The Importance of Digital Marketing in Recruitment

It is no surprise the average person is using their mobile for 24 hours a week, twice as much as a decade ago.

My last ’weekly screen time report’ notified me I was on my phone for 2 hours and 23 minutes a day. Breaking the report down, the majority of the time was spent on social media, being a combination of Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat.

For the majority of us when we wake up in the morning, be it right or wrong, we reach immediately for our mobile. Yes, we probably all use it for our alarm clock, but after switching on snooze multiple times we finally decide it is time to start the day. I start my day by looking at my ‘morning newspaper’ which is now Facebook and Instagram. It is where I get the majority of my news, be it pictures and updates from my friends and family back home in the UK or my twin brother over in Kansas (not that there is much going on there!).

Social media has become the most popular content marketing tactic for business to consumer.

Over 90% of businesses having a social media presence.

Looking through my feed and seeing how specific the advertising has become is quite scary, we can all say that there has been once or twice we have ‘thought’ about a product and you hop on Facebook/ Instagram and bang right in front of your eyes there it is. How do they do this is my first question? But, it shows how easy it has become to get your product out there to your particular market and recruitment is no different. We need specifically skilled talent, now!

In recruitment, timing is critical, not only to please line managers who have a problem that needs to be solved but to remain competitive. Being able to source and speak to the relevant talent is crucial, and it’s time consuming and not productive to be reactive and just place an ad on a job board and then review a majority of volumes of unsuitable applications.

By having an online network you immediately are streamlining the process. Instead of having the talent come to you, you are reaching out to them. You can target hundreds if not thousands of people, in a few seconds, by likes and sharing. By creating a short 1-minute video on your job, job seekers can hear the key skills, competencies and see you are a real person with a real job!

You allow the job to become an actual opportunity for those job seekers who aren’t necessarily active on the market. For recruiters, we need to adapt and change with the times. If we are not developing our digital presence, we are going to find it increasingly more difficult to successfully source for hiring managers and job seekers.