There’s no doubt it’s the most important social channel for recruiters, and you’re likely already using it for recruitment ads. But today, we’re talking about giving your recruiters an ad budget for Facebook and Instagram.
Paid advertising: Facebook
According to the Q2 2018 earnings report, Facebook has 2.23 billion monthly active users. LinkedIn, meanwhile, has around 562 million users. So obviously, Facebook has considerably more people on it.
However, 94 percent of recruiters use LinkedIn, whereas only 41 percent of recruiters use Facebook, according to SocialTalent’s 2017 Global Recruiting Survey. There are a LOT more possible candidates on Facebook, but a lot less competition for their eyeballs.
Facebook provides exponentially more users to meet your recruiting needs, but with such a big pond, simply sharing job postings probably won’t cut it. Enter Facebook ads; with a paid ad, your recruiters can reach more targeted users, based on your needs. Narrow it down to such criteria as a candidate’s location, degree, experience, preferences and interests.
Two additional things Facebook advertising has going for it:
- It offers a cost-per-click option, so you only pay for ads when a prospect clicks through
- With Facebook retargeting, your ads will be shown to those users who have visited your website before, which further drills down to qualified users
With LinkedIn close to recruiter-saturation levels, Facebook opens up valuable and potentially lucrative new territory.
Paid advertising: Instagram
Facebook-owned Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users, making it the third most popular social network in the world (Facebook is number one; YouTube is number two). While only 7 percent of recruiters used Instagram for their sourcing efforts in 2017, that’s almost double 2016’s numbers, which means recruiters are increasingly finding the value in this channel. And similar to Facebook, it also means less competition for candidates’ attention.
But here’s the real value in Instagram: User engagement rates are much higher than on Facebook (and Twitter, too, for that matter) — 2.2 percent for Instagram vs .22 percent for Facebook. Forrester even released a report titled, “Instagram Is The King Of Social Engagement.” This means that Instagram users are more likely to interact (click, comment, share) with your recruiting ads.
And because Instagram is owned by Facebook, this also means you can target those same customized users based on their profile information (location, job titles, past and present employers, interests, etc.). Also:
- You can retarget ads to users who have visited your website
- There’s a CPC option as well
- The advertising platform (Facebook Ads Manager) is the same for both Facebook and Instagram, so you only need to get used to one process, one dashboard, etc.
Instagram is, of course, highly visual, so take advantage of that by creating bold, graphically pleasing ads.
Finally, don’t forget to cross-promote yourself. If you do decide to advertise on both channels, promote your Facebook on your Instagram and vice versa. Let each platform’s users know that you’re on the other; it’s a good way to extend your reach.
Step outside the LinkedIn box
Seventy-nine percent of people use social media as part of their job search, Glassdoor reports, and that number jumps to 86 percent for people in the first 10 years of their career. Expand your sourcing opportunities by putting advertising budget into Facebook and Instagram, in addition to your paid LinkedIn efforts. Then, make sure your recruiters have an awesome online presence.
For more great advice for agency owners and their teams, check out the TrackerRMS blog. And if you’re looking for an integrated software solution for recruiter, candidate and client success, look no further than TrackerRMS software.
