Using Social Media for Staffing Firm Research

Connect. Like. Follow. Share. The things we all do with social media. Most staffing firms think of social media like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram as ways to share content, attract clients and consultants as well as generally network, but it is so much more. Most sales people that have been around for any longer period of time realize that the world of staffing firm social media and the internet as a whole have changed our selling and recruiting processes. In my first stint in sales, I was given a “Yellow Pages” phone book and told to get to work. Does anyone remember phone books? Today, we are going to talk about using staffing firm social media beyond the traditional networking and reach out efforts and go into how to use it for research and driving meaningful connections.

Knowledge Is Power
So, you have all these connections, but what are you doing with them. We have discussed in previous articles the need to leverage your network and referrals, but now we want to discuss the uses of the data in each connection.

Every sales person should be looking for a way into a prospect or a way to stay relevant with an existing or to bond with either. How many staffing firms review a LinkedIn profile of a contact before calling on them? I really hope that it is everyone. But, what do you do with the information once you have reviewed it? Almost everyone I talk to says that they leverage it, but when I ask for examples there aren’t any that actually were done.

Let’s use an example: You reviewed the contact’s profile. Let’s go over to the People Also Viewed on the right, are there contacts that there that you should be calling on? The answer is most likely. Are there contacts there that you are connected to? You can tell right there. Reach out to the connections immediately and ask if they could make a referral. Let’s look at the university they attended, it is right in the upper portion of the profile. Did you attend the same university? Do you know anyone that did? Store this information away for a moment. Check out how thy describe what they do and their description. Are there key words or phrases being used? Store this information away for a moment. Look at the highlights section telling you Mutual Connections. Reach out and ask if they could make a referral.  Check out Activity and see what they have been sharing if anything. It will tell you their interests and I bet you can guess store this information away for a moment. Look at their Work Experience and see any commonalities with yourself or that give you information on them. Now the Education section tells you what they studied and may tell you years attended. Look at Skills & Endorsements, and Interests.

Leveraging the Data
Using the example from above, do you think an email or call or Inmail would be powerful if you simply wrote, Hi <name>, I wanted to reach out to see if you have a moment to discuss how my firm could be helping your firm? (NOTE: yes, I know you would do better than this, but I am trying to be brief) or do you think it would be more valuable to leverage the information you sat aside and say, “Hi <name>, I saw that you and I are both connected to <<Brett Smith and Mary Sussez – use the real names>> and wondered if you know them well? I have none both of them for years. I am reaching out because I want to work with your company and I figured as a fellow <<University of Houston Alumni, or Marketing major or fraternity member or I could rely on previous companies>> that we could be helpful to each other.”

These are examples of ways to utilize the research from LinkedIn to get through to your prospects. If you do the bare minimum, then you should expect minimal results. If you do the maximum, well I think it goes without saying. Have fun. Use the data to your advantage and make progress in your accounts.

About S.J.Hemley Marketing
S.J.Hemley Marketing is a marketing and sales consulting firm focused on driving tangible results for professional services firms. Brand matters, but not without ROI. With over 20 years of sales and marketing experience within staffing and recruiting, we have helped to drive successful branding, sales training, lead generation activities as well as defining marketing strategy for top organizations.