Five tips for recruiting via social media

LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are now key social platforms for businesses looking to recruit. In addition to job board advertising and sharing through your own channels, small businesses need to be utilising free and easy to use social sites in order to get a higher, and more relevant candidate reach.

The following are some easy to follow tips for recruiting on social media.

1. Create, and post to, your company page

Ensure your business has a profile on the three main social sites and invite your friends and clients to follow your page. Then don’t be shy about announcing new positions and developments within your business to attract your followers to your roles.

2. Check hashtags 

LinkedIn does not use hashtags, however, on Twitter they’re a great way to find what people in your industry are talking about. Search key terms in hashtags like #business #recruitment and see who is interacting with those pages and hashtags. Connect with people within those conversations and it will help build your following.

3. Look for hints 

People share so much free information on social media platforms every day. Connect with your clients, competitors and business inspirations and read and absorb what they’re publishing daily. You’ll pick up great tips and build your online community.

4. Interact 

You also need to use your business pages to interact as much as possible. Anyone who comments on your status or post should receive a comment back from your page. Thank them for leaving a comment and respond to their query. This page interaction will build your audience engagement and make it more likely for people to share or tag their friends in your posts, including your job ads or opportunities.

5. Ask your followers to share

There is no shame in directly asking people to share your post. If you have a job ad live, post it to your page and ask your team, your friends and your family to share it. When people share your post it’s then delivered to their followers and your reach and exposure is multiplied with every post making it more likely to snap up great candidates.

Saxon Marsden-Huggins is the managing director of Recruit Shop, which offers recruitment services to small businesses in Australia and New Zealand.