What I refer to exactly is using Facebook, Twitter, Google+, or any other social media outlet to gain followers who we can later recruit or get them to apply.  I have seen many companies try to create Twitter accounts or Facebook pages to attract talent and most fail for the same basic reason…relevance.

Put it this way, if you follow @WorkatABC or @JobsatABC (both fictitious) on Twitter, what you would typically see is every job post or employment brand pitch the company has to offer in that one account.  Do you really care to see all this?  Wouldn’t you see most of this as spam?

We can not be all things to all people, because it then annoys everyone…as most of the content does not apply to them personally.  We need to target our message.

I believe we need to segment our social media talent communities so that the content posted on each channel is valuable and interesting to at least 80% of the audience.  Which means you will only have a handful of communities for your largest demands for hiring.

These segments should always be by professional categories, but could also include geography.

Say you hire a lot of call center people and you have two call centers – one in Minneapolis, MN and one in Dallas, TX.  You can have two twitter accounts…one for call center people in Minneapolis and one for call center people in Dallas, TX.  That way the content will be relevant to that profession in their respective locations.

I also believe we need to have more valuable content posted to our social media talent communities.  I believe that less than 20% of the content should be job posts or recruiting oriented (chats, events, etc.)…that is less than 1 in 5.

So what can the other 4 posts be about?

• How about recognition posts of current employees.  For example, kudos to call center employees in Dallas, TX…just to the Dallas Call Center account.
• How about why I work here or why I stay posts from current employees?
• Events they support or go to…i.e. meet us at the next meeting of Dallas call center professionals.
• Links to videos of hiring managers talking about what it is like to work in their areas or testimonial videos by current employees
• Links to photos on Instagram taken in the company
• Whatever that would give a potential applicant a peek behind the curtain into the department and its culture.
• How about volunteering that members of that group have done in the area?
• How about industry news for that professional category?
• Research, studies, or surveys interesting to the group.
• Advice on how to enjoy that kind of work more or how to be more productive.
• How about local news of great interest if the group is location based as well (i.e. this significant event in Dallas posted on the Dallas call center group)
• How about job advice or salary survey info that would be interesting to that group?
• How about advice on how to improve your odds of being interviewed and advice on navigating the application process?
• How about posts current employees just want to share that they made on their own social media accounts that would be valuable to the group?
• Uplifting, inspirational, or funny links that are widely enjoyed – cat videos anyone?

Much of the content should be industry or location related valuable content that does not include your company’s name being mentioned.  Not everything has to refer to your company.  You want followers (i.e. listeners) and it is like going to a party and listening to someone who only talks about themselves…boring, and so they stop listening.  Talk about other things…interact.  Give value beyond self-centered interests.

Basically, be valuable and don’t SPAM.  If I am a call center person in Minnesota and I keep seeing jobs for Dallas…it doesn’t interest me and I quit following.  If I keep seeing jobs for IT professionals, as a call center person that is of no interest and I quit following.  Just ask yourself, what would these followers really want to know about that is of interest or value to them (most of them…80%+).  It is not about you (i.e. the company)…it is about the person following.

The goal is not to have the most followers, but the best followers…quality, not quantity.  The only way to do that is targeted and valuable content.

Don’t have time for all this?  It works best to involve others.  For example, ask the employees in the Dallas call center to forward on any industry news, events, or whatever that they find interesting or valuable.  Many professionals stay connected to others in their profession and keep up to date on what is going on in their industry.  Make it easy for them to share it with you so you can get it posted as valuable content the entire group may enjoy.

Some content can be posted to multiple accounts.  For example, something valuable to call center professionals could be posted on both the Minneapolis and Dallas segment groups.  I have used Hootsuite to do this kind of multi-account posting.  You connect all the accounts together and then when you create a post you can check which groups to post to.  So if there is something valuable to multiple groups, you can cross post it.

Talent community marketing works much better following these principles to make the content extremely relevant for your followers.