Achieving goals

What does social media success look like in the recruitment space?

Let me start by saying that the important part of our headline is that last part ‘…in the recruitment space’. Why? Because success literally means the accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Our purposes are all based in recruitment. So, to measure achievement (and therefore success), you need to make sure you are measuring against appropriate recruitment-based metrics not general ones.

If, for example, you are selling T-shirts through Facebook ads, then you can clearly stick a big pin marked ‘success’ in the number of shirts sold. As we are not selling t-shirts so that general metric simply does not work for us. We need to look at what social media can do for recruiters, then build our definition of success around that. If you don’t you may as well be trying to measure how successful a fish is by the speed it can climb trees!! So, what can we use to measure success in social media? Well here are a couple of examples…

Leads and opportunities

Yes, I would say this is a very good measure of success – however it needs refining a little. We often hear recruiters say they are not getting the leads they hoped from social. When we dig in a little though we usually find that what is happening is the leads are coming in, but the source is not being recognised. Sow, if you want to measure the success of your leads there are two things that you need to have in place. Firstly, you need create the opportunity for the source of the lead to be recognised. That often literally means asking if the candidate or client saw you on social media. Secondly, you need ask yourself if the lead is the right metric or whether it is better combined with conversions? For me, the answer is the latter. If social media played a part in an opportunity that converted to a placement or a new client for example, then you have a success you can measure. Social media should be accountable, as all marketing should, but it’s important to make sure it is accountable to realistic metrics.

Social media is vital to enhancing your brand

How do you measure brand trust? Apart from measuring sales and then arbitrarily allotting some part of that to brand awareness, putting a number on it is probably an exercise in futility. What you can very easily measure are the building blocks that help create brand. Social media marketing success is about showing up and being active. Success could therefore look like achieving your goals around regular posting and interacting on your active platforms. Of course, you can always look at the all-important metrics such as growth in followers or interaction with your content as well. One metric to certainly consider when you are thinking about success is traffic to your website. If your social media is working to help raise brand awareness you should see that at least partially reflected as click-throughs. Again, here you should be measuring success as a recruiter not in general terms. You would hope that there is a meaningful click as a response to your social posts.

Success needs context and can also vary from one recruiter to another depending on what sector they are operating in. A single placement for a very high level management position that originated on LinkedIn may be a success for one, while 20 new temps attracted by Instagram may be a goal for another. Whatever measure of success you decide on I would suggest you be as specific to your business and sector as possible. Get granular to see the real results.

One final thought about what you should defiantly not see as success… beware of the vanity numbers that look great but mean little. Getting followers for example is often erroneously set as a goal. There are various tricks of the trade that could be employed to increase followers, but if they are never going to convert, refer you, or enhance your brand, what use are they? Getting active followers on the other hand is often the actual result you want. It is really important to avoid the bear trap of vanity numbers; and go for actual measurements of real success.

So, in the end, success on social media really looks like appropriately set goals, which, when achieved, have a specific positive outcome for your brand and your recruitment business goals. What they actually are will be driven by you.

Christina Robinson

Green Umbrella Marketing

Christina works with business owners and marketing directors to educate them on how best to maximise their online marketing activities to enhance their business, increase brand awareness and ultimately increase sales. Alternatively, she offers online coaching, 121 or group training to help you as a business owner or B2B professional discover how to generate more business using tried and tested strategies.

01604 726758 christina.robinson@green-umbrella.biz green-umbrella.biz