The rise in online recruitment through social networks is thought to have significantly
contributed to the recent rise of sites such as Facebook and Twitter being the
most visited online destinations in the UK. ??
A new report issued by information
services company, Experian Hitwise, showed social networking sites - numbering
more than 9,000 - collectively received around 2.4 billion hits from UK
visitors in January 2011.
??It indicates that they are now, for the
first time, more popular than entertainment and media sites such as BBC
iPlayer.??Co-founder and CEO of Experian company Techlightenment, Ankur Shah,
said that the figures indicated the rapid encroachment of sites originally
intended for social purposes, into business and transactional spheres.??
Social networks and search
complement each other. To reach new and existing customers, transactional
websites need to use both channels effectively, he explained.
Social networks, however, allow brands to tailor communication, reaching
exactly the right audience at the right time.
??The
numbers also showed that, while Facebook did account for 56 per cent of all
social media traffic, there was significant interaction between different social
media sites. This indicated that recruiters looking to hire through social
networks would be mindful to have a diverse social-media marketing
strategy.
However it may not be as simple as
building a fan page or tweeting. Recruitment expert Geoff Newman who works with
flat fee recruitment
agency Recruitment Genius feels many people have rushed in to social media in
recruitment without a proper strategy.
“Becoming someone’s friend has never been
so meaningless than on Facebook. A successful recruitment strategy is more than
followers but collaboration and engagement. Surprisingly this requires a strong
engagement strategy and lots of content which can become very expensive.
Therefore social media in recruitment is
not always the panacea to cheap recruitment many employers hope for.
