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Just to recap: Passive candidates are magical unicorns. They will instantly improve your business, upgrade your company culture, and double your chances of winning the lottery.

Recruiting passive candidates will solve all of your problems!

Sadly, this is extremely difficult to do because passive candidates live in a land without help wanted ads, job boards, or desktop computers. It’s a scary place.

Annnd back to reality.

Passive candidates are not the be all end all of recruiting. They do, however, make up a huge percentage of the labor market (80%), they tend to need less skill development (around 17% less), and they also tend to be more driven once hired.

Why recruiting passive candidates has higher ROI than you think

The part about passive candidates being hard to reach was a little more realistic. These candidates already have employment and are not actively seeking work in the traditional sense. So, no, they usually aren’t looking on job boards.

But, many of them are interested in new career opportunities, 61% of them according to Jobvite. They may not be actively looking, but they are open to being contacted by a recruiter, and if they stumble across a really cool job post, they’ll happily apply.

Last week we talked about how to use social to source passive candidates. This week we’re going to focus on how you can get your job posts seen by those candidates.

No surprises here, the best way to reach passive candidates is social recruiting.

The Why

Passive candidates may not be checking the help wanteds, but they are checking their Facebook accounts (76% of them every day, often multiple times per day!) This means that you can use Facebook’s targeted ads to reach the candidates you can’t reach with traditional recruiting channels.

The How

First you need a company Facebook Page. I’m going to assume most of you have one of those already. If you don’t have one, it’s actually pretty easy to set up. Whether you plan to use it for recruiting passive candidates or not, you need a Facebook Page!

Here’s a simple guide to setting up a Facebook Business Page.

Next you’ll need to create a Facebook Career Site. It’s important that your Facebook Career Site is customized to your employer brand. Brand consistency is important because it makes your Page look legitimate which is important for garnering potential candidates’ trust. Building a fully branded Facebook Career Site will also help you gain social proof, and grow your employer brand’s internet presence in general.

Here’s how you can get started building a Branded Facebook Career Site

Now you’ll need to post some jobs, and promote the heck out of them!

As much as I would love to tell you that all you need to do to reach candidates with Facebook is post a few jobs, share them, and then get back to the one million other things you need to get done… It’s just not that easy.

Like all good things, Facebook recruiting does take effort. Luckily, it doesn’t take a lot of effort. In fact the ROI is quite high according to most recruiting surveys (the Jobvite, and Bersin recruiting studies to name a couple.)

If you want your posts to reach passive candidates, using Facebook Targeted Ads is the most effective way to do it. With FB Ads you can target users based on their demographics, work history, skill set, and interests. This means that your job posts will reach not only more potential hires, but the right potential hires.

 Here’s a step by step guide to using Facebook Ads for recruiting

Using Facebook Ads is currently your best option for targeting passive candidates, and converting them into applicants. But ads aren’t the only reason Facebook is a great platform to reach these potential hires. You also need to take mobile, user demographics, and industry requirements into account…

Wow, this article got long.

You must be exhausted.

We’ll cover why mobile is extra important when trying to reach passive candidates, why LinkedIn (although totally rad) is probably not your best bet for recruiting passive candidates, and how many times I can type the words “passive candidates” before developing a nasty case of carpal tunnel.

Happy social recruiting everyone!

Passive candidates, you want 'em... the social graph has got 'em! So, how do you use the data the graph provides to find a bunch of awesome talent, grow your company, and become the world's happiest employer? Getting yourself branded Facebook Career Page is a pretty great start because it gives your employer brand a mobile friendly social presence. This is important as the first thing the passive candidates are going to after you reach out to them is Google your organization. A well branded, mobile optimized Facebook Career Site makes for an excellent first impression. But, you still have to get out there and source those candidates!

Today we're featuring 5 great articles that will help you understand what it takes to use social for sourcing.

One thing a successful social sourcing strategy definitely needs is a person to plan and carry out the sourcing. Until we have robots to do it for us, this article by Victor Alberts will help you determine who should be in charge of social sourcing and recruiting for your company. As much as I love Facebook for every aspect of social recruiting, it's important to use multiple platforms, if you want to get the most out of your social strategy. Here's a great little guide from Sprout Social about using multiple social networks to source passive candidates. Speaking of import social platforms, Twitter makes for an excellent sourcing tool, especially when combined with another platform that allows for more than 140 character conversations. Here's Suzanne Lucas's take on why when it comes to engaging with passive candidates Twitter is your friend! Now I'm going to break with tradition and share two articles from the same blog. I know, I know, it's not very fair of me, but hey, life's not fair buttercup! And, when it comes to sourcing, Glen Cathey is the man. His article on searching for candidates with Facebook still holds up 4 years later. In the land of social media that's basically an eternity. Glen's more recent post, 100 free sourcing and recruiting guides and resources, is even more awesome, hence the double share. This is as close to a social recruiting reference library as you're going to get! I highly suggest you check it out, and then leave Glen many, many thank yous. Before we go, I’d just like to give a quick shout to HR maven, Jessica Miller-Merrell and everyone over at Blogging4Jobs. They recently did a total redesign of their blog and it looks incredible, check it out! Enjoy these links, and happy social recruiting!

Oh, the ever-elusive passive candidate! Part of what makes them so desirable is that elusiveness, the fun of the chase, the challenge... Uhhh wait a minute. Those are actually all of the things that make recruiters prefer to target active job seekers, and ignore the whopping 79% of potential candidates who are not actively engaged the job hunt (Undercover Recruiter). Those candidates may be currently employed, and more difficult to source, but they are still potential hires. Maybe not all 79% of them, I'll admit that's a bit of an overstatement, but not as much as you might think! According to Jobvite at least 61% of those passive candidates are open to, even hopeful for, a change of employer. Considering that statistic, you're still looking at a whopping 50% of working professionals. That's a lot of potential hires to ignore. Ignoring those passive candidates doesn't just diminish your talent pool, it also rules out higher caliber hires. According to research by Linked in, although more difficult to recruit, passive candidates often make for better quality employees. Once hired, they are more driven than active candidates and 17% less likely to need skills development. This ups the ROI on passive candidates substantially. 2014 will see the need to add passive candidate sourcing to your recruiting strategy increase even more because of the current economic upturn. The economic upturn means more jobs, and fewer qualified active candidates in the job market. So, the market for quality talent is about to get a lot more competitive, we've written about it, Inc Magazine has written about it, and Blogging4jobs has written about it a lot! The war for talent is back, and with it comes an increased premium on talent, and the need to get more active with your recruiting. Luckily for employers, sourcing and recruiting passive candidates is a heck of a lot easier than it once was. With today's social technologies, and social graph in particular, sourcing passive candidates is a piece of cake! Alright, so I'm exaggerating again, but with all that big data at your finger tips, passive candidates are more accessible than ever before. With social recruiting, you can search for potential hires based on information they’ve shared about their work history, their interests, their demographics, and even their skill set by using networks like Facebook. The social graph is constantly getting bigger and as it does, using social networks to source passive candidates will get easier. This is great news, because sourcing is hard work! And the benefits of social for accessing passive candidates don’t end there! Social platforms also make it possible to reach out and engage with passive candidates. They may not be visiting your career site, or looking on job boards, or even have a LinkedIn profile, but now a day’s pretty much every single human (in the first world at least) has some form of internet presence. Heck, there were over 35 million #selfies posted on Instagram last year. There are 231.7 million active monthly users on Twitter, Google plus adds 25, 000 new users on the daily, and Facebook accounts for 16% of total internet use. If you can't reach candidates via job boards, you can tweet at them, connect with them on Facebook, add them to your G+ circles, and even heart their excessive Instagram selfies. People love it when you double tap their #selfies! Next Monday on the blog we'll explore how you can use social media to recruit passive candidates, and take over the world! If you want to study up before next week's blog post, download this free white paper and learn how to recruit passive candidates with Facebook. Happy social recruiting!

Getting back to basics is always a good idea. Crisp white shirts, steak and potatoes, Facebook recruiting… You simply can’t go wrong! We recently published a blog post about why Facebook trumps print media for recruiting. In that article we also went over how no matter which medium you choose to employ, when it comes to an effective hiring campaign the basic tenants of effective recruiting remain the same. It’s just that when it comes to recruiting, Facebook has the best return on investment! But, that is only true if you make sure to incorporate the essential best practices of Facebook recruiting. So, in this link love we have 5 great articles on the basics of Facebook recruiting: In this article, John Sumser shares 3 fundamentals of recruiting on Facebook. The advice he presents is so simple, but often overlooked. Another aspect of social recruiting that is often overlooked it etiquette. Actually, I don’t know about you, but it seems that etiquette is all too often overlooked in all aspects of life! Well, this Infographic has 19 Facebook etiquette rules for business, with advice from some of the best social media experts on the internet. Once you have the fundamentals and etiquette down, it’s time to get some fans! You must develop your employer brand, and gain a following to get your content seen by Facebook users. The always awesome Amy Porterfield explains how to attract more Facebook fans to your Page. Reach is one of those terms you often hear associated when discussing recruiting. Reach is one of the most important aspects of any recruiting strategy, but it’s also one of the most difficult to master. When it comes to Facebook, reach is basically how many users end up seeing the content you share. This article by Scott Ayres gives you an incredible step-by-step guide to improving Page reach on Facebook.  Scott’s guide is a must read! We saved the best for last: a detailed guide on how to choose which Facebook Ad is right for you, and how much you should spend on Facebook ads. Facebook Ads are hands down the best tool in the social recruiting tool-belt, let this article be your instruction manual! PS You can also download our white paper to learn how to attract candidates with Facebook. Happy social recruiting!

Social recruiting is still just in its infancy, despite having been around for almost a decade. But this isn't really all that surprising. Human beings have a pretty well understood fear of adopting new technologies. When the printing press was invented, concerned biologists urged monarchs to restrict its use, fearing dangerous, and harmful information overload caused by too much reading! Doctors warned against trains, as they were convinced the break-neck speeds (15 miles per hour) of this new mode of transport would cause asphyxia induced deaths. Heck, I am still afraid Google class will lead to a world full of cyborgs that only interact online and only eat Soylent! And yet, employers are slowly but surely adopting social solutions for their recruiting problems. In fact, as of 2013, 72% of companies reported using social networks to find candidates. Even more promisingly, 2 in 3 companies surveyed said that they planned on increasing their social recruiting efforts (and budgets) in 2014. Why are so many companies adopting social as a part of their recruiting strategy? Honestly, I think it's because they fear being left behind by early adopters. Their fear is completely valid, especially considering the growing concern among employers that 2014 marks a return of the "war for talent". Fear is a great motivator, but it's a terrible reason for adopting new technology. It's also a terrible reason for avoiding them! You should adopt new technologies because they work. Because they are effective for solving the problems you need solved. Does social recruiting do this? Absolutely. Those 2 in 3 companies expanding their social recruiting efforts are doing so because it works. Well executed social recruiting has extremely high ROI,  it's an excellent way to reach mobile candidates (over 70% of jobseekers are using mobile in their search), and sourcing passive candidates with social graph data is becoming more and more effective every day. At Jobcast, we obviously favor Facebook for social recruiting, but Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+ are all great tools for attracting qualified candidates. None of those platforms offer the targeting or reach Facebook does... But, using several social networks as a part of your recruiting is smart. For example, you can Tweet the jobs you post on your super awesome, fully branded Facebook Career Site! If you still haven't adopted social recruiting as a part of your hiring strategy, the time is now! It's actually pretty easy to get started, especially as I'm going to provide you with some links to how to guides for all the major social platforms that you can use for recruiting, you are most welcome!

Twitter

Twitter is a great tool for employers to use in conjunction with other social media. When you post a job on your career site, share content on your Company Facebook Page, or publish a blog post, you can increase your reach by sharing it on Twitter. You can also use hashtags to keep up with trends in your industry. Natascha Thompson's article, 5 Tips on How to Use Twitter for Recruiting, contains way more than five tips. It gives you all the info you need to get started with using Twitter to hire. Facebook

Facebook has the largest active user base of any social network, it has become an essential part of employer branding, and it allows for much more targeted recruiting with the use of Facebook Ads, these are just three of the reasons we think Facebook is the most effective network for employers. In our free white paper, we provide you with a simple guide to Facebook for recruiting. Google+

I love Google Plus, the way that it is set up makes it very easy to create talent communities, because you can simply create a "circle" for each community you have, and stream targeted content specifically to each circle. What doesn't work so well is how much less "reach" G+ has than other networks. Sure, a lot of people have accounts, but they just don't spend all that much time actually using the network. Likeable has an awesome Google Plus Cheat sheet that will help you understand how G+ works. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a great tool for social recruiting. Personally, I struggle with the fact that it isn't very mobile friendly, but it's a network completely dedicated to recruiting, which makes it pretty darn handy. Susan M. Heathfield's simple guide to using LinkedIn for recruiting is a great read for anyone in HR. Hopefully these guides will help you to get started with social recruiting, or at least give you more information about which networks to focus your hiring efforts on (Facebook, cough, Facebook!) Oh, and just to give you all a little more encouragement... I'll admit that my fear of Google Glass is probably unfounded! But Soylent is completely terrifying and makes me sad about the state of the world.

We recently had a fantastic comment on our post about making Facebook work for small business.

In it, our reader asked just how targeted Facebook really is, whether Facebook recruiting is effective without an existing audience, and, in summary, whether or not Facebook recruiting is any different from placing an ad in a local newspaper. That last question is what really got my attention, and not in the way you might think. Using social media to recruit is different from using non-social media in very obvious ways. But, what I think we do not talk about enough, in the field of social recruiting, are the similarities between using networks like Facebook to promote job openings, and using the career section of your local paper. Facebook Recruiting is NOT magic. It is awesome, it is effective, it has high ROI... Facebook recruiting works, especially if you use a top notch recruiting app, just saying... But, no, sadly Facebook recruiting is not magical. Like placing an ad in your local paper, using a company career site, and recruiting with job boards, Facebook recruiting takes work, time, and a budget (albeit a relatively small one!)

Similarity Number One: Effort.

"The only place success comes before work is in the dictionary" - Inspirational poster on the internet

I wish that it was possible to simply share a job post and receive a flood of resumes. Actually, I don't because then I would be out of a job... But it would be very nice for all the employers and recruiters out there. Like with any other kind of recruiting campaign, social recruiting takes work. You will need to create content, build up an employer brand, and engage with Facebook users that you would like to see become part of your talent pool. Why Facebook is Better:

Unlike placing ads in the paper, and posting on job boards, when you use Facebook to recruit, all of the content you share, the work you put into your employer brand, and the effort you put into engaging with users, will also build your company brand as a whole. You get to combine recruiting with improving your overall social media presence, which is so important in today's heavily online driven markets. Similarity Number 2: Time.

Writing a quality job post takes time. Researching how you should promote those posts once written takes time. Building a trustworthy, recognizable employer brand takes time. You'll need to build a recruiting strategy, figure out how to write effective job posts, and promote your company culture no matter what medium you choose to employ. Why Facebook is Better:

Social sharing. Unlike print, job boards, or even LinkedIn, Facebook is a medium primarily built around interaction. The structure of the network its self encourages users to share, comment and Like your company's content, which means their connections are more likely to see your job posts. And, Metrics! Facebook Insights makes it pretty darn easy to figure out what works and what doesn't when it comes to your recruiting strategy. Using data to fine tune your recruiting campaigns is one of the best ways to cut down on the amount of time (and work) you have to spend on them in the future. You can also use a Facebook recruiting app like Jobcast to help you measure more recruitment specific data! Similarity Number 3: Budget.

The best things in recruiting are not free. Sure, there are some pretty great free options when it comes to Facebook recruiting, but if you want access to the most effective features the social network has to offer, you're going to have to invest a little capitol. Print ads cost money, quality job boards cost money, and hiring recruiters definitely costs money! Why Facebook Is Better:

It costs less. It's that simple. Ed Social Media explains how they were able to run a successful ad campaign for a mere $20 dollars. Running ads in print news papers often costs upwards of $500 (and that's for a small paper) which is much, much more expensive. Not only do Facebook Ads cost less, but they give you more. Facebook Ads allow you to target users based on their work history, skill set, and interests. Print journals may advertise circulation rates in the tens, even hundreds of thousands, that's a lot of potential viewers, but often those rates are exaggerated, the demographic is completely wrong for your jobs, and no one can tell you how many of those readers even flip to the wanted section of the paper! (Yet another great thing about Facebook Insights!) This incredibly comprehensive article by Jon Loomer will give you a better understanding of what Facebook Ads campaigns should cost. You can also check out our free white paper for a step by step guide to Facebook recruiting.

Retention. It's important. It keeps the office calm, and happy, and it's great for your bottom line. Let's face it, change is hard, and ain't nobody got time for turn-over! According to HR pros like Tim Sacket, 2014 will be the year that retention returns to HR. In the midst of the recession, retention has been neglected, but with the current economic upswing, HR needs to start worrying about losing candidates to the promise of better jobs with shiny new companies! Our Monday blog post explored how you can use company culture as a part of your retention strategy. In researching that article, we stumbled upon a lot of great advice about retention. So, we thought we'd share that advice with you, our lovely readers! Links to help you improve retention and keep your employees happy: Recruiting "A" quality talent, and creating a culture of respect and trust, are at the heart of Netflix' retention strategy. I have to admit, I'm both surprised and totally impressed by the company's forward-thinking policies. The Evil HR Lady: On the importance of company culture, including some fantastic examples from Sapient on cultivating the kind of culture that employees want to be a part of. With the economic future looking bright, recruiters everywhere are predicting that 2014 will bring a huge increase in employees looking for new work in greener pastures! Here are a few ways you can tighten up your retention strategy to keep your best people from jumping ship. And, if those tips aren't enough, or you just want to be extra careful, Carolyn Douglas shares her top 5 retention strategies. These hugely successful companies also have some of the lowest turn-over rates. What do they credit it to?

Connecting company culture to performance!

These articles all provide fantastic advice for keeping your employees happy, and, well, just keeping them! Just add a decent espresso machine and cookies, and you have an airtight retention strategy. Easy peasy. Happy Link Lovin'

Retention is one of the biggest buzzwords for 2014. With a forecasted economic upturn comes expectations of job creation, and with expected job creation comes the swooshing sound of disgruntled employees everywhere dusting off their resumes. Hence, a reinvigorated focus on retention by HR pros and employers. Another big buzzword this year is culture. It was also a big buzzword for 2013... And 2012. Let's face it, love it or hate it, corporate culture is an integral part of doing business in this social media-dominant world! Personally, I love that companies are putting culture first and letting the culture they create drive their business. I also love what company culture can do for retention. The culture you promote can mean the difference between retaining your best employees and losing them. In fact, many employees value aspects of company culture as much as they do rate of pay. That's why smart companies (like Sapient, REI, Google, and SAP) act very strategically to cultivate a culture that rewards employees loyalty, and puts a premium on retaining their best people. Follow their lead! Here are great ways you can use company culture for retention: Make your culture flexible

In employee satisfaction surveys, millennials consistently cite flexibility as being more important than rate of pay. Allowing your people to work malleable hours, giving them the option to work from home home on occasion, and creating programs that allow them to work in a different department, or at a branch located in a different part of the country (or different country altogether), are just a few examples of the kind of flexibility they desire. Make your culture something to be proud of

You may not be able to increase pay, or hand out massive bonuses, but you can make employees feel good about working for your company. If your company culture promotes good ethics, through charitable giving, fundraising projects, and community support, your employees have something other than a high salary that they can take pride in. Being proud of the company you work for is a huge motivator, especially amongst younger employees (us Gen Yers still think we can change the world, sssshhhhh, don't burst our bubble!) Having a 'mission' is a great way to make doing good a signature part of your company culture. Whether it's improving your own environmental policy, giving a certain percentage of profits, or products, to charity, or organizing fundraising events with your staff. Check out Tom's for a great example of a highly successful company that has a strong message of giving back, and excellent retention. Create a culture of community

When your employees feel connected to each other and their superiors, they are less likely to jump ship. You can cultivate a culture of community by organizing events that bring your team together. For example, every Friday let your employees stop work an hour early and share some beers, and/or snacks while talking through the week. Not only will this give them a chance to get to know each other better, but it will also give you some insights into how they're doing, and what the general vibe around the office is. Another important way to make sure that your company culture promotes a strong sense of community is to hire for fit. This does not mean hiring employees based on their personal style, or hobbies, as so many recruiters seem to think it does. Hiring for cultural fit simply means hiring candidates that will get along with the team you already have, and enjoy working in the culture that you want to promote. You can also use social media to give employees more encouragement to interact with each other. Try Campfire, Skype, or Slack to promote communication, and community within your company. Create a culture of respect

The saying "Employees don’t leave companies, they leave managers" may be an overstatement, but it is true that poor management has a huge effect on retention. Make sure that you train your managers well, that they interact regularly with staff, and that all employees are made to feel heard and that you take their input seriously. SAP does an especially good job of this. Check out this article for 10 ways that SAP encourages employee engagement, and thus showcase their culture of respect. More than even financial motivations, social and emotional fulfillment can determine whether employees choose to stay and grow with your company, how much they contribute, and how well they perform. That's why, for 2014, a year that marks the return of retention as a major issue for HR, company culture must be seen as a top priority.

It's Link Love time again.

You know what that means... a silly, rambly intro from yours truly! Then a whole bunch of super useful links of course.

Do you ever feel like there is so much to do that you simply don't know where to start? I do. Almost all the time. Definitely today. But, because I find myself in this position so very often, I've developed a trick for coping with it.

Tidy one small thing from start to finish.

Your desktop, your email inbox, your kitchen sink, it really doesn't matter what, so long as it is a small project, and you finish the job.

Sounds a little silly maybe, but it works. Sitting down at your newly organized desk, opening up your email to find it completely empty, or glancing over at your sparkling sink, will give you a sense of accomplishment that can put a positive spin on your entire day. And even if it doesn't, who doesn't like a clean sink?

Link time!

Experienced recruiters have a lot going for them. Namely: experience! But what about when that usually positive quality becomes a negative? Nancy Park exposes the number one error that experienced recruiters make, and what to do about it.

Gamification, it's still a thing. In fact, it seems to be getting more and more attention lately, especially in the world of recruitment. This article gives a great summary of how gamification is changing HR, and how you can benefit from including it in your workplace. i.e. how you can make HR policies fun... Apparently the impossible is possible in 2014!

PS

Our gamification article, was recently featured on the cover of HR Insights Magazine.

Gamification is usually aimed at millennials, but apparently younger and older generations are coming together like never before. According to this article by Allen King, the workplace generation conflict is just a myth. I agree. I get along just fine with Gen Xers, so long as they keep the Nirvana to a minimum.

Unfortunately, the gender gap in HR is no myth. According to a recent article from XpertHR, the HR profession in the UK in 2014 is three-quarters female, but only two-thirds of UK senior HR professionals are women. Check out Michael Carty's post for more info on the gender profile of HR in the UK.

No matter what demographic you are looking to reach, having a better Facebook landing page will help. Inside Facebook shares an awesome template for improving your Facebook Page template in 2014.

Happy link lovin'!

This is officially our first blog post of the New Year (Link Loves don't count!). Very exciting. Everyone loves New Years — it's a time of renewal, a chance to wipe the slate clean and start fresh.

It is also, obviously, the time for New Year's resolutions. And I don't know about you, but I shudder at the thought. The gym is totally packed with new people, Starbucks is less packed (as those people resolved to improve their budgeting and are brewing their java at home), and bloggers are vowing to post everyday. There are joggers everywhere!

But only about 10% of us will follow through on our resolutions. My gym will be empty again by March, the siren call of caramel macchiatos will win out, and, hopefully, those bloggers will realize that blogging everyday has poor ROI... There will always be joggers.

So, instead of making a zillion resolutions yet only following through on one (and then feeling sad), this year I'm simply going to keep on keeping on. Try to improve where I can, and follow Rayanne Thorn's lovely advice about seeing New Year's not as a time of change, but as a time of renewal, a time when you evaluate what things add value to your life and what things don't. Renew the things that do, and discard the things that don't.

This practice can easily be applied to your social media practices as well! You have the metrics to show you what works best for you and what doesn't, so this is the perfect time to pull out that data and re-evaluate your social media strategy.

Ask yourself:

What is your candidate asking for?

Do they love your Facebook presence, but wish your career site was more mobile-friendly? Do they want more Twitter interactions, or possibly less? Maybe they wish you would post more details in your online job descriptions...

Watch all of your social networks closely for comments and questions, not only because it is important to respond, but because every comment has information that can help you improve your strategy, reach more candidates, and understand your audience better.

Are you providing the message your candidates want to hear?

The feedback you gather from your talent pool should also inform your overall company brand. Maybe your voice is a little too serious for the potential hires you are looking to attract, and maybe it's not professional enough.

Look back over your posts, but try to do so from the point of view of the candidates you want to engage with. Better yet, ask a current employee who belongs to that demographic for help. Then, keep posting the content that your talent responds to, and scrap the stuff they simply don't want to hear.

Are you using the right platform?

Instagram can be amazing for recruiting.

If you are a fitness-related business that is looking to attract young, sporty candidates; Instagram is perfect. It's visual, has a young user base, and is very popular among the healthy living crowd. But, if you are a bank, looking to hire financial advisers with several years of experience, you're better off using a more professional, business-oriented platform such as LinkedIn.

Take a look at the social networks you are currently using, and reassess what they are doing for you. You will want to maintain a presence on key networks, like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, no matter what your target demographic, but platforms like Vine, Pinterest, and Insta are simply not for everyone.

You may also want to try a few new platforms. If you're not currently using Youtube, I highly recommend you start. Video content always receives the highest rates of engagement, and recruiting videos are one of the best ways to increase application rates. Check out these great new examples of recruiting and employer branding videos from Earls Restaurant for inspiration. Following the example of brands who use social media effectively is always one of the best ways to improve your social strategy.

Here's to keeping your social recruiting strategy effective, and fresh this year! Happy social recruiting.