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When exactly did “viral” become a positive word? It still makes me think of the flu! But in the world of social media, everyone wants their creations to go viral. That’s why how-tos for creating viral videos, memes, blog posts and Tweets are so very popular. That’s why I am blogging about viral job postings! It’s to please the masses… otherwise I would be blogging about tea-cup kittens and the latest James Bond flic (it was pretty awesome, by the way).

How do you make a job posting viral? HOW?!?!

Well, first things first, you need to use the internet. No, not just streaming Dexter and reading drunk Nate Silver Tweets — not that those things aren’t important. You need to be on the internet, creating an presence, promoting your company, and generally making yourself known. We have tons of posts on how to do that already, so, if you don’t have a blog, Twitter, branded Facebook Career Page, and/or Pinterest account, that’s step number one. If you have no community to share with, you’ll have no one to contaminate!

Assuming that you have your social networking ducks in a row, we can move on to step number two: Content!

No one wants to share boring content. No one. People do all the time, but usually it is about themselves. They are under the false impression that what they are sharing is extremely interesting (see my teenage self’s live-journal for a perfect example!).

Most job descriptions are a total snore. Position Title, Summary, Essential Functions, Qualificationzzzzzzzzz… Unless these details are accompanied by a ridiculously generous salary, the chance a post like this is going to be shared once, let alone go viral, is pretty darn slim. To make your job post interesting you need a hook. Why not brag about your location, vacation plan, amazing staff parties, or your world-class foosball table? What does this position offer your desired candidate that no other position does?

This company used its generous vacation policy to make their job posting go viral. Using images to describe a job post like this campaign does is another great way to stand out from the crowd. It’s especially effective for sites like Facebook and Pinterest.

My personal favorite tool in the social recruiting tool belt is video! Companies, like this one, are using recruiting videos that show off their awesome company culture to attract talent.

Once you have a stellar post, Pinboard, or recruiting video ready to go, it’s time to get social. Post on all of your social networks, promote on popular search engines and job boards and don’t forget to leverage your connections. If you know people in the field you are currently hiring for, ask them to share your post. Get in touch with “influencers” and ask for their advice and help. Ask other employees to share the post on their social networks. Be social!

Being social means starting conversations. So once you post your job and chat up your connections, don’t hole-up in quarantine — connect. Be present on Facebook and Twitter to respond to questions applicants may have. Banter. Post more photos and comment on the status of your talent hunt! Be the best virus-spreader you can be, by continuing to sneeze (digitally, of course) on everyone through every available channel.

Happy aachhhhooo!

I’m going to sign off with this recipe for delicious chicken stew, yummers.

One of my favorite sayings of all time is:

“The Plan is Stick to the Plan”

When it comes to social recruiting, and social media in general, planning is usually referred to as strategy. This makes it sound way more professional and impressive, but, unfortunately, doesn’t make it any easier to do. Luckily for us, the internet exists! I have not broken it yet, although I have shaken my fist at it quite a bit.

Here are some links to help you with your plans for world domination… and by world domination I, obviously, mean social recruiting. They’re pretty much the same thing, right?

Links!

This article is awesome. It gives you a solid plan to help you define and implement your social media goals, then track your return on investment (ROI). Seriously, these steps could be applied to any part of your work or life. It is sooo worth the click.

This one  has pictures! A great article that lays out social media strategy in 8 easy steps. These steps are also presented with a well-designed graphic that you could print out and post above your desk in between the motivational posters and pictures of your cat.

Some strategic ways to develop your business with social media. Screenshots (love screenshots!), smart tips and great app suggestions.

The 5 Best Social Recruiting Apps!  Behind every great social recruiting strategy, there’s a great app… or two… or three. Another fantastic piece by The Undercover Recruiter. Not to brag or anything, but they think Jobcast is the best bang for your buck. Okay, so that was totally a brag 🙂

You know I can’t post anything without including an Infographic. I just gotta be me, and that means all infographics all the time.

A huge part of any social recruiting strategy is a Facebook Career Page. Jobcast is an amazing tool for creating a branded Career Page on Facebook. Oh, and by ‘great’, I mean BEST ever! True, completely unbiased, fact 😛

Sponsored Stories are all the rage. But what are they?

“Sponsored stories are messages coming from friends about them engaging with your Page, app or event that a business, organization or individual has paid to highlight so there’s a better chance people see them.”

Weird fact about me and Facebook. Their sponsored stories have no effect on me. None at all. Nada.

This has nothing to do with their effectiveness. Seriously. Click through rate (CTR) percentages for sponsored stories are crazy high.

Nor their relevance to my life. I’m sure the stories popping up on my feed are well-tailored to my demographic (Mashables told me so). Data from Spruce Media shows that with sponsored stories, Facebook has been more successful than ever at showing users ads that are geared towards their interests and demographic.

It’s definitely not because of my reliance on the mobile app for most of my Facebooking; Sponsored story CTR performance is highest with mobile. Which is crazy important, seeing as 60% of Facebook activity is now mobile (that percentage is probably higher today, and will be even higher tomorrow).

And, although I’m loath to admit it, sometimes I get super confused and think sponsored stories are just regular parts of my news feed! Facebook, you’re so sneaky!

Nope.

They fail to convert me because I’m confused by all the things my new Dutch friends Like. I should be clicking on so many sponsored stories (at least according to these stats and graphs), but living in Holland has made me immune. Now if only I was immune to the fattening effects of Dutch treats! Damn you Stroopwafel!

So what’s the take-away for recruiting? From what I can gather, there are three major points to focus on when it comes to recruiting and sponsored stories.

Visibility

Sponsored stories show up in users’ News Feeds. This is the same place that updates (hot gossip) show up, so this is where users are often focusing their attention. It’s not surprising then that these ads are getting a lot more love (CTR). As with Facebook ads, you’ll get to target a very specific audience with your sponsored stories, which increases the chances that those viewing your stories will click-through, that they’re actually potential candidates, and that they’re not my grandma.

Trust

People are much more likely to click-through to your page if they think you’re legit. Sponsored stories promote user trust in two ways.

The first is by showing potential candidates that their peers Like you, yes Facebook is basically high-school all over again. Sponsored stories show people that their friends think your page is great by highlighting it when they comment on and Like your Page. Facebook users are much more inclined to visit and Like pages that their friends and colleagues have pre-approved. Sort of like word-of-mouth, but without the bad breath.  You get to choose whether to promote Likes, Comments or Activity with your stories and whatever you choose comes with a stamp of approval.

The second way that sponsored stories encourage trust is through their presentation. They look like any other post. Daniella’s getting married, Duncan Likes Castleville, Pam changed her profile pic (she has such cute hair!) Did you catch that? Facebook puts your ad smack dab in the middle of a potential candidate’s comfort zone, which makes them much more likely to click-through to your page.

Mobile

Social networking is mobile. Just ask your colleagues next time you all go out for a drink. Oh wait, they’re all ignoring you. They’re way too busy “checking-in” and Tweeting about how awesome it is that you’re all out for drinks! 60% of Facebook users log on through mobile first and these numbers are continuing to rise. Sponsored stories have much higher CTR for mobile than desktop. This percentage increases further when both mobile and desktop are targeted together. To recruit successfully on Facebook, getting your ads seen on mobile is a must. Sponsored stories are the most effective way to get that done.

Now if only I could figure out how to use sponsored stories to send fancy baked-goods to my friends back home! Sam Likes stroopwaffel. Click it! CLICK IT!

We’re officially on a Facebook kick!

I think writing these Link Loves is the best part of my job. Wait… I take that back, researching them is the best part of my job!

I would never have found the Bit Rebels blog if not attempting to stay abreast of awesome links to love. If I had not found this blog I would never have read this line:

“The Internet is not bad, it’s the way we use it sometimes that can be harmful to us”

So wise.

Though addressing a pretty serious topic (internet addiction) it got me thinking about a pretty non-serious one: super powers and the great responsibility that accompanies them. This, obviously, lead me to re-watch X-Men 3 whilst munching fancy chocolate. Pretty great Tuesday night, if I do say so myself. Thank you Bit Rebels.

These links are all about the Cyclops of social networking sites: Facebook! Who’s using it, how to use it better, why research done about it is often flawed and woefully incorrect, and Facebook-related fashion. General awesomeness!

Links!

Essential Facebook Apps to Improve Fan Engagement. As mentioned multiple times in the comments section, this post is EPIC! So thorough. So many screenshots. As far as my over-extended X-Men metaphor goes, this author is definitely smarty-pants Jean Grey.

The LikeBelt. An interesting new way to update your Likes on Facebook and possibly get a date or slapped while your at it. Sounds like Gambit to me!

Three Reasons Why Facebook Advertising Seems so Damned Impossible. Don’t worry, the author goes on to give some great advice on how to address these problems. I’m going with Wolverine for this one, solely based on the title having the word “damned” in it.

Six Easy Ways to Increase Likes on Your Page. An awesome article by Ryan the beloved Doctor Xavier of Jobcast.

Why a New Study on the Effectiveness of Facebook Totally Misses the Boat. I am officially dropping this metaphor thing — I’m starting to annoy myself! Though not as much as a recent study on Facebook ads annoyed the author of this blog post!

Happy reading!

There is a lot of controversy over the effectiveness of Facebook ads for small business. Most of this controversy seems to be about its lack of effectiveness for hard sales, which is a problem, but only if we’re approaching Facebook as we would Amazon.com. Soooo… Let’s not and say we did, okay?

Instead, let’s continue to view Facebook as a place to grow brand awareness, increase talent pools and nurture brand loyalty. Let’s see it as a place to create community, be social… as a social networking site. We know that Facebook ads do a great job of targeting specific demographics, increasing visibility and fostering relationships over time.

If we look at Facebook ads as a way to accomplish these tasks, then there really isn’t much controversy over their effectiveness — especially for small businesses. Small businesses, more than any other, need to get their message out there and become visible to a larger community. Facebook ads are a great way of doing this.

Still not sold? (I swear I am not getting paid by Facebook. Why am I not getting paid by Facebook?!?) Here are some more reasons why Facebook ads and small business make an awesome team:

• Facebook ads increase likes. You can then message these fans periodically and incentivize them to share your Page with their peers.

• Facebook ads let you target a very specific demographic. If you are promoting your real-estate company, you probably do not want to waste ad money on 13 year-olds. Unless you’re based in LA. Then you’ll only want to be targeting 13 year olds, specifically 13 year old pop-stars named Justin Bieber.*

• Facebook ads let you build a list to track the success of ad campaigns.

• Facebook ads have less keyword competition than Google ads.

• Facebook ads reach users in their comfort zone. They never have to leave the warm Snuggie-like zone of Facebook in order to visit and like your Page.

• Facebook ads are better for increasing word-of-mouth sharing. Only my mother-in-law sends cut-outs from newspapers these days. Other people share things via, you guessed it, Facebook.

• Facebook ads direct people to your Page, where other customers, users, friends, mother-in-laws have left nice comments about you, which makes you more trustworthy.

How do you make an effective Facebook ad? By following this tutorial, obviously! (I used the best bits of everyone else’s tutorials and mashed them all together, saving you time, because I’m nice like that)

Tutorial

I’m half-assuming you already know this part: Log onto Facebook, go to your Page, select “Build an Audience”, then click “Create an Ad”. Facebook loves to change these steps — just try watching a tutorial from last month and you’ll see what I mean — so be prepared for slight variations.

Choose your destination: Select the page or URL that you want advertised. Simple.

Facebook will pull info from your selected destination. Easy peasy. Then you’ll need to choose what you want your ad to do. For our purposes we’ll choose to “Get More Likes” (don’t worry, we’ll talk about promoting page posts in the very near future… okay, okay, next Monday!)

Next, we create the ad itself. Facebook will provide a headline, and then below that you can enter text. Keep the text short and sweet, as you don’t get a lot of characters. This is where you enter your call to action (Do NOT use all caps, Facebook hates this and your target audience hates this — no one likes being yelled at). You’ll select a “Landing View” which is where users who click on your ad will be directed. It’s often better to choose a specific tab and not just your timeline. As our goal is to have people download the Jobcast app, we’ll choose to direct people to the tab where they can do exactly that. Then, you’ll need to upload an 100 by 72 pixel image. Luckily for us, our logo is awesome and Facebook auto-filled our image selection — thanks guys!

Next you get to select your “Sponsored Stories”. For this we’ll keep things simple and choose “People Liking Your Page” which plays into that trust-concept we talked about earlier. Nice!

Now here’s the most important step, “Choose Your Audience”.

How you narrow down who sees your ads will be a determining factor in their success. Be specific. We’re choosing to target The USA, Canada and Mexico with this campaign, because I want to see if we get traction in these regions. Then I’ll select an age group. Ageism is bad! But you know who your audience is and there’s nothing wrong with targeting them specifically. You can select to target men, women or “All”. Again, sexism = bad! But being realistic about who you’re targeting is not. I encourage playing with these options, watching your metrics, and adjusting in future campaigns. The data you uncover may surprise you. We have selected women here, but we could eventually run three campaigns: one targeting women, one for men and one for both. Then we’d get some interesting data about that campaign.

Next, we can choose specific interests (see screenshot above). Type in a few and Facebook will suggest more options.

Now Facebook asks us to select how the target audience is connected to our page. As we’re running a campaign to get more likes, we don’t want to target people who already like us. Unless by the time I publish this article Facebook starts allowing double-likes.

Finally, painfully, budgeting. Yuck. You can choose between a “Daily budget” or a “Lifetime budget”.  This is pretty self-explanatory: one sets a budget per day, while the other is set per campaign.  You can choose to run your campaign until your funds run out with the daily budget, or choose to run it within a certain time-frame, which works with either option.

Next we get to selecting optimization (see screenshot above). This is one place you’ll really need to go into the advanced options. We’ll want to optimize “Per Click” rather than impressions. It may be a bit more expensive, but it’s worth it, as otherwise we could be paying for an ad that pops on the screen of a person who has left their computer to make a sandwich. Facebook will suggest a bid per click — it’s best to offer a bit more than the minimum suggestion to ensure your campaign gets the go-ahead from Facebook. No need to go high with this first round of ads. If your bid is rejected, or you know that you have a ton of competition, you’ll bid a little higher.

Now all that’s left to do is review our ad and click “Place order”.

All done, time to check Twitter!

What a productive week so far. We unveiled our new website, cast a trillion jobs (hyperbole is a well respected literary device!) and I invented a new word. Actually several, but only “Pincruiting” is work-related. The rest were invented at the gym when I tried to do too many pull-ups and fell on my posterior chain.

I hope all of your weeks are shaping up to be equally fruitful and far less painful than ours.

Here are some links to inspire even greater productivity:

Wunderlist! Where would I be without this awesome app? I have experimented with more list-making apps than I can count, but I just keep coming back to Wunderlist. It’s simple, intuitive and gorgeously designed. I can’t wait to see more from Wunderkinder.

20 Unconventional Tips to Improve Productivity. This girl’s entire website is devoted to improving efficiency and has lots of solid tips about becoming more productive at work.

Gamification For Better Results. Gamification can increase both engagement and productivity at work. Nerds all over the world rejoice! Leveling up is a pretty great feeling, so what if the goals can be a bit silly. You won’t mock me when I’m officially an inbox zero ninja-wizard level 82!

The Happy Secret to Better Work. An amazing Ted Talk about how a simple shift in thinking can improve success and productivity at work and in life. I’m pretty sure just watching this has made me a better person. And it’s funny. And maybe I cried a little.

Speaking of happiness… Happy Halloween! I’m going as John McClane— my poor husband got stuck being shards of glass, as he is only a level 80 ninja-wizard.

So we’ve established that Pinterest is worthwhile as a recruiting tool. We’ve gone over how to create a presence on Pinterest. We’ve talked more than enough about every Pinners responsibility to post pictures of infographics and kittens. So let’s get down to brass tacks (is that not the best saying ever?!)

How exactly do you actively find candidates on Pinterest?

First things first: You’ll need to ask the question “Is active Pincruiting possible for the position I’m trying to fill”? For a lot of fields, the answer is no. Let’s use Taco Bell as an example. They have a huge recruiting presence on Pinterest, but are they using this site to actively searching for new line cooks, HR reps or managers? No. The boards they have are focused on attracting candidates and creating awareness of these positions. Actively seeking these types of candidates on Pinterest would be just plain silly. No one has a Pinboard dedicated to their love of rolling burrito, after burrito, after burrito. Trust me, I looked!

Now, if you are looking for someone obsessed with fashion who will make your storefront look amazing, or a graphic designer to give your brand a facelift, or a tech-savvy blogger to write articles your clients actually want to read… I give you Pinterest.

Let’s say I’m desperately in need of a graphic designer to update my brand. I’ve had a lot of resume submissions, but haven’t found anyone all that promising and, let’s face it, I don’t really know that much about design. Relying 100% on my own taste is maybe not the best idea; I’ve been sporting the same haircut since I was 18! That’s where Pinterest comes in.

So, I log into my already awesome Pinterest account and go to the main page to begin my talent search. Pinterest’s search functionality, like so many networking sites, is not super functional. I know, it drives me crazy too, but since the results are so visual you can scroll through them much more easily and quickly than on other sites. From the main page, I can choose to browse Following, Categories, Everything, Popular, or Gifts. None of these categories are useful for what we want to do, and unfortunately it isn’t possible to narrow them down any further with an advanced search option. This is very useful if you want recipes for protein pancakes or pictures of Apple products, but not for recruiting.

For my purposes I’ll search “graphic designer”. Then I can choose to view results for Pins, Boards or People. As there are so many results I’ll select Boards. Searching under People is pretty useless in most cases, as it’s only going to yield results if someone has included the searched terms in their username. For something as broad as graphic design, there will be many great Pinboards with those terms in the title

Now, if I want someone based out of a specific location, I might have trouble searching by Board. For example, another search including the word Toronto yields one measly result. Not a big deal, I’ll just switch to the Pin option and low and behold, we get a ton of results!

I’ll scan through the Pins our search has returned and click through to the ones that look profitable. These will be pretty obvious. They’ll look professional, match my search criteria and appeal to me visually.

Examples:

I am seriously into pirates and ampersands so my choice is clear! Thank you Vinod, I shall follow all of your boards as I bet you’ll be a great resource for the future.

I’ll favorite him and then click through the image to it’s source location. Well, hello Grant Burke! Reliable and passionate with some serious internet love — sounds like a solid lead to me.

That’s a quick-start for those of you looking to actively recruit on Pinterest. Happy hunting!

It's that time again! Thanks to Google Currents, I had a really hard time choosing which links to post this week. There is just so much happening on the internet. I want to post all of it, but if I did then this blog feature would just be the internet! If content is king, then curation is queen, so I have whittled it down to five fantastic links for your viewing pleasure.

Social Media Music Television: What Music Parodies Can Teach Us About Social Media Strategy. Who knew there was so much to be learned from comedy? Me, obviously! Oh and also the person who put this together. Quick Tips to Optimize your Linkedin profile. Because tips are better when they are quick. 10 Incredible Pinterest T-shirts! I want all of these. I can layer them to keep warm — very practical. The Social Media 90/9/1 Rule. I did not know about this rule and was very happy to find out about it through such a charming source. Mobile Apps for Social Media. Two words, Google Currents! Flipboard is also amazing. As is Buffer... just download all of them, you'll be so happy. Speaking of apps, Fitocracy is my new obsession because I am a sucker for gamification. I pretty much love anything that lets me level up. If anyone has any suggestions for apps that gamify blogging, I will reward you with eternal love and possible cookies (but only if you live in Holland — otherwise they will be too stale by the time they reach you) See you all next week!

There are way too many amazing tutorials about how to use Pinterest, and I would be kidding myself if I thought I could write a better one. I did think about making a vlog but then I would have to put on makeup and comb my hair! Not happening. So I will skip that topic all together and get right down what to we’re all really interested in : Recruiting.

We already talked a bit about why Pinterest is a useful tool in the social recruiter’s arsenal. Just ask these huge companies that are already making Pinterest a priority to recruit and grow their brands: Taco Bell and General Electric.  On second thought, don’t ask them, they are way too busy being huge companies. These smaller businesses may be more useful examples: Carousel Consulting, Flexjobs and The New Traditionals.

So what’s your first move? What’s the one thing you need to start recruiting on Pinterest?

Pinboards.

Start simple: sign up with your company Twitter or Facebook account and your bio will be filled in automatically. You can worry about tweaking it later. For now, let’s just focus on the easy stuff.

I recommend setting up four boards before you start worrying about following, re-pinning or liking.

Pinboard one: We’re Hiring!

If hiring is your main focus, then start with a Pinboard dedicated to job posts. Pin an image for each position — they don’t have to be job specific, but it helps! Shoot for simple, quality images. If your images are too busy, then your Pinterest account will end up looking cluttered.

If you’re not using the Jobast app then you’ll have to make sure that the image you pin links back to your career page. With each Pin you should include a brief description of the position, its location and your company name (makes you more searchable, yay!). Eventually, if you have quite a few openings, you can make a Board for each category of job. This really isn’t necessary though, and it may distract you from posting super cool infographics, which would make me sad.

(By the way, the Jobcast app is currently the only recruitment app that let’s you select any image from your Company Facebook page to Pin. Other apps usually just use your logo — boooring. With Jobcast you can use any pic you like, and this makes us pretty amazing. Not to toot our own horn or anything 🙂 )

Board two: All About You

This Pinboard should be dedicated to what your company does. Ours is called “We are Jobcast”. Subtly referencing the band Devo with your board names, as we did, is a really great idea. People will then associate you with dancing, funny hats and generally positive things. This board is where you’ll post company blogs, videos and any media coverage you receive. Post about your best products or most exciting projects. This board will work hand in hand with the information provided in your profile to explain what your business does. Use it to brag a little — show the world how awesome you are!

Board three: Company Culture (my favorite)

You NEED a Pinboard that shows off company culture. This is, in my humble opinion, the most important board. An amazing reference for this is GE’s Factory Floor Pinboard. Crazy, right? It made me want to work for them and I don’t even own a car, let alone know anything about engineering!

This Pinboard’s purpose is to show potential candidates how fantastic it is to work for your company. Post your recruiting video. If you don’t have a recruiting video, then watch this. Done watching? Now, go make a recruiting video, and post it (everywhere — Pinterest, Facebook, your company blog —  EVERYWHERE!) Post pictures of staff parties, the company foosball championship, team events, and current employees. This is another great excuse to have some fun at work. May I suggest a chili eating competition? It shows creativity and gumption!

Board four: Cool Stuff We Found on the Internet

A Pinboard dedicated to all that is awesome. The most fun, but also the most complicated. This Board will be dictated by your brand, which means you’ll really need to think about what content is and isn’t appropriate without losing your “fun factor”. If you prefer to keep things strictly professional, then limit your posts to awesomeness related to your field. If you want to project a cutting-edge, tech-savvy image, that’s easy. Post lots of images of Apple products! If you want to be perceived as both a super fun and rewarding workplace, then post a good mix of content related to your field, adorable kittens and gorgeous infographics.

For my next article I’m thinking something along the lines of “How to lose friends and alienate people with Pinterest!”… I’m open to suggestions though 🙂

Links! (As if this post needs any more #allthelinks)

• Pinterest for Recruiting and Employer Branding. An in-depth article I wish I’d written. Crystal Miller’s use of puns makes my heart sing.

• Tips to Use Pinterest for Business. These tips are super straightforward and easy to implement, <3

• 5 Tips for Using Pinterest for Recruiting. We disagree about about how to post jobs, but I am open to differing opinions on social recruiting… So long as we agree that pictures of kittens boost productivity.

• Pinterest Can Help Recruiting Get Visual. Yes. Yes it can!

We have some good ones this week!

Standing desks, using Instagram for business, 3 fundamentals of Facebook recruiting, new roles in HR and…

Remember how we recently wrote about why we think Job Boards matter? Well, the Job Board Doctor one-upped us with some great advice on how NOT to run a Job Board. All of his tips are relevant to anyone working in HR and recruiting, but I’m especially fond of this one:

“(Don’t) Fail to change: Ever visit a job board and think, ‘Man, that looks like the 1990s!’? I see sites like this every week!”

Links!

• How to Not Make Money With a Job Board

• Are You Using a Standing Desk?

• 10 Creative Ways to Use Instagram for Business.

• The 3 Fundamentals of Recruiting on Facebook.

• These Might be the Next HR Roles You Need to Fill or Perform.

• This looked too delicious not to share.

Okay, I’ll admit it, I use a standing desk. Well… a very makeshift version of a standing desk!