5 digital marketing ideas only smart recruiters use

By using social brand stories, blogging, SEO career pages, candidate‑funnel testing, and video meetings, you can boost talent attraction, pipeline growth, and employer branding in the digital age.

Did you know that, according to the Microsoft Work Trend Index, 40% of people want to change jobs this year?

This number is increasing due to the fluctuating nature of work, the post-COVID-19 market, and the widening knowledge base of the workforce. The skills needed in an industry are changing rapidly, leaving workers with a struggle to adapt.

Many companies are now utilizing digital marketing strategies to promote their business and attract top candidates to avoid this crisis. This type of approach is perfect when you use STP marketing targeting strategies along.

These recruitment marketing strategies encompass the use of different forms of social media, blogging, search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing(opens in a new tab), and more, all of which integrate with recruiters' skills.

This holistic approach is essential in today's diverse market, where every candidate will increasingly expect an omnichannel experience.

What is omnichannel? The omnichannel definition(opens in a new tab) continues to evolve in response to the requirements of today's omnichannel consumers. Put simply, omnichannel means "being available in all the places where customers (or in this case, candidates) want to engage with your brand(opens in a new tab)."

What is Digital Marketing?

Digital Marketing(opens in a new tab) is a combination of traditional marketing strategies that have been tailored to the unique needs and preferences of digital natives. These include, but are not limited to:

• Search Engine Optimization
• Search Engine Marketing (PPC)
• Social Media Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Affiliate Marketing
• Content Promotion (PR)

Investing in a digital marketing course(opens in a new tab) would be a good first step if you want to polish up your digital marketing skills. A lot of companies are also willing to pay for their marketing department employees to take these courses(opens in a new tab) since it is beneficial from the company's standpoint as well.

Digital Marketing for Recruiters

The goal of recruitment marketing is to make it easy for candidates seeking career advancement (or new jobs) to find your vacancies—and make sure you're top-of-mind when they are ready to make a move. Digital marketing(opens in a new tab) strategies for recruitment should be tailored to the preferences of this audience.

To properly identify your target market, you need a recruiting strategy that is both broad and deep in scope:

• Broad: Identify where candidates go when they're looking for new jobs or career opportunities, and create a presence there. Provide job listings on major online boards such as Monster and CareerBuilder while building out digital assets specifically targeted at potential employees (like LinkedIn company pages).
• Deep: Take it further by also targeting niche platforms that can help get your brand in front of highly-qualified professionals who are actively hunting for their next opportunity. For example, post open positions on sites like Idealist(opens in a new tab) or snag some attention from coding Bootcamp graduates on Switchup(opens in a new tab).

Once you know who your target audience is, it’s time to start marketing to them.

5 Digital Marketing Strategies You Can Use to Attract Top Talent

Once you know who your target audience is, it’s time to start marketing to them.

1. Share Employer Brand Stories on Social Media

Employer branding is the idea that every organization has its own unique identity and therefore requires a different approach when recruiting.

These identities consist of values, culture, products or services offered, buyer personas(opens in a new tab), and many other aspects that all need to be conveyed to create an effective employer brand image(opens in a new tab).

Say you work in retail, and you're struggling to find good candidates for your marketing team.

You could share links to successful campaigns on your social media channels or make videos(opens in a new tab) on fun vox pops where current employees share their favorite thing about their roles. You could share links to successful campaigns on your social media channels or make videos on fun vox pops where current employees share their favorite thing about their roles. You can also create engaging social media posts(opens in a new tab) to gain audience's attention.

But, how can you ensure that your company is capturing the attention of potential employees?

• Be proactive: Know your target audience and be a part of a conversation. Show that you are aware of industry trends, as well as being able to communicate the value you offer employees(opens in a new tab). For example, if you work at a software company, review a new SaaS tool(opens in a new tab) that has been released recently. If you work in a restaurant chain, discuss trending topics like ghost kitchens(opens in a new tab).
• Be visible: Make sure that your social media profiles are updated regularly with relevant content. This will keep your employer brand top-of-mind amongst potential hires as they browse their newsfeeds. If you’re looking to improve user onboarding or in-app experiences as part of your recruitment platform, consider Appcues alternatives(opens in a new tab) like Flook or Pendo. These tools help create interactive product tours and onboarding flows without coding, improving candidate and recruiter engagement. It is always recommendable to use social media analytics tools(opens in a new tab) to get actionable insights.
• Be approachable: Candidates should feel comfortable approaching the company via its social media channels. Make it clear that you’re approachable by answering questions quickly and diligently, but don't bombard social media followers(opens in a new tab) with too many updates or promotional material unless it's contracted in the job description! To manage your socials more effectively, you can use tools such as sprout social or any other sprout social alternatives(opens in a new tab).

2. Use Blogging to Show a More Personal Side

Posting blogs on not just HR and career sites but also other guest blogging(opens in a new tab) sites can help you attract talent.

It allows you to humanize your employer brand by providing information on your current projects, future goals, and achievements.

This also gives potential candidates more insight into the business and displays how your firm uses new ideas or innovative concepts in its day-to-day operations. Additionally, sharing details about, for example, your marketing agency structure(opens in a new tab) can help candidates understand your organizational setup and the collaborative environment they might be a part of.

Consider publishing blogs that focus on topics of interest to candidates who might be applying for positions within your company.

For example, if you are recruiting interns for a data engineer role, you could share tips on how to get into the field. This will allow candidates to see that your company is invested in their development.

3. Increase SEO Visibility for Career Pages

Many companies rely heavily on recruiters when attracting top talent, but neglect other methods of reaching out to candidates.

One of these methods is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)(opens in a new tab).

This form of digital marketing aims to increase your company's visibility via search engines, ultimately adding more traffic to your website. Engaging a SaaS design agency(opens in a new tab) specialized in SEO can amplify these efforts, leveraging advanced strategies to attract and retain qualified candidates effectively.  Additionally, partnering with an SEO reseller(opens in a new tab) can further streamline your SEO initiatives, allowing your business to access expert-level services without the need for an in-house team.

In terms of recruitment, you’ll want to increase leads to your career page.

Essentially, SEO involves using different tactics to get results without paying for advertising such as optimizing content and building high-quality backlinks through link building(opens in a new tab).

The best method for increasing SEO visibility(opens in a new tab) is usually by building backlinks(opens in a new tab); hyperlinks that link back to your website from another site. You'll want to be sure you're measuring your success in terms of content marketing ROI, as well as your traditional recruitment metrics.

Other simple yet effective ways you can utilize SEO include:

• Ensure that your website is responsive and optimized for mobile use. This will give you an edge over your competition, as more people are using their phones to search these days. In fact, according to recently published statistics, 61%(opens in a new tab) of mobile users will contact a business if their website is responsive.

 

• Ensure that many pages and posts on your website contain relevant and accurate keywords(opens in a new tab). By utilizing keywords strategically, you can increase the chances of people finding your site via search engines. You can find lucrative, buyer-intent keywords by using a pro keyword tool(opens in a new tab) like SEMrush or Long Tail Pro(opens in a new tab).

 

• Ensure that your career page contains essential information such as contact details, benefits for employees, employee reviews, links to open positions at your company, and other features that show would-be candidates why they should work for you.

4. Run “Candidate Funnel” And Other Tests

Another way digital marketing services(opens in a new tab) can help with recruitment is by allowing companies to capture data from interactions with potential hires, as well as intent data that tells you about your candidates’ online behavior.

This data can be used to determine which recruitment strategies yield the most qualified candidates, and ultimately reveal which channels are best for reaching out to these individuals.

The following tests will show you ways in which this process may work:

• “Candidate funnel” test: This is a process of measuring the effectiveness of specific stages in the recruitment funnel. For example, you may want to test the effectiveness of your job listing on a popular site like Indeed and/or other sites such as Glassdoor or CareerBuilder. By comparing the number of clicks on your listing, versus the number of applications you receive, you can determine which site is yielding the highest quality applicants.
• Lead scoring: This can be used to determine the quality of leads by assigning values based on the actions a lead(opens in a new tab) takes. For example, a lead may receive a high score if they fill out an application and a lower score if they fill out only the name and email address. This data can then be used to pinpoint which leads are ready to apply and which leads require more attention.

5. Use Video Conferencing Software Instead of Phone Calls Wherever Possible

If you're looking to hire candidates with a good deal of experience, you may find that they’re more accustomed to receiving job offers via phone call rather than email.

If this is the case, it can be useful to make video calls(opens in a new tab) where possible.

Modern employees—especially those who work in technology industries—expect to interview for positions digitally, which means you should do what you can to ensure that the company's “digital footprint” (or lack thereof) doesn't reflect negatively on your employer brand!

In Final Words

So there you have it, our top five techniques for using digital marketing to maximize your recruitment strategies.

Remember, the earlier you start to approach digital marketing in your recruitment strategy, the better your results.

Digital marketing is a great way to reach large numbers of potential employees, but it should go hand-in-hand with other strategies such as content creation and networking.

So, the next time you're looking for a software engineer, be sure to blend recruitment with your digital marketing plan.

Or, if you're looking for the next Harvey Spector at your client's law firm, why not liaise with these ideas mentioned or a digital marketing agency, to see what channels you can use to find that perfect candidate?

Written by–

Koa Frederick

Koa Frederick(opens in a new tab) is the Senior Vice President of SaaS Strategy at accelerate agency, a B2B SEO firm(opens in a new tab) that exclusively partners with enterprise tech companies to scale their SaaS SEO(opens in a new tab) and content marketing(opens in a new tab). Koa has extensive experience in growing SaaS brands via organic leads and loves to write in her spare time.

Blog summary 

Digital marketing combines traditional marketing strategies with adaptations to meet the unique needs and preferences of digital natives. By using these five tactics, you can build a candidate pipeline, improve brand awareness, and convert passive talent into active applicants.

• Share employer brand stories via social media. 
• Use blogging to humanise your recruitment brand. 
• Increase SEO visibility for your career pages. 
• Run candidate‐funnel tests and experiments.
• Use video conferencing (instead of just phone calls) to enhance engagement.