Social Media In Recruitment Conference

Measuring the ROI of social media in recruitment #SMIR

Posted on 07. Apr, 2011 by admin.

Andy Hyatt, head of digital at Bernard Hodes Group, delivered an interesting talk on social media return on investment (ROI). He started by talking about the following social media myths:

• Social media is free
• Is easy
• Is valued by CEOs
• It doesn’t matter

And then he proceeded to dispel the myths . . .

• It is not free – Ernst and Young Facebook page (more than 61,000 fan pages) cost in the  region of 1m US dollars (9 full time staff), according to Andy.
• Not easy – you will have to rework your processes
• Not valued – Andy used some stats from an Economist Intelligence Unit survey of C-level managers  that showed more than 30% are not interested in social media
• And it does matter – Andy recounted Dominos Pizza story (see video) – the result: the video was viewed more than half million times and the share price started to fall. CEO dealt with it on social channels and share price went up as a result, but that wasn’t reported much.

The example made the point that social media can be hugely damaging.

Andy then looked at the actual ROI equation, which is:

ROI = gain from investment – cost of investment / cost of investment.

From this Andy got quite passionate about what you need to measure and why. He told delegates to start with a baseline of what you want to achieve and then design some key metrics to measure against the baseline.

He said that there was no silver bullet here. It is more that this whole issue just needs to addressed. A show of hands in the hall revealed half the corporate recruiters present did not know ROI on their recruitment.

Andy then went on to talk about Staples, a client of his with whom he worked to create content in blogs, Youtube, Twitter to attract their core X-Files loving candidates.

Staples

• Typically spends £10,000 on recruitment, now spending £1,000
• Store opening in Tonbridge 600 applicants for 21 jobs.
• Used Twitter Youtube and blog around X-files because it was an obsessive type brand. Content did not mention Staples at all
• After two months, fans were told people that it was Staples content  – this did not cause any problems
• There is anecdotal evidence that candidates from the socail media pipeline are better candidates. They certainly engage much better with content.

Resources to help with measuring social media ROI

IAB handbook on Social Media Measurement
Social Media Measurement Camp

Conclusion: measuring social media return on investment is incredibly difficult BUT that does not mean it should not be measured. After all, investment is measured in pounds sterling and so should the return on that investment. Set a baseline and then start measuring elements that will show how you are performing against that baseline. Start small – 30mins a day – but start.

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Max MacGillivray on why content is so key in driving new recruitment business

Posted on 07. Apr, 2011 by admin.

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Video: Steve Evans talks Facebook and Social Recruiting at #SMIR

Posted on 07. Apr, 2011 by admin.

Thanks to Keith Robinson, who has been helping me out with some video. Here Keith caught up with Steve Evans, MD of Net Natives, who talked on How Facebook can be used by recruiters to build a brand and generate hires at the Social Media in Recruitment Conference.

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Panel predictions on Mobile Recruiting from #SMIR

Posted on 07. Apr, 2011 by admin.

Good discussion on mobile and what comes next in terms of mobile and recruitment. The three panellists were asked what we could expect in the next 12 to 18 months. This is what they said . . .

Felix Wetzel, marketing director, Jobsite

Mobile will be huge. Jobsite expects to see 25% of its traffic through mobile in 12 months’ time. With Facebook and Linkedin approaching IPO we will see the qlitz of social media turn into real world results and we will start to see social media used for recommendation and prediction.

Matt Alder, founder, Metashift

Hope that there will be more investment in social media – 65% of delegates said there would be. ATS’s will hopefully get to grips with mobile.

Mark Kieve, chief executive, The Internet Corporation

Growth in mobile devices. Looking forward to what comes after Twitter and that the communication between employers and candidates improves using social media.

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Nokia’s approach to Social Media and Employer Branding – #SMIR

Posted on 07. Apr, 2011 by admin.

Thrust of this talk from Becky Folb, global talent acquisition manager (digital marketing) is to personalise the business so that you can talk to potential candidates. You do not own the conversation which is a big culture shift for employers.

The social media mantra around employer branding is:

• Communicate
• Participate
• Share

But . . .

• What you say online matters, you cannot hide
• Demonstrate you unique value to clients
• Quality and constancy, not quantity
• Do not be unknown – get connected
• send relevant emails or weaken credibility
• Linkedin emails must never be a sales pitch
• Maintain conversations

Measurement
Nokia uses Spredfast to report on social media:

• Activity
• Reach
• Engagement  – across the different social networks

Spredfast shows RTs – example of job going to 62,000 people on Twitter

Summary points for . . .

In house . . .

• Guidelines for SM
• Have a stratgy and communicate
• Integrate in recruitment process
• Make friends with marketing/comms
• Sare success and best practice
• Every candidate experience key
• Be aware of public negativity

Agencies . . .

• Anyone could be listening. What you say matters
• Don’t just broadcast roles on Twitter – have a conversation
• Live and breathe your industry
• Take conversations offline – grate opportunity to connect with people at events
• Say and do the same thing

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