Newspaper job adverts are dead, long live radio!
Radio talent attraction is dead, long live job boards!
Job boards are dead, long live LinkedIn!
LinkedIn is dead, long live…
Ok, I know LinkedIn is far from dead, but the way many recruiters have used it, it may just be dying out with new changes. So, what’s next?
There is one thing for sure, whatever it is, it ain’t gonna be free! And it might just be any one of the dead channels above, or a completely new one.
As a recruitment marketer, I am always keeping my ear to the ground on the new methods that can be used to deliver great ROI.
So, what’s on my radar at the moment? Things like:
- LinkedIn: Ads platform and pixel
- Facebook: Ads platform, pixel and messenger bots
- Programmatic: Companies like Adroll, Adbeat and Jobs The Word
So, let’s take a dive into how we can use the tools that marketers use on Facebook to deliver their campaigns, and how we can use the same tools as recruitment marketers.
Facebook targeting
When starting to advertise on Facebook, it can seem like a bit of a confusing minefield. For a start, it is a tad more difficult to create your audience than using the similar tools on LinkedIn.
So, why bother? The audience is huge and active.
To be precise, Facebook has over 2 billion monthly users…I will let that soak in for a second…2 BILLION…compared to LinkedIn’s 25% active monthly users meaning circa 125 million.
On Facebook, you can still target industry, job title, location and other demographics. Also, at the moment, you can advertise on the dodgy ad boxes on the right of your Facebook newsfeed and directly in a user’s newsfeed. Soon, you will be able to push messages out through messenger as well.
Whilst the Facebook ads platform is more complicated, you are led through by being offered specific advert types based upon your intention. You will also find that Facebook ads cost very little compared to the platforms, but the key here is converting traffic into known candidate leads. Doing so will require more effort.
Facebook pixel audiences
An integral part of any marketer’s toolbox is the Facebook pixel. The Facebook pixel is installed on your website and tracks your visitors. It then lets you push adverts to this audience on Facebook.
Here are a couple of great strategies to build audiences that you might consider:
- Track everyone who visits a specific type of job on your website and then re-advertise relevant jobs to this audience in the future meaning you are pushing adverts to people that are interested.
- Target people that visited your website once but have not done so in the last 6 months. This could be a valuable asset when planning how to keep your audience engaged and compliant for the new General Data Protection Regulations coming in the year 2018.
Stage targeting – The secret sauce
This is where you can get really smart. Let’s be honest, people will visit your site and drop off before applying for jobs.
This could be for a number of reasons…they don’t know you as an employer of choice, you didn’t have the exact role they want to apply for, they got distracted…and lots more.
By building out your pixel strategy, you can deliver a campaign of employer branding content to your audience based upon how engaged they are. This might look something like:
Becoming aware – High level branding, information on your services, locations, cool products, your teams and thought leadership
Once they aware we can educate the audience on your employer brand – This will include content like awards, team stories, employee profiles, relevant white papers and news on local careers.
Now they are educated, let’s help them consider – This is where you highlight your value propositions…why should they work for you, rather than for a competitor. Show them videos and stories about what their job and career progress would look like.
When a group of people are actively considering you as an employer, use this audience to invite them to an open day, interview day, apply for jobs, a careers webinar… do you get where I am going here?
So, there you go; a great few ways to use Facebook to target your required audience, segment your audience into talent pools and to deliver the right content to them to help them consider you as an employer of choice.
But, of course, all of this will cost.
Every time you promote a post to your audience on Facebook, you will be paying to do so.
But, don’t panic as Facebook’s advertising platform can return a great ROI if you carefully plan your messaging, content and candidate lead conversion tactics.
Will Facebook be the new king? Who knows, and who cares? As long as we stay on top of what’s new, we will be there to find out.
