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Social Marketing Through the Candidate’s Journey

In a world where our daily social interactions have changed dramatically, it’s not surprising that as talent acquisition marketers, we often think about how our approach to candidate engagement should adapt and evolve. This is especially true when we consider the role social marketing plays in informing and educating job seekers. But before we get into the nitty gritty, let’s start a bit more high level.

For many marketers (and clients), social content strategy can seem a little overwhelming. Oftentimes, it’s also misunderstood. But it doesn’t need to be. Our approach at Radancy is that we view social marketing as a critical touchpoint for connecting with candidates in places where they are most active. We seek to build a genuine dialogue with job seekers through storytelling. The stories are one avenue for us to convey a company’s EVP, sparking curiosity and starting a conversation. And why is this important? Because we know conversation is the first step toward consideration.

As a top-of-funnel tactic, these stories are designed to build authentic connections and help candidates gain a better understanding of a brand’s culture, environment, values and mission. It’s our role to partner with our clients to develop a custom strategy that directly addresses these opportunities. Short-form video testimonials, infographics, animatics and employee growth stories are types of content that help speak to the candidates’ most common questions, while larger, bolder bets like sting films, live panel events and augmented reality (AR) filters allow us to showcase the full capabilities of our creative team.

Now, it would be strange if we didn’t address some of the changes we’ve seen within social marketing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighteen months spent in lockdown altered how we use social media in major ways, which forced us to be agile and adaptable based on our new behaviors. Here’s what we’ve learned:

  • User attention spans continue to trend downward.
    • The average amount of time a social media user will stop to look at any post in their feed is under three seconds.
  • Video became king.
    • Video sits comfortably in the top spot across all platforms and algorithms have prioritized this form of content based on user behavior.
  • Peak social usage times have been erased.
    • Social is primarily a mobile-first experience. And while we all spent so much time indoors and isolated from one another, we’ve seen that users never stop scrolling through their feeds. There is no longer a go-to time of day to publish content in order to get the most amount of engagement.
  • We’re more skeptical than ever before.
    • Due to the widespread amount of disinformation that dominated social media for months, audiences are craving authenticity and transparency now more than ever.

It shouldn’t be shocking to see these themes and understand that this is the new “normal” for social marketing. Each of us have undoubtedly experienced some of these changes in our own personal use of social platforms. But what separates Radancy from other social marketing partners is our ability to adapt. 

For example, to combat the decreasing attention span of social users, we’re developing new dynamic assets that invite the user to engage and interact with the employer brand and spark curiosity to learn more. We’re also amplifying our client’s ability to attract high-quality candidates by utilizing a cross-platform strategy that incorporates career site data and industry-leading expertise. And finally, we’re redefining and expanding our self-service career site capabilities so our clients can leverage the strength of their social campaigns and lead candidates directly to customized landing pages, published on the fly. All of these solutions are made better by our laser-like focus on data, which allows us to test different publishing tactics and then optimize based on the results.

I’m often asked what it is about social marketing that I enjoy the most. I guess depending on the day, I might give a different answer. But here, in this moment, the thing that keeps me coming back for more is that the rules of social marketing are constantly being rewritten. We at Radancy take pride in being among the first to build connections using new channels, new platforms and new story elements. It’s this agility and adaptability that help make us a global leader in reaching our candidate audiences on social. And building that meaningful connection with the candidate isn’t something that will be changing any time soon.

Radancy’s Unified Platform, augmented by rich data and deep industry expertise, is revolutionizing how employers attract and hire the talent they need. Want to see what we can achieve together? Connect with us today.

About Kevin Tansey

Kevin is a Social Consultant based in Chicago where he leads Radancy's social content offering for North America. With ten years of digital marketing experience, he seeks to push the envelope of how impactful content can build authentic connections with social audiences. Outside of work, he enjoys writing, climbing, and producing pieces for his signature apparel brand. Reach Kevin directly at kevin.tansey@radancy.com.

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