If you have a Facebook Page for your Social Recruitment efforts
but are getting little to no traction, fear not, you are not alone. Use this guide
to repair, revive and relaunch your Facebook page. If you haven’t started a
Facebook campaign then you can read this as a roadmap for building one from
scratch while avoiding some of the most embarrassing pitfalls the platform has
to offer and allowing you to focus on something that is built right from the start. 

Did You Go Where They Are?
Did you know your prospects on Facebook have their own pages? Yeah, imagine that!  So maybe you should "Like" their page, no? THAT will get their attention. AND they are probably going to return the favor, or at least stop by yours.  Search with you target keywords in the Facebook search bar then filter by Pages.  Branch out, grow, hit new markets, reciprocate, ENGAGE!
 
Were You All Talk No Listen?
If you get things right people will posts on your wall.  Now is your chance! Engage!
Reply! If you say nothing, then you are missing an opportunity. They are not going to come back and try again, and others who see how you ignore people will be further discouraged from participating. Respond to every comment, thank them for every like, and encourage them to post their thoughts. Even if all you have to say is “Thanks for the comment” it shows you are paying attention and not just an automaton on autopilot. Don’t kill the conversation before it starts!

Did You Create Custom Landing Pages?
I bet you’ve seen those Facebook Pages that have cool graphics and other custom apps right? Some are custom developed by expensive experts using FBML (Facebook Markup Language), but you probably didn’t know that you can a bunch of free Facebook Page templates that you can easily customize did you? Just do a search for “free Facebook Page Templates” and go from there. For example here is one to get you started: http://www.facebookpagetemplates.com/how-to-use.php.
Install one so that visitors land there first (this is basically a landing page) before they go on to your page’s wall or info section.  Use it as a billboard to show your Employer Value Proposition, cool videos, hot jobs, or just to teach your visitors what to do like for example “Like Our Page” or “Sign up for our Jobs feed.”  

Did You Use Updates?
Under the edit page section there’s a place called resources and from there you can “Send and Update” to all who Liked your page. The best part of this function is that you are able to target it by location, sex and age.  It is extremely useful and a great way to stay in front of your audience.
 
Did You Use the Apps?
Basic stuff like pictures, discussions, events, are fine but try some of the other stuff. 
How about BranchOut or BeKnown? Or even better, what Facebook Apps do your candidates like to use? Find them, load them on your page, and you have a ready built audience!  
 
Did You Minimize the Chit Chat?
There’s too much junk out there. Quite simply, don’t bore people  to death
with inane chatter. Stay on topic, on message, and think about what  causes
engagement. Chatter is not conversation!
 
Did You Employ Video and Photo?
People love photos and videos. Visual goes viral more often than plain text. Look for interesting and appropriate YouTube videos and share them on our page. Infographics are fun but also quick and easy to read. Search for Infographics about your industry, your company, your product, your market, or just fun/useful/informative ones and share them too. Take pictures at your company events, onferences, corporate volunteering, and upload them. OR find other’s photos from those events that you can share. I bet they are out there if you look for them.  It is
“social”media… right?

What is Your Message Strategy Again?
So they Liked your page, now what? Have you enchanted them? Do you educate, entertain and/or engage them? If not then what the heck are you doing on Facebook anyway? Go back to the flat Web 1.0 already and spare yourself the grief.  Don’t just
post jobs, post articles about how LAND the job, how to interview, how to write a catchy video resume. Share useful content!

Did You Ask For It?
If you don’t ask then that’s exactly what you will get. Your recruitment team already has built-in fans – they are your hiring managers or clients, your colleagues, other employees with whom you interact.  They all have a vested interest in your Recruitment success!
 
Did You Consider Your Facebook Page a Recruitment Marketing Channel?
Guess what… the word Media is in Social Media. Think about it! It is an extension of MEDIA. That means it is like other advertising and PR channels (think TV, Radio,
Print).  Have you posted your company’s last major announcements? Conference you sponsored or where your people presented? Charity events? Why not? That promotes engagement with your target candidates.

Did You Reach People Offline?
You can’t just reach people actively using Facebook. Have you told all the candidates you found on Monster and LinkedIn, or from your Careers site that you have a recruiting page on Facebookyou’re your Facebook Page listed on your business cards? Linked to from you Career website? Do you include it in your email signature? Do you add it to your job postings, brochures, print ads, direct mail? Successful Facebook Recruitment is about reach, engagement, availability, transparency. It is not just about finding people through in Facebook but driving Facebook users to your page.

Did You Forget Your Newsfeed?
From your Facebook Page click the Home button at the top right. This shows
people whose pages you have "Liked" before.  It looks like your Personal Newsfeed
because it works like that, but browse the postings and see posts from your prospects pages that you "Like" and maybe even comment or share them on YOUR page.  But pay attention – like and comment on stuff that is on message (remember your message strategy? Keep in mind this is from your PAGE so it will be tied to your recruitment brand not your personal account!

Did you Barter and Cross-promote?
I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine. Did you approach your business partners, colleagues, team mates, anyone in your influence sphere and barter with them to send an update on their behalf to your group if they would do the same for you on theirs. You can also give them content to post on their page and ask them to give you content you can repost on yours (be sure its on message though). 
  
Did you Blow Off Your Metrics? 
Insights on your Home page are like Google Analytics.  Check your progress.
Does what you are doing result in increased traffic or is it hurting you? Invest the time to learn Insights and it becomes a great litmus test for your activity. If your stats drop, change things up a bit. If your stats increase do more of what you’ve been doing until the stats stop increasing THEN change it up a bit and try something new.

Did You Remember That Other People’s Opinion Matters?
A tab on the left of your Home page is called Questions.  With it you can send a message to your page members (those who “Liked” the page) and ask them to answer a question.  Like for example“Hey I’m trying to connect with more people in the _____ sector, does anyone know where they hang out online?” This is an ad-hoc  poll or survey. Another thing you can ask is“Hey guys, what kind of posts do you
want to see MORE of on this page?” Or you can ask the opposite –what don’t they like. Basically any question you’ve ever wanted to ask a candidate you can ask here. “What do you think of our benefits/career site/employee referral program/job ads/recent press release etc…. ?” This helps you identify and connect with what your network is thinking, or what they care about.

OK so now you should be able to recover from your epic #FAIL on Facebook, or prevent one. Next we’re going to take a hard look at Twitter and what you can do with this bizarre platform that refuses to go away.

Surveys have shown that 85% of staffing leaders utilize Social Recruiting avenues - yet most of the clients we work with lack any formal social recruitment strategy. With all the choices available and potential legal, audit or regulatory entanglements many recruitment leaders are confused or even paralyzed by fear. Hiring organizations know the recruitment world has made a dramatic shift, and recruiters know they need to meet prospects where they already are, but without a clear strategy many end up jumping blindly into social recruiting and make easily avoidable mistakes. 

If you think the best way to recruit with social media is feeding your jobs RSS feed through twitter but then get distracted with new entries into the space such as Google+, we wrote this article series just for you and hope this helps you avoid an epic #fail by falling victim to some of the most common mistakes.

Why your social recruitment "strategy" failed:

Lack of Research on the Platform
Don’t forget that Social Media is just that – MEDIA! That means it is about branding and visibility. There’s way too much hype around   social media. Anyone can create an account on the hundreds of social sites for free. Most people just jump blindly onboard the shiny new social site because it is cool, hip or trendy, or just because some pundit recommended it.  Hold on! Start with a bare profile and   poke around, don’t reveal much or import all your connections just yet.  Is your target market there? If not, BAIL!

Are your competitors there?
If so what are they doing well and how do they suck? Are there cool apps you find immediately and easily useful? Is there communication or just lots of self promotion? Before you go ahead and fill out your profile and import all your contacts, ask your connections in other social sites what THEY think – use quick ad-hoc polls or surveys like Facebook Questions or LinkedIn Answers to see if this new place is going to appeal to your established audience. If not, just leave your bare profile on there to protect your user name and come back in a few months to see if there’s new traction.

No FOCUS!
When you do an email blast you know precisely who you are reaching right? So it’s the same thing with social media. Don’t just go for numbers. A large amount of followers means absolutely nothing if they are the wrong audience for your message. Sure, with social media we can target with laser focus, but first did you identify WHO you are trying to reach?  When you know who you want to reach then focus on making meaningful connections with influential or connected people. Having 100,000 followers who have no idea what you are talking about is not as good as having 1,000 followers who actually read and repost your messages. 

You were inconsistent!
Social media is not about “a quick second here” and “I’ll get around to it.” Weather its daily, weekly, or monthly get on some semblance of a regular schedule.  If you are not visible to your audience on a regular basis they will move on to other channels and stop checking back with you. Make a spreadsheet and plan ahead a few months, when you get a burst of ideas put them into the spreadsheet so that when you are busy or can’t think of something at least you can draw from that. 

You were pushy!
You are not going to get success by getting in people’s faces and  blasting them with volume. Get a book on Marketing 101 and you’ll see that  social media is more about Pull Marketing thank Push Marketing. Start  conversations, engage, don’t “advertise” all the time. A bit of pushing is ok,  maybe 10% or 20% at MOST. Before you go pushing though make sure you have an  established audience otherwise you’ll cut your success short before you even  begin. Once you are credible and trustworthy, and the “pull” is happening then  the “push”can be effective. Push too soon and you’ll blow your  opportunity.
 
Focused on the wrong goals.
“More candidates” is not a good goal for social media. Broaden your scope.  The ROI is in hits to your career site which improves your SEO and reduces your traditional advertisement spend. Or look for newsletter signups, increased applications, higher quality of respondents, or improved employment brand recognition.