What is social media recruiting?

Social media recruiting is the practice of using social media to build your employer brand, grow your talent community and share job openings and company updates. Because it takes time to build your brand and form relationships with potential candidates, social media recruiting can often be part of your long-term talent acquisition strategy.

When you rely on candidates visiting your company website or applying through job listings they find online, you’re limiting yourself to active, inbound applicants. But when you consistently share content through social media, you can build brand awareness and catch the attention of passive candidates who may be interested in joining your talent community or potentially applying for jobs in the future.

You can connect with prospective candidates in different ways through social media. For example, many platforms allow you to communicate one-on-one through direct messaging, replies or comments in addition to broadcasting information to a wider group of followers or subscribers. This can create a personalized experience for potential candidates that builds their trust and helps them see your company as more authentic.

How does social media recruiting work?

If you want to get started with social media recruiting, it’s not quite as simple as firing up your favorite social media platform and posting whatever you want. If you’re serious about making social media a key part of your recruiting strategy, it will be much more effective if you take time to be strategic and intentional.

Adrina August, EMEA Content Marketing Manager at Greenhouse, puts it this way: “Personalized engagement is not just about showcasing our brand, it’s about creating a warm and inviting atmosphere for potential candidates. By sharing authentic stories, celebrating our diverse team and highlighting our unique company culture, we set the stage for effective prospecting. This approach does more than just attract attention, it warms up prospects, making them more receptive to direct outreach. This familiarity fosters a sense of trust and belonging that’s crucial in converting prospects into applicants and, ultimately, into hires.”

Here are some steps and strategies for effective social media recruiting.

• Use images to promote storytelling

Many social media platforms are visually driven with photos and videos as the main medium of communication. Even platforms that allow text-only posts tend to see more engagement when they feature photo or video content. What types of images or videos should you share? Consider content that features your current employees, both in the company office and their working from home setups as well as in offsites, team-building sessions or when they’re doing something they’re passionate about outside of work.

Adrina explained that this helps tell a broader story: “Each visual we share is a deliberate choice, a snippet of our story. We don’t just display the highlights; we reveal the real, unscripted moments that make up our daily lives. These visuals resonate with our culture’s heartbeat, showcasing what makes our workplace unique.”

• Encourage employee-generated content

When it comes to social media recruiting, don’t feel like your talent team needs to do it all. You can encourage employees to create and share their own content. This relieves some of the burden from your team while increasing the chances candidates see your content as authentic. Adrina wrote, “We encourage our team members to become storytellers, sharing their experiences through their lenses. This approach adds depth and diversity to our narrative, making it relatable and genuine for potential candidates.”

• Create visual consistency

If you have an in-house design team (or just someone who has good design sense) at your disposal, ask them to create some templates for social media posts, which might include things like layout, fonts and color palettes. Creating consistency in your visual style reinforces your brand’s identity at every touchpoint.

• Highlight your company’s values

When it comes to the content you share on social media, consider how you can bring your company’s values to life in your posts. Adrina wrote, “We don’t just state our values; we visualize them. If innovation drives us, you’ll see brainstorming sessions and groundbreaking projects. Our visuals are more than pictures; they’re manifestations of what we stand for.”

• Get inspired by these successful social media recruiting campaigns

The employer brand team at Thomson Reuters believed that imagery was a great way to engage candidates, so they created a #featuredfriday series on Instagram. Every Friday, they featured an employee’s photo of one of their global offices along with facts about that specific location.

In a blog post describing why they chose to create this series, they wrote, “In the same way children love when they get to go to work with their parents and see what they do, candidates love getting an inside view of where they will be spending their work week.” The #featuredfriday series proved to be one of the most popular campaigns Thomson Reuters ran on Instagram, generating 30% of the likes for the entire account.

At Greenhouse, we were intentional about creating our LinkedIn Life page. Adrina explained, “Each photo, video or graphic weaves a story of life at Greenhouse. We’re not just showcasing aesthetics; we’re sharing narratives. Every post and every visual is a chapter of our story, rich with the everyday essence of Greenhouse – from inspirational remote working backdrops to offsites in tropical locations. Our visuals aren’t just elements; they’re expressions of our authentic, dynamic workplace.”

Tips for effective social media recruiting

Now that you’ve got a better sense of what social media recruiting is and how it works, you might be wondering how to get started. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

• Identify the right social media platforms for your target audience

Unless you have unlimited time and budget (and who does these days?), it’s generally not a good idea to try to be present on every platform. You’re more likely to be successful with your social media recruiting strategy if you choose one or two platforms to really devote your attention to.

• Create engaging and compelling content

Perhaps it goes without saying, but if you want potential candidates to engage with you on social media, it’s important to create content that’s, well, engaging for your audience. In other words, this is an opportunity to be creative and interesting, so don’t squander it! Here are a few suggestions from Adrina: share candid interviews with employees that highlight how they’re living your company’s mission and values. Showcase moments where your team is actively engaged in activities that align with your mission, such as community service, team-building exercises or strategic planning sessions centered around the mission. Host live discussions on topics related to your mission. Invite thought leaders in your industry to create space for meaningful conversations.

• Leverage referrals for social media recruiting

Many applicant tracking software (ATS) tools make it easy for current employees to share open roles through social media. These tools can also keep track of candidates who apply through these links so you’ll know which platforms and employees are most effective. This can be an easy way to expand the reach of your job listings and fill your pipeline with more qualified candidates.

• Decide how you’ll measure success and track those metrics

Like any new initiative or campaign, you’ll want to set goals for your social media recruiting efforts. For example, you might like to get a certain level of engagement with your posts (measured in terms of things like comments or shares, depending on the platform). Or perhaps you’d like to source a percentage of applicants from the platform for certain roles. You’ll need to decide what makes the most sense for you, but whatever it is, make sure you track this metric over time so you can measure your success and make adjustments if necessary.

Choosing the right social media platform

A key part of your social media recruiting strategy involves choosing the social media platform or platforms where you’ll spend the majority of your time and effort. Keep in mind that the social media landscape is always changing, so it’s worth revisiting your strategy every few quarters to make sure you’re still investing time and resources in the platforms that are most impactful.

Here are a few questions to help you decide which platform is right for you:

• Where do your prospective candidates spend time online?

It can be tempting to hop on the newest, trendiest platform. But before you do that, take some time to learn about the demographics of who’s using that platform. Do they align with the types of candidates you’re looking to hire? Do they have the right skill sets and interests? Another key question: Is it a platform where people would be receptive to employer branding content?

• Does the platform allow you to create an employer or company profile?

Even if you have a single person or small team running the account, you’ll generally want to have an employer or company profile for candidates to engage with. Some platforms even offer special features for employer accounts, so it’s worth exploring what’s available on the platform you’re considering.

• Do you have the ability (both in terms of bandwidth and budget) to regularly update content and stay active on the platform?

Many platforms allow you to create a profile and share content for free. But if you’re looking to target specific demographics with ads or personalized messages, you may need to invest in a paid account or spend money to access certain features. Most platforms require regular updates and moderation, especially if you’re trying to foster connections and build a positive impression of your company. Make sure you’re only committing to being active on platforms where you can sustain your presence.

• What type of data and analytics will you get access to?

Depending on the platform and what type of account you have, you may also get access to data and analytics. You may have the opportunity to learn which groups are seeing and engaging with your content. Before investing in a platform, explore what type of data and analytics you’ll get access to and how you might use this information to prove the return on your investment.

Remember: there’s no single social media recruiting strategy that will work for everyone. It has to be personalized to your company and your candidates in order to succeed. Experiment with different platforms, measure your results and refine your approach based on what works best for your organization.