Social Recruiting: How to Use Facebook Ads to Hire Top Talent

Eva Wislow, Career Coach and HR Manager, Careers BoosterThe whole world is going digital in the last few years and so is the HR business. Recruiters use the power of the Internet to reach out and communicate with job seekers all around the globe, and the role of social media is becoming increasingly important in that regard.This is not a surprise given the fact that social networks gather billions of users on a global scale. Facebook alone attracts more than 2.2 billion monthly active users, which is why this network became a key recruiting tool.If you want to master the art of social recruiting, you should start with Facebook. Let’s take a look at each stage of the process.Create the AdThe first step is to actually launch a job announcement on Facebook. There is the ‘Create’ button in the ‘Home’ toolbar. You should choose this option and then select the objective. In your case, lead generation is the goal. You need to assign an official name to your campaign (for instance, Freelance Copywriter).Each ad demands a certain investment, and I strongly suggest you don’t save money on recruiting. If you are looking for a talented and promising professional, pay the money necessary to make sure a sufficient number of people will see your advertisement.Target the Right AudienceTargeting is one of the most advanced features of Facebook ads recruiting. A recent study proved that over 80% of people use Facebook for job searches, so you can find the perfect match simply by targeting the right audience.You can narrow down the search setting age, gender, and location preferences. This way, you will only receive applications from relevant candidates, which saves you a lot of time and energy. Facebook will immediately give you feedback and reveal the number of potential candidates you can address this way.The network will also estimate how many users you are going to reach on a daily basis, as well as the number of leads. For instance, a target group could consist of 10 thousand users. Facebook will show you that you will probably reach 600 to 800 people and receive 5 to 20 leads daily. HR cannot get any more straightforward than this.Write Great CopyIf you want top talent to take you seriously, you need to write great ad copy. It doesn’t always have to be super-creative, but you must always be clear about the position you are promoting. The copy should be direct and concise, allowing people to figure out the requirements in only a few sentences. Of course, you have to include a call to action – add a link that leads directly to the application form. This saves candidates’ time and increases the odds of attracting many young talents.Add an Image…A picture is worth a thousand words. This is an old saying but it doesn’t lose any of its original meaning. In case of Facebook recruiting, it means that you should add an image to the vacancy announcement to make the post more appealing. Use a friendly but specific photo to show potential candidates the atmosphere they can expect in your company.Don’t forget to engage in communication with the followers who write comments and want to find out more about the position. This is the best way to leave a good impression but also to detect professionals who make clever assumptions and seem to know your field of work very well.…or Invest In a Recruitment VideoVideos are a great way to tell more about your business and reveal the company backstage to the job seekers. A recruitment video is supposed to show the human side of the story and convince people that your company is the perfect employer – just like in this Microsoft Orange County clip.This type of advertising content has the potential to go viral in case you come up with an outstanding screenplay. And you should not hire actors to do it. Let your real employees show their faces and talk on your behalf because it feels more convincing and natural.It takes a little more money to craft a good recruitment video but it’s definitely worth it. And even if you don’t have a big budget, you can make an impression with well-planned live videos.Design a Career PageAccording to the study, four out of five job seekers want to see job opportunities posted on Facebook career pages. They spend a lot of time online and feel like social media recruiting is completely natural. That is why most companies create special pages dedicated only to vacancy announcements and the corresponding marketing content.This is especially important if you constantly advertise open position within your team. In such circumstances, it is much better to promote your brands, products, or services on one page and diverge job invitations to the career page.The Internet completely changed the way HR managers approach recruiting. Social media play the most important role in that regard, so you need to learn how to utilize these networks to attract promising candidates. In this article, we showed you how to use Facebook ads to hire top talents. Don’t hesitate to use our tips and feel free to write a comment if you have other suggestions to share with our readers.[author]About the Author: Eva Wislow is a career coach and HR manager at cv writing service Careers Booster. She is on a mission to help people find their true calling. Eva maintains a strong interest in bringing the digital revolution in human resources. She finds her inspiration in writing and peace of mind through yoga. Follow Eva on Twitter.[/author]