Make Sure Your Social Media Campaign Tells Your Staffing Story
Every staffing firm has a story, but how and where you tell your story matters. 
When looking to market your services, you need to spread your message through channels that are frequented by potential clients and candidates. No professional is ever far from his/her mobile phone, so if you truly are hoping to reach them on familiar ground, social media is the way to go. Capture the attention of your audience by posting relevant information and bringing them back to your website. Establish your staffing firm as an industry influencer and build your brand with a targeted social media campaign.
Start with a Plan
What successes have you realized with your previous campaigns and what new milestones are you hoping to reach this time around? What is your staffing story and what message are you trying to communicate to your audience? How much is your established budget and who is going to be responsible for each phase of the campaign? If you are unable to answer these basic questions, then your staffing firm social media campaign is destined to fail. Sit down with your team and set goals for your campaign. Do you have new services that you are looking to promote? Are you announcing the opening of a new office location, or the hiring of some talented new recruiters? Do you have clients who are searching for particular skill sets? Once you understand your staffing story, make sure that the approach and social voice that you use is going to boost your staffing firm brand.
Is it Relevant?
Social media campaigns need to contain substance and be relevant to your target audience. Don’t waste the reader’s time by distributing mindless propaganda and hoping that someone is going to click on your posts. Ensure that each component of your staffing firm social media campaign contains information that is valuable to your potential clients or candidates. Whether you are writing a blog article, creating a case study or whitepaper, or posting a repurposed article to your website’s news page, make sure that it speaks to the services that you offer and the issues that are important to your staffing firm. Just because your competitor is posting information about a recent study or news-worthy story, don’t feel compelled to jump on the bandwagon unless that issue directly impacts your staffing firm or your industry niche.
Interact on Multiple Mediums
Just because your staffing firm maintains profiles on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and LinkedIn, don’t be fooled into thinking that your social media campaign needs to begin and end with those platforms. Get to know your audience and conduct market research to find out where they spend time online. Are you envisioning a campaign that attracts the attention of millennials? Design a staffing firm social media campaign to engage them on social networks such as Facebook, Vine, and Instagram. If you are trying to appeal to the Baby Boomer or Generation X professionals, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are the safer route to take.
Own Your Hashtag
Big name brands have successfully used hashtags as a way to create a buzz for their brand. Create an original hashtag that captures the spirit of your campaign, and use it throughout your social media posts. Tie all branches of your social media campaign together with your customized hashtag, and draw your target audience to one centralized location where they are able to quickly access the information. It is important to remember that too many hashtags are distracting and not appreciated by most social media users. Feature your hashtag throughout the campaign, and do not take attention away from it by throwing additional hashtags into the mix.
How Did You Do?
Did your campaign reach or exceed the goals that you originally set? Remember that social media campaigns are about more than just drumming up new followers for your staffing firm profiles. In order to assess whether your efforts have been effective, be sure to record original benchmarks and use them to validate a return on your marketing investment. Have you realized an increase in your SEO ranking? Are your recruiters noticing a greater number of qualified leads coming their way? And most importantly, you need to determine whether your efforts have resulted in leads being successfully converted into new business for your staffing firm.
Key Takeaways for Make Sure Your Social Media Campaign Tells Your Staffing Story:
- Design a comprehensive campaign plan, complete with goals, budgetary information and responsibilities
- Ensure that each component of your campaign contains information that is valuable to your potential clients or candidates
- Get to know your audience and conduct market research to find out where they spend time online
- Create an original hashtag that captures the spirit of your campaign, and use it throughout your social media posts
- Record original benchmarks and use them to validate a return on your marketing investment
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.