Today Social media recruitment is a well-known practice, with over 92% companies using social media as a hiring tool in their recruitment process as per Statista. As per SHRM report, 43% of organizations said that they use social media or online search engine to screen candidates. Social media is not only a great source to advertise and market your job, but it has also given 24×7 access to the potential candidates.

We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media,
The question is how well we do it? – Erik Qualman

If you are planning to incorporate social media into your recruiting strategy, then you must avoid these mistakes-

1. No Plans to Plan-

Social media can create so many potential candidates for your open position if you have a strong plan. Posting “We are hiring”image on linkedIn won’t generate enough potential candidates. You might miss out on top talent if you don’t strategize your recruitment process. With so many social media platforms available it’s a possibility that you might lose sight of your goal. It’s not possible to be on every social website, select your talent goldmine and stick to it. Define a clear strategy for your company and how you can measure its effectiveness. For example instaTalent, with the help of this recruitment software, you can plan your recruitment process. It offers an easy online recruitment solution. You just have to submit your JD and instaTalent recommends the best-fit candidates instantly.

2. Not defining target-

Posting a job description on social media without defining a clear target, that’s one more mistake brands do. Having a well-defined audience of mutual interest helps you grow on social presence. You will have more success if you target your niche. For example, if you are looking for a candidate with 3-4 years experience in a particular field then you can set the age of target audience between 22- 27. This way you will get quality candidates.

3. Limiting yourself to few social media sites-

Often recruiters do this mistake by simply sticking to few social media for job postings such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. Limited social media will not give you the impressions and visibility needed. You might not reach your perfect candidate. There are so many social media websites where you can market your job offer such as below.

 Being the fastest growing application among young generation especially millennials the incorporation of Snapchat in your recruitment will give you an edge over your competitors.

4. Lengthy Application process-

While making an online form for the candidates some recruiters keep long application form about asking them their details. The chances of you getting the candidates become less with long forms. If you want to know more about candidates give them a call or send a text about asking them about themselves. Don’t ask candidates to log in to your website before you can fill out a long application form and apply for a job. Keep the job application process easy. If you want their credentials to ask them to sign up with Google or LinkedIn, you’ll increase the number of candidates applying for the job.

5. Unable to display benefits of joining your company-

Job seekers these days no longer join a company for just the “salary”, they join the company for additional benefits, and if you are unable to display those benefits then you might miss on a purple squirrel. Google advertises about their work culture and the benefits of working with them, that’s what attracts the job seekers. Show the cool side of your company, the office picnics, fun board meetings etc.

Deloitte mentioned on their career site the benefits of joining their team. If you are not showing the benefits of joining your company you will have narrow talent pipeline.

6. Not trying out online recruitment tools-

Online recruiters who do not try online recruitment tools might miss out on great potential talent. There are so many tools available to help you with your recruitment, starting from job posting to onboarding a candidate. There is a wide variety of these recruitment tools. To get the best-fit candidates you must try instaTalent – online hiring software. It recommends the best-fit candidates with their skill, educational, culture-fit and experience score. It gives employers a cognitive decision matrix to help them choose from the recommended candidates. All you have to do is upload your JD or fill out a JD and that’s it. instaTalent does the talent sourcing from various data sources, and using latest cognitive technologies and recommends the best candidates to you. If recruiters are not trying out such online recruitment solutions they might have a hard time finding the best of the best talent.

7. One post for all-

Many recruiters treat all social media as the same. BUT IT’S NOT.

Each social media platform is different. The hashtag which gave you 100 likes on twitter will not be useful when you are posting the same on Linkedin. Each social media site has a different audience and specific norms, so it’s important to keep a different strategy for each social media.

There are more mistakes that can be avoided to increase your talent acquisition capacity. 

[This blog was originally posted on CareersUnbound.com]