Using Social Media For Your Business
make my day
It is very likely that most of you reading this have some sort of social media account. In fact, we'd go as far to say that you probably have more than one and use them on a daily basis. Don't worry, we're not for one minute suggesting that this is a bad habit and that you need to tone it down, we're all guilty of it. The question we'd like to raise is how many businesses are jumping on this band wagon?! Since creating the role of a social media manager at Staffroom, we've had a few people question why on earth we use platforms such as Facebook and Twitter in recruitment, they understand the Linkedin part (it's full of CV's right?) so we'd like to take this opportunity to explain ourselves. ALL social media offers benefits for companies in more ways than one, it's just learning to use it to your advantage that takes a bit of tweaking. With today's generations ever adapting to new technology, it would be in our interest to follow in their footsteps and maybe after reading this you'll follow in ours.
Branding
Staffroom? Who's Staffroom? Without online presence and with much competition in this industry, it is difficult to get noticed. Okay, hard work speaks for itself, we do have our wonderful candidates to spread the word, but to branch out to thousands, it takes a little bit of magic. Social Media tools can get the word out about your brand in a way that promotes online conversation and creates buzz. If you're adding new people, sharing new content and engaging in conversation, it's very likely that you'll get noticed. No other news or advertising network has this type of reach and social media is proving to be a very powerful platform that is still maturing it's capabilities. Take things such as Twitter's 'retweet' for example, a job post has the opportunity to be shared and seen by 100's of people, some that may not have even thought of searching for this particular role, or even knowing where to go to find it. These types of actions get our name noticed and our concept out there, it's pretty difficult to ignore something if it's popping up on your timeline every day shouting 'look at me!'.
The Good Type Of Traffic
This leads us nicely on to our next point. Successful social media activities will always improve the amount of traffic referrals your website receives, playing an essential initial role in sales, or in our case, filling vacancies and expanding our client base. Social media in terms of SEO ranking is an increasing importance. Being talked about and mentioned on social media is a positive signal that shows you are popular and have content worth sharing. Google can then see that your website is higher regarded than others, which is one of the many signals that helps your website rank better. Not only this, but with us updating our news, jobs and interviews on our website every week, social media helps us to increase awareness of each new article by helping us to distribute the love.
Explain Yourself
'Hi we're Staffroom Education, and we're an education recruitment company based in South Wales.' Isn't the easiest of things to get out and about when you're sat in an office or when just picking up the phone. We know how it is, sometimes you're busy and don't have time to talk, sometimes you just don't want to hear it. It's difficult. Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest AND the rest give us a chance to say 'Hey we're Staffroom Education, we're normal people and we're actually quite fun' rather than the usual chit chat you'd get from recruitment on a regular basis. It's hard when you work in this type of industry, some people regard you as a nuisance and we're branded as the annoying type of business that just posts spam online, which pretty much hits the nail on the head right? Wrong. Social media has given us the opportunity to explain ourselves, to offer resources and interesting information for all that want it, which in turn is what it does for so many businesses on a regular basis. Being given the chance to see another side of your company is the way forward.
We're Not Robots
In reality people simply enjoy being part of a business that is pro actively building a lively community. Social media makes it easy to improve brand awareness and build your brands identity. You can effectively establish your brands personality and give your business a human voice that people can relate to. Connecting on an emotional level or showing some personality are both effective ways of helping your brand stand out from your competitors. There's nothing worse than feeling like you can't connect with a company you work for, or have something to do with on a personal level. If you have a problem, or need advice, it's pretty likely that you'll have to sit on an automated phone service for 30 minutes before you even get through to an operator and it's tiring. Building an online community gives you, us and every other business the chance to meet new faces, discuss complications and every day topics. Don't worry, we're just on the other end of a tweet, has a nice little ring to it doesn't it?! Reminding your customers that you're just as human as they are enables trust and good working relationships, which are both vital components of any successful company.
Umph!
Your 'buzz' is essentially what will make you stand out. Creating content, sharing ideas and even holding competitions gives you an edge that people want to be involved in. Excitement is what entices people in, if you can get up and post something that makes people happy or influences their actions in a day, you're on the right track. If people like what they see, they'll share it, if they like what they see, they'll share it too. Quality AND quantity are the key to making people happy, which in turn will generate word of mouth, it's as simple as that. Keeping up with the latest trends means that you're keeping up with the latest people, if you have the chance to connect with a range of individuals from far and wide, do so, as these types of relationships could just be the ones that benefit you massively in the future.