Ask anyone, and they’ll tell you that content is important (king, even), especially when it comes to social recruiting. But what exactly is content, and more importantly, what makes for good content? How can you use content to reach and engage with passive candidates? These questions are often left unanswered, but here’s what I think makes up the perfect content strategy. If you think of content like a pie chart, it would break down into these three categories.

 

10% Career Opportunities

 

You heard that right – only 10% of your content and posts should be career opportunities. The common misconception in social recruiting is that you should post all your open jobs on all social channels. But if that’s all you post, your social channels might start to look like this…

 

 

Boring! If you’re going to post open jobs, make sure to do it sparingly. When you do, also make sure that these posts are optimized. They should have appropriate hashtags as applicable, and they should be visually engaging with graphics so that they grab the attention of passive candidates. Tip: In order to avoid flooding your social feeds with job postings, try creating posts by job family or location, so that you don’t have to post every individual req.

 

30% Brand

 

“Brand” can sound like a big umbrella, but essentially, this means content about your company. 30% of your posts can be about you as an employer and a company in general. This includes content that conveys your employer brand, such as employee testimonials and spotlights, photos around the office or sites, and information about your company culture or the benefits you offer employees. More generally, this could also include content about what your company does, such as significant projects, or awards that your company has won.

 

Keep in mind that social media is increasingly being used for research – candidates are going to your social channels to learn about your company and decide if they can see themselves working there. What do you want them to know about you as an employer?

 

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60% Third-Party Content

 

If you were surprised to hear that only 10% of your content can be job postings, you’ll be even more surprised to hear that 60% of it should come from somewhere other than yourself! The beautiful thing about content is that you don’t always have to create it – you can curate it. For social recruiting, third-party content can include career success tips, job search tips, news about the industry you work in, trivia, humor, and “snackable” fun facts.

 

The goal of using third-party content is to provide social media users with content that they actually want to see. Posting jobs and information about your company is all well and good, but you have to remember that social media is social. It’s not just “me, me, me” – it’s a conversation! Third-party content aims to get people talking and sharing.

 

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That’s it! Building a content strategy doesn’t have to be overwhelming when you break it down into these three categories. If you need help with the other pieces of the puzzle, be sure to attend Adriana Kevill’s presentation at SRSC Austin, A Roadmap to Building a Social Recruiting Program. In addition to content, she’ll talk about how to build your dream team and how to measure success. See you there!