Things to Keep in Mind When Developing a Social Media Strategy for Your Staffing Firm

The key to building your staffing firm is to generate qualified prospects and convert those leads into clients and job candidates. Social media gives you the ability to directly connect with users all over the world; however, before jumping into the social media arena, you must be sure to develop a sound social media strategy for your staffing firm. Based on the fact that people are familiar with using social media platforms on a personal level, many think it is easy to embark on a social media campaign for their business. After all, you just need to post a few status updates and tweets before people are beating down your door, right? Take the time now to assess your goals and design a comprehensive social media plan.

Don’t Get Overwhelmed
When using social media as a tool for strategic business development, you must break down your campaign into bite-sized pieces. It is tempting to want to jump right in and utilize all forms of social media at once, but doing so is bound to lead to confusion and missed opportunities. Analyze each of the key social media platforms and make sure your company profile contains relevant organization details, industry-specific keywords, and contact information. A strong social media presence on sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn allows you to reach top talent. Define your campaign goals and determine what message you want to send to potential clients and candidates. Focus on your target audience and ensure that your goals specifically pinpoint a certain area of your business, i.e. building buzz about a future event, establishing your firm’s expertise within the industry, or increasing brand awareness.

Research Key Industry Influencers
A great starting point for any staffing firm looking to build their social media presence is to check out the profiles of industry influencers. Keep in mind that every staffing firm is different and it is important to highlight the things that set your organization apart from others; however, familiarizing yourself with the online resources and forums that your competitors frequent helps you to better position your firm in the social media mix. Research which industry issues are the current hot topics and use this information to determine what types of content are most important to clients and candidates. Be active online and participate in conversations frequented by qualified candidates. Try to set up alliances with strategic partners who are in the position to refer you leads in your area of expertise and be prepared to do the same for them.

Engage Your Team
As helpful as social media is in today’s staffing world, the only way to capture those leads and convert them into business for your firm is to ensure that your team is on the same page. Prior to embarking on a social media campaign, you must thoroughly brief your team on the campaign goals and provide them with key information needed to tie into their lead nurturing conversations. The best campaign in the world is only effective if your firm is prepared to deliver quality staffing services and your team is capable of communicating your organization’s strengths to potential clients and candidates.

Assign Responsibilities
An essential part of designing a strong social media strategy for your staffing firm is to create an editorial calendar that clearly details who is responsible for carrying out each step in the campaign and exactly when he/she is expected to complete each task. Sporadic online posts and disjointed social media messages lead to frustrated users who are unable to understand your organization’s goals and determine your area of expertise. There must also be staff members assigned to monitor your company’s social media sites and respond to any user-generated posts or inquiries. The worst-case scenario is to have potential clients or candidates reach out to you on social media, only to be ignored. Our attention spans are very short so it’s important to capture that audience when you have the chance.

Stay On Top of Social Media Trends
Constant updates to current sites and the launch of new platforms everyday make it extremely difficult to stay on top of the latest social media trends. Make an effort to thoroughly research any updates that could impact the social media strategy for your staffing firm. With the growing reliance on visual media, now is the time to consider setting up accounts on YouTube and Instagram. A social media post that links to a company YouTube video is bound to result in more user engagement than a text-only post. Instagram is quickly becoming the go-to site for adding visual impact to Twitter and Facebook posts. Familiarize yourself with trending applications, add-ons and plug-ins that are designed to help you effectively screen potential candidates.

Social Media Strategy Takeaways:

1. Take the time to lay out a comprehensive social media strategy so you do not become overwhelmed
2. Research industry leaders online and determine what topics are trending for your industry
3. Make sure your team is fully briefed on the goals and expectations of your social media campaign
4. Create an editorial calendar and assign specific responsibilities to your team
5. Fully investigate any current social media trends and make use of developments that allow you to carry out your social media campaign

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.