'If you're just doing cringey content, you're not going to reach those people,' says director of social media on TikTok recruitment
Nearly 95% of Gen Z consider a company’s social media presence when deciding whether to apply, according to Zety. That means it should be a key consideration for HR leaders in attracting and engaging top talent.
Half-hearted social media strategies no longer cut it – not only because they can turn off potential talent, but they can also waste resources in an already strapped recruitment budget, according to As Meghan Meeker, director of social media at Brandwatch.
“If you are constantly putting out content that no one is engaging with, these algorithms see it as not valuable, so therefore they will not deliver it to people. It's a domino effect,” Meeker says.
“That’s another consequence of ‘Hey, we're putting money and effort and time into this, and it's not hitting.’”
Employing skilled social media teams
According to the survey by resume builder Zety, almost half (46%) of Gen Z have secured jobs or internships through TikTok; Meeker explains how this growing trend means companies can no longer delegate social media recruitment to unskilled staff.
It’s a weak spot that she says many employers are prone to.
“Social teams, on the whole, are still pretty lean. Leadership isn't fully understanding the power of a really good, well-put-together social team,” says Meeker.
“I think they're still seeing it as ‘Oh, we can have the intern do that.’ They're still thinking it's not as important of a marketing job, whereas it's huge. You can do so much.”
Resource social media team to reach the right talent
Surface-level or “cringey” TikTok engagement by organizations isn’t necessarily damaging to a company’s reputation, Meeker concedes, but it might be embarrassing.
The real risk – and a concern to HR – is spending valuable time on content that doesn’t reach the right people, she says. Which is why it’s important to invest in social media teams that know what they’re doing.
“You're spinning your wheels and you're wasting time and maybe company money or resources,” Meeker says.
“It’s not this huge crisis but if you're spending a lot of time, or your team is thinking about TikToks all the time and making them and not reaching people, or you are trying to make them in a vacuum and not engaging … you aren't going to reach the people that you want.”
Part of this investment in skilled social media professionals includes social listening tools, Meeker adds – to monitor trends, gauge candidate sentiment, and adjust strategies in real time.
However, she acknowledges that the budget ask in social listening and other strategies can be a hard sell: “Sometimes, organic social and the social listening can't be directly tied to ROI, and we all know that a lot needs to be now.”
Three keys to effective HR TikTok strategies:
Not all HR teams are built alike, and not all recruitment tactics will have the same requirements. But Meeker describes three fundamental elements to a successful social media recruitment campaign.
- Authenticity: “You can't be all things to all people. So, sit down with your marketing team. Explain your goals: ‘How do we stay on brand? How do we show the best of us without doing it in an inauthentic way?’ The marketing team can help you with that.”
- Transparency: “We all know when we're being advertised to, or maybe something’s a little too good to be true. We can sniff that out. So be honest about what the roles entail, or what an HR team is looking for, or whatever that employee brand is. Be honest about the employee value proposition, be honest about the values of a company – really putting it out there.”
- Consistency: “Build a good plan, a good posting schedule. You do need to have consistent content. You have to do what is possible and doable for you, but … once you build it, you need to be consistent.”
Pay for social to reach the best talent
Additionally, every social media program should have a paid component, Meeker stresses.
All social media platforms have a “pay to play” model at this stage, she explains, and if HR teams want to reach the best talent, there needs to be a budget for paid postings.
“Especially if you're trying to hire top talent and reach them, you should be boosting these posts,” she says.
“You should be making sure they're getting in the right feeds, rather than just the ‘spray and pray’ method of ‘Hopefully this will find the right person.’ If you have a paid program, it seems to me that the algorithm then favours your unpaid, your organic stuff too.”
The particular challenge of Gen Z talent is that they are incredibly savvy to inauthenticity, she says, so trying too hard to be something they are not a common fumble for organizations trying to reach them.
The old adage “Just be yourself” holds true – because, as Meeker points out, Gen Z also does its research. “You have to lean into it. They can sniff out inauthentic stuff really quickly.”
And, whatever you do, never be the last one to a trend, she advises — a lethal mistake that she sees all too often, which is yet another reason to have knowledgeable social media staff.
“You don’t have to jump on every trend,” she says.
“You don't always have to be first, but you definitely should not be last. Actually, you're probably never going to be first. You don't have to set the trends here, but you just do not want to be last.”
