It’s taken some time, but most companies now have at least some sort of social media presence and, particularly in recruitment, there’s a tangible cost to not having a social media presence. Of course, having social media is one thing, but using it properly is something completely different and it’s here that poor application of what is useful web capital starts to creep in.
Like all media of communication, all forms of social media has some very particular strengths and some massive weaknesses which, if you don’t latch on to, could put you in trouble. Blog articles are often a particular pitfall for businesses because it’s very easy for serious and important information to get lost. It’s easy to assume that a well written blog article with good SEO will convey what you need it to, but it’s not always the case.
For example, you quite often see blog articles announcing the next recruitment drive with details on how and where to apply which, quite often, includes a postal address for CVs. Obviously this does a job for the first few days; it might draw in a few hits who spot it on the front page or click a link from Facebook.
After that, however, it starts to get lost in cyberspace. New articles supersede it, the marketing focus gets lost and all of a sudden your important article is three pages back in a blog feed accessible only by a very specific search or from a tiny link on your front page.
This is just one example of where the content of your social media needs to match its form. The nature of blog articles is that they’re transient, they usually get written quickly, they draw you in readers with clever headlines and quick paragraphing and, much like an essay, it gets absorbed and passes on ideas.
This is perfect for little tips and tricks, political ideas, how-to guides or up to the minute updates, but if you’re doing something like recruitment, you need permanence that a blog article (or a Facebook status, for that matter) just can’t give you.
So, give the serious things the space they deserve: a recruitment drive is a big deal so by all means support it with a headline-grabbing article that pops up on an aggregator, go for the Facebook statuses and Twitter hashtags but make sure that they all link back to one definite, permanent and easily accessible page which won’t get lost online.
Tom started his career early; taking on an associate role at Deloitte just a few days after his eighteenth birthday, working in a technical role but with a focus on identifying and recruiting talented undergraduates. He is now entering his final year at Exeter University and he continues to work with the recruitment side of the firm and remains an active brand ambassador on campus.
Over the last few years, Tom has spent time building up a reputation as a freelance writer and has developed both a strong client base and good knowledge of social media along the way. Though there’s still plenty to learn, experience working in both the smallest and the largest of businesses has served him well and given him a feel for balancing strong corporate ideas with a personal tone.
As a student, Tom is able to offer a valuable insight into the way graduate recruitment works from the other side and how students and interns react to particular styles of marketing and recruitment. Eventually he hopes to take off his copywriting business before embarking on an MA in philosophy.
