Facebook Recruiting

In case you hadn’t noticed, everyone and their seven-year-old has a smart phone. Adoption rates continue to soar, and as they do, more and more people are using their phones to manage online networks. Last year, there were more smart phones sold than PCs and recently Facebook revealed that over 50% of their users are primarily logging on with mobile. Social recruiters cannot ignore the importance of mobile, nor can we. That’s why Jobcast is constantly working to improve mobile functionality for our app.

Many of our clients ask us for advice on how to improve their social recruiting — a huge part of why our blog exists. Since Jobcast has some pretty unique features that can help social recruiters dominate mobile, so we thought we’d write a post about them.

Unfortunately for Facebook app users, Facebook doesn’t load Page apps on mobile. This can be very frustrating for recruiters and job seekers alike. So, when clients use our built-in sharing tool to post a job, we generate a smart bit.ly URL.  These smart URLs intelligently redirect mobile candidates to a mobile friendly site, so that they can continue to view job-listings.

But wait, there’s more!

Metrics are also extremely important for running effective social media campaigns. With all of the different available networks, it’s important to figure out which ones work best for your specific needs.The Jobcast app provides detailed reports of performance metrics, so that users can plan their next move.

Remember that smart URL we were just talking about? (if you don’t, you may want to consider eating more salmon.. I mean it was just a few sentences ago!) Well, when a job-post is shared on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter with our tool, a unique trackable URL is generated for each site. With Jobcast, you can then access reports with information about which social sites your talent pool is using most.

But how does it all work?

Here’s a little tutorial we’ve put together: Firstly, here’s an example of  a typical job post

Now, if you were to copy the URL from the browser’s navigation bar, and share that — it would only work for desktop users! You’d have a 50% loss of reach already.

Not to worry! If instead you choose to share your links with our built-in sharing tool:

It will create a link that looks like this:  http://bit.ly/SsJtOT

Much cuter, huh?

Not only does this link redirect mobile clients to a site they can actually use, but it also creates those awesome smart URLs we were talking about earlier! This means better metrics, which leads to more effective recruiting campaigns.

We do it because we care. And we are optimization nerds!

.. but really it’s because we care. Our clients are amazing! We are so very thankful and honored to work with you all.

If you would like to suggest blog topics, ask questions about the Jobcast app, request new features or just chit-chat, you can reach us on Facebook, or Twitter, or right here on our blog!

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 about creating viral videos, memes, blog posts and tweets are so very popular. That is why I am blogging about viral job postings; It’s to please the masses… Otherwise I would be blogging about teacup kittens and the latest James Bond flic (It was pretty awesome by the way. The kimodo scene!).

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

Well, first things first, you need to use the internet. No, not just for streaming Dexter and perfecting your Gangnam Style dance — not that those things aren’t important. You need to be on the internet creating a web 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!

Presuming that you have all your 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, so they are under the false impression that what they are sharing is extremely interesting (see my teenage selfs’ 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. Brag about your sunny location, great vacation policy, 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, worked like a charm. 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 current 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 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 wittily. 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.

Now, just in case all this talk of coughing and going viral has you feeling a bit queasy, I’m going to sign off with this recipe for delicious chicken soup, yummers.

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!

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!

Job Boards are alive and well, despite the flurry of predictions last year that they were soon to be ousted by social media (I'm looking at you Forbes!). The role of social media is definitely on the rise, but Job Boards are still going steady. This is especially true for niche and local Job Boards, as their specificity makes them quick and easy for employers and job seekers alike. According to a 2012 survey, Job Boards still account for 20% of hires. This is second only to referrals which, like diamonds, are forever. Job Boards are still one of the first places that job seekers (even those much coveted 24 - 34 year-olds) turn when on the hunt. As much as we love Facebook recruiting, we also make Job Boards a priority. We've even found a way to merge the two.

Jobcast API allows Job Boards to push an employer's job listing from their Board directly onto that employer's Facebook Page. This means those jobs get the best of both worlds. Okay, that explanation is a little confusing. Even to me and I wrote it! Let's try a diagram:

Job Boards, like other employers, can also use our app to post on their own Page. I'll use screenshots this time:

We call this feature Job Sync. If you'd like to know more about it, check out Ryan's Blog Post (he's much better at explaining how things work than I am.)

For the screenshots, we used Alberta Health Services' Page, because they do a really great job with their Branded Career Page. You can also check out Retail.ca and BC Jobs for more examples.

Links that Love Job Boards:

• Recruiters Say Job Boards are Here to Stay. I've been reading way too much Forbes lately... Is that even possible?

• That Job Board Thing. A really well-written article by John Sumser.

• Lifehacker's Top 5 Job Search Sites. All Job Boards All the Time.

• Recruiters that Use Job Boards are Lazy... Really? Sassy article by Recruiter Chicks. Their entire blog is pretty sassy!

Facebook is a social media behemoth. With its user base at over 900 million, it’s a pretty sure bet that the talent you seek is on Facebook. In fact, its quite likely that Facebook is where they spend most of their time when online. Facebook is a hugely effective resource for both active and passive recruitment. Not convinced? I’ll try harder!

Facebook is all about interaction. Or, a Like is worth a thousand views

It’s not without reason that companies are trending towards directing consumers to their Facebook pages rather than their official websites. A Like on Facebook ensures interaction, as the user will receive notifications when you make updates, and is then prompted to share and comment on your new post. This kind of dialogue works wonders in marketing and can do the same for recruiting.

Unlike your typical website that a potential candidate may bookmark or visit from time to time, a Facebook Like allows you to stay on their radar. Think of a Like as a far more effective mailing list. Liking a page on Facebook is quicker, easier and far less intrusive than signing up for a newsletter, thus people are much more likely to do it. Once they’ve become a fan of your Page, you can stay at the top of their list of potential employers by posting frequent updates and photos that showcase how awesome your corporate culture is. Which is much more effective than sending out newsletters that are more often than not destined for immediate deletion.

It’s really, REALLY, big

Yes, I know I already said that, but it bears repeating. Not only is Facebook big in the sense that it has a ton of users, it’s also a huge part of those user’s lives; they don’t call it Crackbook for nothing (I wish I was kidding). This makes it a great place to look when you’re trying to find a very specific candidate. Statistically speaking, your ideal hire is spending their time on Facebook, a lot of their time. It’s unfortunate, but quite likely, that the person you’re looking for has a job already, so you’re much more likely to find them on Facebook than updating their LinkedIn page or checking job boards. Facebook is the perfect place to roll up your sleeves and recruit actively.

Facebook has huge reach

“Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.”

And the interface that they’ve created does this superbly. Facebook has an extremely active community, that is of great benefit for passive recruiting.

Example: Angelo Liked your page a while back when he was looking for potential employers. You’ve stayed on his radar by posting regular updates and photos of fun company events. Angelo isn’t looking to switch jobs, but his University buddy Stella is looking for a change in career paths (she posted about it on her wall!). He knows that your company is hiring (as you always update your page about job opportunities) and that Stella would be a perfect fit. Angelo lets Stella know about your job post. Position filled! Angelo has done the recruiting for you. The invested nature of the community that Facebook cultivates means that even if your job post doesn’t reach a potential employee directly, it can still reach them indirectly.

At Jobcast we believe that Facebook is one of the most useful tools in today’s recruitment arsenal. It’s an easy, affordable and effective way to increase your talent pool and maintain a connection with your talent communities. This is why, as you may have noticed, we have so many awesome posts about Facebook in our blog archives. It’s also why we chose Facebook as the flagship social network for our recruitment app. Okay, I’m off to Like some pictures of cats doing ridiculously cute things and spy on my friends.

Links we Love

Some useful links, I especially recommend the second one, but I’m biased!

• How to use Facebook for business

• Six easy ways to increase traffic & Likes on your Facebook Career Page.

• How to Use Social Media as a Recruiting Tool. 

• User Activity – Popular Social Networking Sites

The video below shows you how to install our Career Tab for Facebook Pages, a free and easy tool for Facebook recruitment. Install a career tab to your Facebook Page using Jobcast

Getting traffic to your newly created Facebook Career Page can be a little overwhelming in the beginning. It's important to keep in mind that building your company's talent community will take time to gain traction. By making a commitment to promoting your Facebook Career Page, you'll soon have a thriving community with users who are passionate about working for your company. So, you've got your career listings streaming onto your page and you've started sharing great content about your employer brand. What's next?

Try these six ideas to increase traffic & likes

1.

Turn on the"Include Jobs in Search Engines" feature in your Jobcast account center to get free traffic from job search engines such as Indeed, SimplyHired, Juju and Yakaz.

2.

Use the social sharing feature in your Jobcast account center to cross post to your other social media channels

3.

Add Facebook graphics or a widget to the career section of your company website and encourage readers to visit you on Facebook

4.

Have your recruitment team include links to your Facebook Career Page in their email signatures

5.

On your company or employer blog, direct readers to your Facebook Careers page with copy like this at the end of your posts:

"P.S. To learn more about current job opportunities, please visit our Facebook Career Page"

6.

Use Targeted Facebook Ads to drive qualified job candidates to your Page. Facebook ads can be set up in minutes and you only pay for advertising when a potential job seeker clicks on your ad.

For more details on Facebook ads, visit http://www.facebook.com/advertising.

Read more on increasing traffic to your Facebook Career Page Don’t Ask for Likes, Make Your Business Page Likeable

Turn Your Employees Into Social Media Ambassadors

How to Attract Candidates with Timeline for Facebook Page

If you haven't already, make sure to install the Jobcast Recruitment App to get the most out of your Facebook Career Page.

Many of our clients have expressed how important it is for their branding to show consistent design and messaging on all of their social platforms. We couldn’t agree more!

To help build your brand presence, we’ve added some great new features that give you complete control over customizing your Facebook Career Page.

When you upgrade to a Premium subscription, you will unlock these additional features:

• Brandable color scheme

• Custom banner placement

• Embeddable YouTube videos

• Welcome messaging

Brandable color scheme Customize your Facebook Career Page’s colors to match your company’s brand.

Custom banner placement & embeddable YouTube

• Add a banner to your Facebook Career Page to build your employer brand with consistent design.

• Showcase your company culture with a YouTube video embedded directly within your Facebook Career Page.

Rich text editor Create personalized welcome messages.

Your own branded Facebook Career Page Once you’ve finished styling your career page, here’s an example of the finished product.

We’re really excited about the new design customization options and we hope you enjoy using Jobcast Premium!

To upgrade, click here and log in to your Jobcast account.

Do you want your Facebook page to feel less like a collection of sales pitches and more like an engaging online community for possible employees? Obtaining new followers isn’t easy but the more likable your page is, the easier it will be to obtain followers who genuinely want to be a part of your online presence. Give new fans, visitors and potential candidates good reasons to want to “like” your page with these easy‐to‐follow tips:

Design & Functionality

• Visually appealing Facebook pages make a big statement! Add photos and videos to your page which best represent your brand. You may only have a few seconds to catch the eye of a potential or current follower with your post and this small trick can make a big difference. Use images that highlight important moments in your company such as events, new employees, product updates, etc.

• Try to update photos on a regular basis to keep followers interested. One of the reasons for Facebook’s popularity is it’s visual content. So, the more you take advantage of this feature the better.

• Facebook recently added the new Timeline feature for Facebook business pages. This template features larger enhanced photos, organizes status updates into a timeline format and allows for private messages with fans.

Activity & Content

• A Facebook page has the ability to become stale if not updated frequently. In order to ensure steady user interest, create frequent updates that followers will find interesting. The updates don’t always have to be directly from within your company. Include features from the community or news items of relevant content to build common interest among users.

• Generally speaking ‐ no news is too small. You may think the promotion of an employee or the order of a new product line wouldn’t interest potential Facebook fans. However, it’s surprising how the small victories within your company can be converted into news headlines and contribute to the buzz around your business. The new Facebook timeline for businesses has a company milestone feature that highlights events such as these so users take notice.

• Don’t be afraid to show you’re human. Forget about Facebook as a marketing tool for a moment and remember what it’s like to be a user yourself in order to create relatable content. Utilize the brand of your business for inspiration when trying to build a fun environment for your users.

• Create online discussions. The more you invite users to become involved in the activity on your page, the more relevance users will feel it has in their lives. This will serve well for your likeability and is also a great way to build long‐lasting consumer relationships.

Creating & Posting Likeable Jobs

• Facebook is a great word‐of‐mouth tool for promoting your job postings. Once a job has been posted on your website, it’s easy to further promote the posting  by using Jobcast to post to your  page along with other social media sites.

• When creating the Facebook status update, make sure it is clear, brief and best outlines the position so that possible candidates are targeted effectively.

• Highlighting where and how applicants can apply ‐ either in your status update or an easy‐to-find location on the linked job posting, is essential and highly effective.

We hope that these tips help with creating a more engaging and likeable Facebook page!