A robust online presence showcases your skills and experience, demonstrates your leadership in the recruiting industry, and helps you connect with clients and candidates. Learn how to manage your profiles and engage with others to boost your online presence and grow your recruiting success.
1. Leverage LinkedIn for all its worth
Of course, LinkedIn kicks off this list; any article touting tips for recruiters building their online presence would be remiss without it. LinkedIn is the world's largest social network for professionals, with more than 562 million users around the globe. You need a top-notch presence on this channel.
Use your profile to establish your personal brand. Your LinkedIn profile is your opportunity to position yourself as you wish within the industry. It should have:
- A professional profile image
- Detailed descriptions of your credentials and skills
- A compelling headline and professional summary
- Recommendations from others in the field
- Links to your agency and other social networks you use professionally (more on this below)
Use LinkedIn Groups for recruiters. LinkedIn Groups are communities of professionals who are in the same industry or have similar interests, and they’re an ideal place to build your online presence. Use them to:
- Establish yourself as an industry expert
- Connect and engage with recruiting peers and leaders
- Share relevant content and generate discussions
- Learn new things and grow professionally
To learn more about leveraging LinkedIn for success, read our post, “10 Power Tips for Finding New Clients via LinkedIn.”
2. Build out your Facebook and Twitter profiles
This one comes with a caveat: Only if you are willing to devote the time to do these channels right. Let’s take a look at each one in a little more detail.
Facebook. Facebook had 2.23 billion monthly active users as of June 30, 2018. Of course, many of them are posting vacation pics and cat videos, so despite the huge numbers, Facebook doesn’t win for relevancy. But still, the numbers are too big to ignore.
Don’t mix your personal and professional Facebook accounts. If you have a personal Facebook you use to keep up with college friends, set that profile to private and create a new one for your recruiter brand.
Facebook is a good place to:
- Share about company culture (try Facebook Live)
- Celebrate successes (no blatant bragging, however)
- Create and share job ads
- Share relevant articles and ideas and engage with like-minded people
Twitter. Twitter had 330 million monthly active users in Q4 2017. That’s considerably smaller than Facebook, of course, but Twitter is generally regarded as a sharp and witty social network that’s more appropriate for work-related matters.
Same here: Don’t mix personal and professional on Twitter. Do use Twitter to:
- Comment on industry trends and current events
- Retweet others and build a following
- Establish your personal brand and showcase yourself
Learn how to use hashtags to their maximum potential. Hashtags are good for getting discovered and encouraging engagement on Twitter, but follow the hashtag do’s and don’ts.
The same best practices for LinkedIn apply to these two channels: Use a professional profile image, make your bio compelling, engage with others in a respectful fashion, and share high quality content.
What about Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, etc? You should probably leave these channels alone, unless you’re a social media expert in addition to being a recruiter. Master LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter before you head to any of these.
3. Build a niche
No one can do you as well as you can. Expand your online presence by creating and showcasing the unique experience that clients and candidates get from working with you.
How do you select and build a niche? Ask yourself:
- What are you passionate about?
- What are you really good at?
- Who inspires you? Why?
- How do you want others to see you?
- What are your personal skills and strengths?
Don’t forget to throw some personality into it. Go ahead, be caring, funny, sarcastic, You might even be able to cuss a little. Find your unique voice and share from it, with every online move you make.
4. Create and post original content
Nothing will establish you as a thought leader as much as publishing original content will. Authoring blog posts and articles will help you:
- Gain your audience's trust
- Generate authority
- Build a following
Start with one post a month. You could write about a relevant topic that interests you and post it on your agency’s blog or on your own personal website, or you could submit it to a reputable industry blog.
Then, share it on social media and engage with those who comment and share it. Building a portfolio of bylines boosts your online credibility. Read more about blogging for recruiting agencies.
5. Be genuine in all your interactions
Finally and perhaps most importantly: Be real. Have meaningful conversations online. No one likes a phony, and people can usually spot one pretty quickly.
This means sharing content and commenting on it from a genuine spot of interest and authenticity. Add value to all your online conversations; in fact, make this your litmus test. Ask yourself if you are adding value or adding noise before you post, comment and share.
In the long run, honest and transparency will do more for your online presence than the most tricked-out LinkedIn profile or 100 bylined articles. When you claim a genuine position, share authentically, and add value, people want to hear from you, again and again.
Do you know TrackerRMS?
We were recruiters before we were a software company, and we believe we’ve built the best software solution for recruiting agencies. Use it to manage your relationships, run searches for candidates, and manage your sales, recruiting and onboarding needs. Contact us to learn how our end-to-end software solution can help your agency become more productive and profitable.
