on providing information related to its products and services, latest updates about the recent developments in the company, reports on company financial performance and for providing a glimpse of initiatives and campaigns run by them.
Consequently using the same social media handles for implementing recruitment strategies will not add advantage to the HR team efforts as the company page would become a mix of all the other things that are not a part of your employer branding activities. Also, the target audience of both these will be very different and inconsistent messaging will do more harm than good. Having separate social media handles will help you get more engagement with potential candidates for recruitment processes and will give candidates a glimpse of your work culture.
For the HR Team of any organization, social media plays a significant role in finding, attracting, engaging, and converting top-quality candidates into potential applicants. The survey suggests that 89% of HR professionals have agreed that a strong employer brand gives an edge to attract more candidates over competitors. Therefore, maintaining a robust employer image over social media channels is all the way more important to convey candidates about the company being a Great Place to work for them.
Below are few points highlighting the benefits of separate social media account for the HR Team of any organization:
1. COMMUNICATING CORPORATE CULTURE
One of the most important ways to attract potential candidates is by using social media to communicate the kind of corporate culture a company has. By looking at the company’s social media profile, jobseekers get a better understanding of company values and prospects. Communicating the same through social media platforms will help the HR team to build a strong talent pipeline.
2. APPRECIATE EMPLOYEES FOR THE VALUE THEIR WORK IS ADDING TO COMPANY AND THE COMMUNITY
Social media accounts can be a good platform for appreciating your employees’ performance and the value they are adding to your organization and the society. HR team can regularly collect posts of employees in all the departments and display it on the different social media platforms handled by them. This also encourages your employees to go out and promote their achievements making them brand ambassadors.
3. INTERVIEW EMPLOYEES TO COMMUNICATE THEIR JOURNEY WITH THE COMPANY
A video interview of employees can be a great motivator for prospective candidates to decide how it is to work at your organization. Video-generated by employees would give a better picture to candidates that who they are going to work with, who will inspire them, and whose leadership will shape their future in the organization.
The HR team can launch a talent acquisition advertising campaign on social media platforms where they can interview a wide range of company employees from different departments and locations. In their words, employees can describe their backgrounds, career growth, and their day-to-day experience of working at your organization.
4. INTERVIEW HIRING MANAGERS TO TELL PROSPECTS WHAT THE COMPANY IS LOOKING FOR
Alternatively, the HR team can utilize the social media channels for conducting live interviews with hiring managers where they discuss what skills and expertise, they are looking for in a candidate. During such live interviews, an open forum could be given to candidates to interact with hiring managers for asking job and interview related questions.
5. COMMUNICATE LEARNING AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT THE COMPANY
Candidates are always interested to know career development opportunities associated with their employer. An HR team can provide information about the various training programs conducted and the benefits employees receive from it.
6. SHOWCASE EMPLOYEES HIDDEN TALENT
Social media posts can also be utilized for promoting the hidden talent of your company employees. Through such initiatives, the HR team can deliver to prospective candidates the flexibility of company culture and its devotion towards their employees’ personal growth.
7. LIVE STREAMING OF SOCIAL EVENTS
Live streaming of social events gives prospects a feel about how it is to work with you as an employer. For the same social events such as orientation programs, fun activities, workplace awards, etc. can be posted. Additionally, an HR team can also initiate live streaming an event where a recruiter is making an offer to a newly hired candidate.
8. DEFINE CANDIDATE PERSONA THROUGH VIDEOS OF EMPLOYEES’ INTERVIEW
Defining a candidate persona could create a significant impact on improving your talent acquisition strategies. For the same, the HR team may choose to start taking interviews of best-performing employees from all the departments and post them to give a proper idea for the kind of people they are looking to join their team.
9. LOCATION AND WORKPLACE PRACTICES
Candidates are always eager to have a look at the place where they will work. Using social media channels to provide a glimpse of office and the day-to-day work practices allows candidates to know what makes your culture and workplace unique. It will give them a realistic picture to access if the place looks like a great fit to them.
Now that you have explored the benefits for the HR team to have its own social media channels, so uncover your employer brand visibility by introducing separate social media accounts to experience its usefulness in advancing your hiring efforts.
