By Christina R. Metcalf
For a while, marketers have been telling people how to build relationships with potential customers on social media. They’ve shown them how to nurture a potential customer through the sales cycle to make a buying decision.
And that’s what businesses have been focused on.
But your social networks need to be doing double duty now.
Yes, attracting new customers is important but there’s another great need right now—employees. You need to attract people to work with you and retain those you currently have.
Social media is an incredibly strong way to do this.
Consider the following types of posts to help you be seen as an employer of choice.
Social Media for Hiring and Retention
When it comes to writing posts to get people to work with you, you want to construct a story around what it’s like to work at your business. Keep in mind that every post should inspire, educate, or entertain while sharing interesting parts of your story.
- A day in the life. Take a fun photo and tell a story about what you’re doing. If you can show how you are helping someone else live their best life, even better. That sort of post is contagious.
- Showcase what your business does. That doesn’t mean that you post “we sell widgets.” Talk about how what you do helps others do something even more amazing. For instance, if you sell natural soaps talk about how you help people discover their beauty without all the harsh chemicals. That way they can feel as good about your products as they do about their exercise routines.
- Compliment others. No one said your posts had to be about you. Sometimes telling others how amazing you think another business or person is can go a long way to making people feel good about your business.
- Showcase your employees and why you are lucky to have them. Not only do people enjoy getting to know who you have working for you, this type of “bragging” about your awesome employees shows you are a good person to work for.
- Slide in some perks. If you have cool perks at your job, find a way to post about them. Show your snack cart. Create a TikTok around a parody involving your business day. Use some creativity to showcase why someone would want to work for you.
- Use hashtags. Use hashtags for areas and the types of jobs you’re hiring for.
- Illustrate your unique culture. Take pictures and post about your unique culture. People will want to be a part of it.
- Participate in conversation on places that matter. There are tons of Facebook groups and other places where people are talking on social media. Join in on the conversations and help people. Some will check out where you’re from and they’ll see your company. A community groups is also a good place to post that you’re hiring. But you’ll be more successful attracting a crowd if they already know you when you post.
- Invite employees to post about you too. Give them the parameters of what you want them to address and the hashtags you want them to use. Then encourage them to spread your message.
- Retweet or reshare what others are saying about you. Make image quotes out of reviews. Reply to people who talk about you. Others will see you’re involved in social media and responding. Check out GlassDoor and see what employees have said. Share that, if appropriate.
Social media is a wonderful way to get attention from a recruiting perspective. It helps you stand out and entices people to want to work for you. Remember these days retention and recruiting on social media are just as important as bringing in new customers.
Christina R. Metcalf (formerly Green) is a marketer who enjoys using the power of story and refuses to believe meaningful copy can be written by bots. She helps chamber and small business professionals find the right words when they don’t have the time or interest to do so.
Christina hates exclamation points and loves road trips. Say hi on Twitter or reach out on Facebook.
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