Social media has changed the way we conduct personal and business communication. A recent study by Statista shows that the number of people using social platforms, is expected to reach 2.95 billion by 2020, which explains the reason why businesses cannot afford to ignore the power of social media. In addition to employing job recruiting agencies, you must also look beyond the resumes while screening candidates, and therefore review their profiles on various social media websites. To help you leverage social media for talent acquisition, here are five effective strategies. Take a look.

1. Build a Dedicated Team

You need to designate a dedicated team to handle your organization’s social media profiles. The team should include marketing, design and social media management professionals, who can understand and create the right brand image to engage the best talent. The team must create a clear communication channel that facilitates information exchange in real-time. The team must also contribute informative content, covering industry and internal developments.

2. Create and Promote Engaging Content

Creating and promoting informative and engaging content for your organization’s social pages  help attract immediate responses. Rich media such as infographics, workplace pictures, and videos help make the content more engaging. You can also include employee testimonials and other elements to distinguish your brand. It is also important to mention the organization’s vision and mission statement to provide a value proposition to your followers.

3. Use Paid Advertisements

Paid advertising is the next step in acquiring talent through social media. Today, an increasing number of users click on the ads that appear on social portals. Almost all major players, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, help promote your brand image by implementing algorithms that draw search results and provide prominence to your brand. Paid advertising is also seen as the tool to help streamline recruitment strategies and deliver long term benefits.

4. Involve Employees

In a recent survey by Monster.com, approximately 65 percent of the respondents showed interest in a career suggested by a person they know. You must understand that, in the end, it is your employees only that are the most important ambassadors of your business. You should, therefore, encourage your staff to participate in the recruitment process by tweeting about job openings and sharing engaging content over social media sites.

5. Choose the right Social Media Platform  

The social media platforms you choose is the key factor that determines the target audience, and the traction you can generate through your content.

If, for instance, you need to target adults between the ages of 25-34, using Facebook will be a sensible decision, as most Facebook users are from this age group. Using sites such as Instagram and SnapChat are only advisable if your target audience is either teenagers or young professionals between 18 and 25 years.

Wrapping Up

Almost every organization, these days, is turning towards social media sites to attract and recruit talent. Social media platforms not only allow organizations to promote their business online, but also help them view profiles of prospective candidates to assess their personality traits that are otherwise missing in their resumes. To enhance the effectiveness of your  talent acquisition efforts, you can always collaborate with reputable employment agencies that can help devise and execute the right strategies to identify and hire the best talent.