RED ROCKET MEDIA CONTENT MARKETING:
THE ULTIMATE TACTIC ON THE RECRUITMENT BATTLEFIELD
There used to be a time when recruitment agencies could place an advert in the local paper and, hey presto, receive lots of CVs from hungry job-seekers. It was simple; place advert, get candidates.
Then came the job boards, all vying for the attention of your candidates, advertising heavily on the radio, TV, even sponsoring premiership football clubs! The only way to survive was to embrace them and allocate sizeable budget to advertise on them.
Now there is a new threat, social media websites. More and more companies are jumping on the social media band wagon, using these platforms to advertise their vacancies and promote their companies as the place to work. If that wasn’t enough, the job boards also have their own social media websites with dedicated staff who focus purely on networking across the various platforms to drive traffic to their sites and away from yours.
So, in a battleground where your swords seem unfairly shorter than those of your opponents, recruitment agencies need to employ a different tactic.
That tactic is content marketing.
So what is content marketing? To put it briefly, it is broadcasting information which will interest your prospects which is not about or biased towards your own company. The idea is that if you connect with them using content that they are interested in, you can develop a relationship with them before they would normally appear on your sales cycle radar.
Let’s put ourselves in your potential candidates’ shoes for a moment. Say they are toying with the idea of looking for a new job but they’re not yet ready to register with any agencies. They may do a little scouting about on the internet, in which case they’re likely to get bombarded by hundreds of marketing messages from job boards and agencies all saying how great they are. Imagine though, if they had been visiting your website or social media sites for weeks, maybe months, beforehand to get their daily fix of industry-news. I bet they couldn’t resist taking a sneaky peak at the jobs you are advertising; “Hmm that role seems perfect for me… maybe I should apply… it’s got my name all over it….oh to hell with it, I simply must get that job!”
That, in a nutshell, is the power of content marketing. When done properly it is an extremely powerful tool; after all, armies that think differently will always outmanoeuvre their opponents.
To download our whitepaper entitled ‘How recruitment agencies can increase their client and candidate base through effective content marketing’, visit http://www.redrocketmedia.co.uk/recruitment-whitepaper/
At the 2011 Social Media in Recruitment Conference, delegates were asked where they spend their money:
Job Boards 39% Recruitment Agencies 20% Social Media 13% Referrals 16% Website 13 %
By the end of the session 65% said they would be using social media. (Source; Social Media in Recruitment April 2011)
This raises the question: How can recruitment companies compete in an environment increasingly dominated by job boards and social media websites?
HOW?
The most powerful way to attract new clients and candidates to your website is through CONTENT MARKETING; editorial-based content such as news which is educational, industry related (unbiased towards your company) and seeks to influence the behaviour of your prospects.
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Ø Is the market candidate or client driven?
Ø Which companies are planning to recruit this year?
Ø I wonder which platforms they are using?
Forward-thinking companies are broadcasting content to connect with their audience before their recruitment journeys even begin.
They are no longer recruitment agencies; they are publishers that do recruitment.
THREATS
Currently, the online job market is dominated by job boards. They saturate the first few pages of Google so recruitment agencies have no choice but to advertise on them.
But there is now a new threat, social media websites. Recruiting companies are using their own social media platforms to attract the best clients and candidates. Plus, the job boards have their own social media websites driving traffic to their websites, instead of yours.
HOW CONTENT MARKETING CAN GROW YOUR BUSINESS
Generating Website Traffic
You are unlikely to rank on page one of Google for search terms like Marketing Manager Jobs; the job boards have got this wrapped up. You need to connect with prospects before they get to that stage. By broadcasting industry news, you will attract prospects to your website. Eg. if you specialise in construction, you might broadcast news about a new construction project. This may spark interest in potential candidates about job opportunities, driving traffic to your website which didn’t previously exist.
View to Application Ratio
Much time is spent writing and optimising job descriptions with key words but one thing you cannot instil in the time it takes to read a job description is trust. Content marketing builds trust before candidates even get to that stage. If they have already been receiving news from your website and following you on social media, they already view your company as one which can help them. So when they see your vacancy, they are more likely to submit their CV.
Using Social Media Effectively
You want to be a part of social media but you don’t know what to say. Many recruitment agencies broadcast vacancies they have available, however, this doesn’t add any additional value to your clients and candidates. You need to think bigger about the content you broadcast. If it’s entertaining and valuable, it will spread rapidly across social media networks and open the doors to many networking opportunities.
Increasing Brand Awareness
You want to invest in branding but your limited marketing budget will yield quicker returns if spent on more job board credits. By providing your clients and candidates with credible, industry-related content, you can embed your brand in their minds earlier than ever before. They will share this information with others, effectively passing on a small testimonial about your service. They become brand evangelists.
Competing Against The Big Boys
Most recruitment agencies will struggle to compete against the large advertising budgets of the big boys. So if you cannot afford to out-spend your competitors, out-teach them through content marketing. It will help you form loyal bonds with your readers which are invaluable when you want to promote your recruitment services further down the line.
Red Rocket Media specialises in helping companies build a loyal audience of clients and candidates through highly effective content marketing. For more information, visit www.redrocketmedia.co.uk
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