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Episode 3: Using Instagram to Recruit
So the big question is this: With 1 billion active users and growing, how can organizations use the social media network, Instagram, to attract and recruit new talent? Find out in this podcast. Thank you for joining us. You’re listening to Hire Education from RightJobNow.
Mark: Hey! It’s Mark and I’m here with our master producer, Phil. Phil, how are you?
Phil: Doing well. How are you?
Mark: Outstanding. We’re back with another edition of our Hire Education podcast and today we’re going to talk about Instagram.
It is the hot social media ticket right now. Everybody’s doing it.
And it doesn’t matter what you feel about… certainly about social media… there are a lot of pros and cons to it.
Some of you may be opposed to social media on a personal level, you know for individual use, but I certainly think from a business perspective it’s turned out… social media’s turned out to be a great brand marketing opportunity and a recruitment opportunity.
So we’re gonna assume you probably already have a social media recruiting strategy.
You may be using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, but what about Instagram?
And before we go down the road to talk about how you could use Instagram to recruit let’s talk about Instagram by the numbers today.
Phil: Well, Mark, let me tell you. The latest survey shows they have one billion active users. It’s the second most engaged social network in the market today… Facebook holding the number one spot still, of course.
Young adults love Instagram. Seventy-one percent of their active users are between the ages of 18 and 34… I’m aged out apparently…
This makes up just over sixty percent of the Instagram demographic.
Instagram users spend an average of 53 minutes a day on the platform compared to Facebook users who spent about… the remainder of the day.
Mark: Absolutely, Phil. I mean, we’re visual creatures by nature and Instagram as a platform that provides a really incredibly unique visual way to tell a story.
And it’s been embraced by everyone, including businesses. An estimated 71 percent of US corporations use IG.
And Instagram is incredibly effective for businesses throughout the country.
In fact, 80% of IG users follow a brand and 30% of those users have made a purchasing decision based on something that they’ve seen on the platform.
500 million Instagram account users use IG stories every day. A third of the most viewed stories are from businesses.
And we’ll get into Instagram stories and IGTV in another podcast, but right now we… you gotta remember that engagement matters. Instagram can generate over four times more interactions on the platform compared to Facebook.
Phil: So, let me ask you, Mark. Can Instagram help you find great candidates?
Mark: Well I’m glad you asked, Phil.
According to the LinkedIn survey half of all professionals that follow companies on social media do so just to stay aware of their job or career opportunities.
And another survey found that 73% of millennials found their last position through a social media site and IG is the hot ticket in social media today.
And then you’ve got this from an iCIMS study: 94% of job seekers are more likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages their employee brand online.
And we’ve talked about this before. Online brand management through your career site, your platform, your job posts, everything, is critical.
This too: 75% of candidates will consider the employers brand before they apply for the job.
And 60% of job seekers said that research about a company was very or extremely influential in their decision to apply for a position.
So, after all the information there I’ve giving you about Instagram… here are a few things you can do to set yourself up with an Instagram strategy.
Phil: Number 1: Make a Plan.
You’ve got to make a plan. Building and promoting your employment brand, especially in a platform like Instagram, takes some work.
It requires a continuous effort to take and post images, post your videos, post your stories…
And remember, your audience is coming back daily to see what you’ve done so keep it new, keep it exciting, keep it fresh…
And you know this is gonna take a bit of planning on your part.
You know… outline what kind of content is in line with your brand and your other social media. Get some help from your hospital team… those that clearly support the mission of your organization and want to be part of your recruiting success.
Mark: Number 2: Tell Your Story.
Great storytelling through photos and videos is key to gaining the interest of your employees and potential candidates.
You do things like cover departments or units in your facility for a day.
Highlight your employees that go above and beyond to show interested candidates what kind of excellent staff you have at your organization.
You might want to do things like interview positions so you can promote the relationship that exists between your clinical staff and your doctors, as well as your administrators.
And then go behind the scenes. Really give people something interesting… an inside look at what life in your facility is like on a daily basis.
And, for goodness sakes, don’t forget to include your evening, overnight, and weekend staff in all of these efforts.
Phil: Number 3: Showcase Your Daily Operations.
You want to showcase how your facility operates and what makes it unique to your staff and your candidates.
Stories that bring light to the things potential candidates want to see an employer, something that makes you the employer of choice.
That’s what makes employment branding.
Show followers the view of your organization they wouldn’t usually see from traditional media.
Be. Different.
Mark: Number 4: Promote Your Community Involvement.
Showcase your company’s, your organization’s culture.
Community activities are excellent opportunity for promoting your facility and not only the efforts that your hospital makes, but also what your employees are active in supporting.
Showcase that.
Those are things that you and your staff do to make a difference in the community or the communities you serve.
Mark: Number 5: Engage and Attract.
I mean… you’re trying to recruit, right? So don’t hesitate to use Instagram to recruit actively.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with employees pitching in support of recruitment effort.
Just like referrals, using employees is a recruitment marketing pro makes sense.
Who better to promote and sell positions within your organization than those that work in those departments and that you work with?
And pay attention to responding to those potential employees as candidates that message you. Don’t wait a week to get back to somebody. Try to get with… back within the first twenty four hours. When somebody makes a post on your site, get back to them.
Phil: And finally: Use Hashtags.
Hashtags, especially branded hashtags, are a great way to promote your organization and be found by candidates.
Use hashtags to promote your content and attract the kind of candidates you want to hire.
Do a little research to see what kind of hashtags your candidates are using, because it could really help you get more exposure.
And make sure you use features like geo-location and other tagging features that make it easier for other users to find you, whether they’re in the country or around the world.
Mark: And as we mentioned before humans are visual creatures and that’s scientifically proven.
Humans can process information from images almost immediately… in like thirteen seconds or less.
And 65% of us are visual learners. We have an incredible ability to remember what we see in the information enclosed in images.
I mean, have you ever watched an Apple keynote address? Big, beautiful, colorful images. And a little bit of text. But you get the point. You know exactly what they’re trying to get across, what they’re trying to promote in terms of their brand and their products.
And Instagram gives you the ability to create memorable content through visual storytelling.
Your branded employer content can come across as human and real and that’s incredibly impactful to your visitors, your stake holders, and your potential candidates.
And along with an amazing attract-and-engage, branded web platform for desktop and mobile, fast and easy-to-use job search, great organizational storytelling and information, using a social media tool like Instagram can help you make a compelling case for applicants to choose you over your competitors.
Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the issues of patient privacy, HIPPA rules, etc., but I’m sure you’ve already taken that into account.
But just in case, remember… be careful.
Also some organizations feel compelled to get release statements from employees they may use in promotion materials. You can certainly do that.
If you need a copy of the standard release statement, I would assume your marketing department has one. We certainly do. If you need one, drop us a line… will send you our standard employer visual release form.
The other thing is too I want to mention is… look, we’ve been doing this for eighteen years now. Hospitals large and small often have a great deal of difficulty managing content like this.
It’s not easy. It really isn’t. I mean your staff is busy… it’s not like, you know, you’re working 9 to 5. Hospitals are 24-7 operations. And it takes an awful lot of work, having worked in a hospital I certainly understand that.
So once again, if you need some help with strategy, building a great platform, having a great search overlay that people can find jobs in just a matter of seconds, and putting together extremely invaluable attract-and-engage content, drop us a line.
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