Narrowcasting: Targeting Top Candidates Through Social Networks

NARROWCASTING: Targeting Top Talent Through Social Networks

& Campaigns

ERE.Net Webinar Wednesday, February 2, 2011

© Dr. John Sullivan and Master Burnett www.DrJohnSullivan.com

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Six goals for today

1. To understand the common problems associated with most “broadcast” social media approaches

2. To demonstrate the differences between broadcasting and narrowcasting

3. To outline a convincing business case for attracting top talent on social media

4. To provide you with action steps and best practices 5. To identify the benchmark firms 6. To answer your questions

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Part I

Common problems with most current social media recruiting approaches

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Common socialrecruiting mistakes

Communication characteristics to avoid: 1. Generic job postings – may be inappropriate for

the channel and offend the audience (groups, consequences) 2. Spamming a channel – violates tenets of social

media, may hurt your employer brand, will result in increased filtering

3. Social stalking – sending a high volume or inappropriate messages can get you “de-friended”

4. Job only messaging – not likely to be even read by those who are not-looking (microcosm: 80/20)

5. Generic messages – simply have little impact

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Common socialrecruiting mistakes

Communication characteristics to avoid: 6.  Poor conversion process – handing a warm lead

to a cold process (traditional ATS/ERP) 7.  No strategy – Lack of clear goals, accountability

and resource allocation result in ad hoc results 8.  No metrics – no understanding/proof of what

works and what doesn’t or why to do something 9.  High cost – applying socialrecruiting like peanut

butter (broadcasting) can be resource intensive and produce negligible results i.e. a low ROI

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Part II

Side-by-side comparison of broadcast and narrowcast recruiting

Including: Definitions, Goals, Scope, Target, Volume, Timeframe, Channels used, Overreach %,

Tools and approaches used

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Broadcasting vs. narrowcasting… a comparison

Definition of broadcast recruiting via social media  An active candidate approach

 Broadcast recruiting messages and campaigns are generalized, so that they “fit” almost everyone, i.e. communicate the lowest common element

 Messaging consists almost entirely of job announcements and advertisements to a broad social media audience

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Side-by-side comparison

Definition of narrowcasting via social media  A direct sourcing approach   It targets not-looking prospects   Personalized messages are sent to a few   The messaging begins with an attempt to build a

trust relationship, based on non-employment factors (i.e. learning, professional interests or personal interests)

 Over time… employment opportunities are discussed

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Note

Alternative names for “Narrowcasting”

  Segmented marketing or campaigning

  Personalized marketing

 Mass customized marketing

 Micro-casting

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Goals Goals of broadcasting   To get active candidates to apply

 A low cost per hire

  To minimize the recruiter time required, i.e. make it easy to say “we do it”

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Goals of narrowcasting 1. Getting top talent to engage in conversation 2.  Increasing interaction 3.  Increasing relevance 4. Building a relationship (early adopters have found that

between 3-5 communications are needed prior to job talk) 5. Building trust 6. Finally, considering job opportunities

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Scope   Scope of broadcasting– broadcast recruiting

activities (i.e. job posting and recruiting messaging) are designed to reach the broadest possible talent pool

  Scope of narrowcasting – recruiting activities that are designed to reach a “narrow “segment” of the talent pool

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Target audience  Target audience of broadcasting – broadcast

messaging is targeted at active job seekers who are already likely candidates

 Target audience of narrowcasts – it targets top performers (high value targets) that are currently employed. They are only prospects… because they are not actively seeking a job when you contact them

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Volume  Volume from broadcasting – broadcast

recruiting attempts to reach a high volume of potential candidates

 Volume for narrowcasts – it targets a small number (often less than 10% of hires) of prospects

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Timeframe  Timeframe of broadcasting – broadcast

recruiting targets immediate hires for current openings

 Timeframe for narrowcasts – it utilizes a longer-term timeframe in order to gradually build relationships for future openings

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Channels utilized  Channels utilized – almost all social media

channels are utilized (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)

 Channels for narrowcasts – it only utilizes the channels and the communications approaches that the targeted prospect prefers

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Overreach %  Overreach % of broadcasting – broadcast

recruiting reaches some qualified candidates… but it also “overreaches” a large percentage of unqualified or disinterested candidates simultaneously

 Overreach for narrowcasts – because of its narrow focus, there is little or no overreach

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Recruiting approaches used Broadcast recruiting approaches often include:

  Job postings

  Employment advertising and banner ads

  Employer branding advertising

  Job fair announcements

  E-mail campaigns

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Narrowcasting recruiting approaches include:   Talent communities in several subject areas  Comments on their activities (work or social)  Asking for their opinions or for feedback  Notifying them about learning opportunities

(i.e. technical articles, news or best practices)  CRM type reminders (i.e. birthdays & anniversaries)

 Requests for referrals from their contact list  Open house and seminar invitations

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Part III

Business case factors

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Making the business case Business case elements 1. Social media may be the only way to reach

“hidden” high quality non-lookers and college students (other than referrals)

2. The quality of hire (innovators and game changers) may result in a positive ROI

3. Being effective on social media may be seen as a requirement for a strong employer brand

4. Learning from business social media efforts may increase the learning curve for recruiting

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Making the business case Business case elements 5.  Offer acceptance rates may be higher… as a

result of stronger relationships 6.  A narrowcasting approach may improve

diversity and international hires 7.  It doesn’t cost any more to do it “the right way”

with narrowcasting and a segmented approach 8.  Because narrowcasting utilizes the mobile

platform, it provides 24/7 access

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Part IV

Action steps to consider

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Action step

First, learn the potential problems with narrowcasting   It requires expertise in crafting messages   It consumes a good amount of recruiter time   It has a relatively slow time to fill  A high cost (but high ROI)   It requires intelligence and metrics to identify…

where targets “hang out” and their individual job switch criteria

 Aggressiveness and “rushing it” can lose prospects

Write “call to action” direct messages

Key message elements:  Write from your target audience’s point of

view, not your own  Be very clear on what action you want them to

take  Make sure the message comes across as relevant

immediately, i.e. start out by answering why you are communicating, what you want done, why now, and how to proceed (Easily, quickly)

  Let them take control of the message (Support) 25

DM Elements that add value

  Priming questions/comments – as a recruiter you hopefully know where/how to find relevant people , your ee’s may not, so give guidance

 Link to your story – provides short links to content that can be distributed via multiple channels, i.e.: – Externally hosted photo albums – Externally hosted videos – Blogs – Presentations

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Action step

Use market research e-panels Convene electronic market research panels to determine:  The perception of the employer in the targeted

domain  Their willingness to work at the organization

compared to a market basket of talent competitors  The relative importance of each of their job

consideration elements (job switch criteria)

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Action step

When targeting an individual, try to learn:   Their job switch criteria   Factors that trigger a job search   Their job search process  Where they read/ hangout on the Internet  Areas where they are an expert  Areas where they are trying to learn/improve   Individuals they admire/would listen to   Their favorite communications channel(s)  Do they write a blog?

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Action step

Learn the available ways to segment your population.  By current job title or level  By skill or competency level  By their level of experience  By their education level  By performance level  By their pay level  By location or region  By their personal interests

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Action step

Learn the available messaging & comm. tools

  E-mail or Direct Message

 Wall posts

 Group posts

  Status updates

  Topic or firm landing pages

 Videos/blogs/podcasts/text

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10 additional action steps to consider

1. Learn the rules of online communities 2. Design, pretest and disseminate only “authentic”

messages (Based on the perception of the target)

3.  Identify the most compelling things your firm can offer to each target segment

4. Provide employees with sample profiles and templates and offer to critique their profile (KPMG)

5. Ask questions, do a survey/poll to gain attention

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10 additional action steps to consider

6.  Build business “topic-based” pages or groups 7.  Write a blog that your targets can RSS

subscribe to (Covering what it’s like to work at your firm) 8.  Accept an online profile in lieu of an updated

resume (Passives may not have a updated resume) 9.  Identify your target’s “influencers” and sell

those that are likely to influence their decision 10. Encourage them to announce their job

acceptance decision in their social groups, to help sway others to also come

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Part V

Benchmark firms in narrowcasting

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Major firms to learn from

Firms using narrowcasting on social networks Ernst & Young U.S. Army TiVo Deloitte Kodak Groupon Best Buy Zappos CIA Yum Brands Google Facebook PepsiCo Target Costco Cisco Ford GE Microsoft Accenture IBM PWC

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Did we make you think?

Any further questions?

www.drjohnsullivan.com