When it comes to learning new tricks, examples go a long, long way. It’s one thing to read tips and tricks about how to recruit, create an employer brand, and implement social media strategies, but actually seeing these practices in action can take your comprehension to the next level.
Facebook recruiting is still relatively new to many employers, but luckily there are still lots of innovative early adopters to learn from. This article will look at specific best practices employed by family-run business Gordon Food Service, hospitality giant Hotel Marriott, and the province of Saskatchewan. All three of these businesses provide fantastic examples for any employer interested in giving Facebook recruiting a try. We’ll explain how you can learn from their example and apply their strategies to your own recruiting.
Gordon Food Service
Gordon Food Service has made their Facebook Career Page a place where people can get a more in-depth look at what their company culture is really like. How their staff interact, what their values are, and what the company prioritizes are all showcased on their Facebook Career Page.
GFS uses Facebook to communicate their brand message not just to candidates, but also to current and potential customers. This is why they make branding a key part of their Facebook Career Page.
What can you learn from Gordon Food Service’s strategy?
Use your Facebook Career Page to express company culture and promote your brand.
All of Gordon Food Service’s content is valuable, in that it is useful to clients and potential candidates. The GFS Facebook Career Page is fully branded with company colors and a custom banner to maintain brand consistency. They post updates about community service projects, fun staff activities, and sponsored events. GFS also posts food-related questions to their fans, topical articles, and great tips on grilling. GFS engages with their fans by creating dialogue and asking and answering questions, which has garnered them a very loyal Facebook following. Check out their Company Page and you’ll find tons of positive comments and thank yous from their customers and employees.
Follow their lead and your Facebook Career Page will grow your brand and your talent pool.
Next up, Hotel Marriott
Hotel Marriott turned the social recruiting world on its head by using a social game to recruit thousands of hourly workers for their massive expansion outside of the U.S.
Potential hires create their own virtual restaurant, buy equipment and ingredients on a budget, hire and train employees, and serve customers. Gamers earn points for happy customers… and lose points for poor service. Players’ success is based on their operation turning a profit.
What can you learn from Marriott?
Experiment
I’m not suggesting you invest thousands in creating a virtual game – far from it! But trying new social strategies will set your employer brand apart.
Try out different kinds of content, posting on different days or at different times, and maybe even make a short recruiting video. You won’t know what works best for you unless you experiment.
And last, but most definitely not least, Think Sask Jobs!
The Think Sask Jobs campaign is an effort to brand the Province of Saskatchewan as an awesome place to live and work, in order to fill the many new jobs created by its booming economy. Phoenix Group has been incredibly successful in using Facebook to create an Employer brand for Saskatchewan. Their page has over 5,000 Likes and their average daily reach is around 1.7 million users.
What can you learn from the Think Sask Jobs campaign?
Have a Game Plan
Much of their success is owed to the creation of a brilliant and specific social strategy. Phoenix group researched how frequently they should post, what days and time work best, and what kinds of content are the most appealing to the workers that Saskatchewan needs.
They then created a game plan based on their research.
For example, the content posted on the Think Sask Company page is divided evenly into three categories: job postings, posts about how to get hired in Saskatchewan, local culture and fun lifestyle-related content. That way they know exactly what kind of content is needed each day.
Even the choice of Facebook as a medium for their social recruiting effort was based on solid research into where potential candidates were looking for jobs.
Researching before beginning a social recruiting campaign is a must (you can start with this article about how to use Facebook for recruiting), as is creating a plan to guide your efforts.
What do all three have in common?
Each of these businesses uses metrics to measure their success. Tracking what works and what doesn’t is an important part of any recruiting campaign, social or not! That’s why the Jobcast Facebook recruiting app supplies an easy way to view reports and statistics. You can’t move forward without knowing where you’ve been, so make sure you keep your metrics up to date.
Happy social recruiting!
To make recruiting with Facebook even easier, try using the Jobcast Facebook recruiting app. Jobcast works with BC Jobs, so it’s easy for you to sync your BC Jobs posts with the app, and start using Facebook to find awesome candidates.
For more information about making your recruitment better using Facebook, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Ryan by email at ryan@bcjobs.ca or by phone at 778-331-2122.
Tags: employer branding, facebook recruiting, recruiting, recruiting advice, recruitment, social recruiting
