Social media use continues to grow with many emerging trends and features, such as Snapchat geofilters, Instagram Stories, LinkedIn Life Pages, Facebook reactions, GIF integration on Twitter, more characters for your tweets, live and 360 video, and chatbots, just to name a few (phew!). If anything is clear, social media (and social recruiting) will only continue to grow.

It’s pretty obvious that social media is no longer a nice-to-have – it’s a must-have, especially for companies and their recruitment strategies. Here are 10 companies who took social recruiting to the next level and slayed. See how you can take a page out of their books and make it work for your company’s social recruiting strategy.

Space 150

Source: Adweek

Yet another mention for Snapchat, but this time, we’re not talking about stories. Space 150 used Snapchat’s geofilters to target college students and find a batch of summer interns. The geofilters (which were creative and relevant to current pop culture) raised awareness about the brand and encouraged users to follow the Space 150 account, where they posted a prompt to prospective interns in their story. Interested candidates were asked to “Create a Snapchat story for one of our brands as if it were the year 2020.” They received a total of 115 applications and made 10 hires. We’ve been trying out geofilters for recruitment for our clients, but this is probably one of the most creative and interactive campaigns we’ve seen so far.

Try It: If you want to reach millennials and college students, definitely consider Snapchat Geofilters for social recruiting. They’re relatively inexpensive, but the metrics leave much to be desired.

Zappos

Zappos was the talk of the town when it came to using Twitter for recruiting. They have their own Twitter chat, and they’re very active and responsive to current employees and potential candidates. However, there has been a shift in Twitter’s demographic, and younger people just don’t seem interested in the channel anymore. This was no problem for Zappos, though. They created an Instagram account dedicated to just internships, @zinternships. Content includes day in the life, company culture, and important dates for prospective interns (e.g. application deadlines). One of the best parts, though, has to be their internship spotlights at the conclusion of interns’ programs. They feature a photo of the intern and a quote about their experience. This is a sweet send off and a great way to show recognition.

Try It: Spotlight one department or team from your company. This can be a department with high hiring needs or a team that would be most willing to be front and center on social media. This is how potential candidates begin to envision themselves working at your company – when they see photos of real people and read what they really have to say about their employer.

HubSpot

HubSpot is rocking Instagram, @hubspotlife. They keep their platform fresh by allowing different employees to “take over” and post about themselves and what is going on with their teams. They interact on this channel and go above and beyond to show their strong company culture. Their employee generated content is out of this world, and it really makes you feel a part of the team. This account even gives advice and shares information about upcoming events.

Try It: Get creative with your brand! Even if your company doesn’t currently have web content dedicated to employer brand or recruitment, you can probably leverage what’s already there in the meantime. Job seekers are on social media to do their research. Show them what your company does (e.g. articles about projects or clients) in order to know if they can see themselves working there.

Disney Interns

Facebook is yet another channel that can be challenging for social recruiting for a couple of reasons. First, organic reach is down for brands. Second, the audience on Facebook is getting older, and it’s not ideal for targeting younger candidates. Disney Interns, however, still has a strong content strategy for their interns-specific Facebook page. They include eye-grabbing visuals with their career opportunities, and they showcase life at Disney in a fun way that matches their brand. Also, companies tend to forget that their content needs to provide value to their audience. Disney Interns peppers in articles like this one that are actually helpful to job seekers.

Try It: Even if your company doesn’t produce job search-related content (e.g. on a company blog), you can still use third-party content from sites like The Muse or Work It Daily’s blog. Providing value is one of the first steps to building relationships with potential candidates on social media.

Salesforce

Salesforce has some of the most active employees on social media. They take advantage of this by sharing employee content on both Twitter and Instagram. While scrolling through their Twitter feed, it’s pretty much half and half when it comes to their own content and retweeting from their employees. Similarly, on Instagram, the “regram” symbol (denoting that a photo has been shared from someone else) is ubiquitous. Obviously, cultures vary across different companies, and some might be more socially inclined than others. Salesforce empowers employees to share on social media by having an established hashtag, #SalesforceOhana. It is extremely active on both Twitter and Instagram.

Try It: Getting employees to share on social media can be difficult. Try incentivizing them by offering prizes or holding contests. Make them feel like they’re contributing, and show them that you value what they’re sharing. Retweeting or re-sharing is key.

EY

EY has an exceptionally well-balanced Instagram account. One misstep that companies sometimes make on the channel is posting too many graphics instead of photos. Instagram is photo-oriented – that’s what the filters are for, after all! EY strikes the perfect balance between photos (highlighting their company culture and employees) and graphics that display quotes, celebrate important dates, or support specific campaigns like diversity. At first glance, it’s a varied, visually appealing channel that’s very on brand.

Try It: Before you use Instagram for social recruiting, consider your goals for the channel and reflect on who you are as a company. What do you want to share? Company culture? Employee quotes? Determine what matters most and what is doable. Also, make sure that your branding is put together and easily accessible for whoever is creating content.

Warby Parker

Source: Social Talent

This eyewear retailer uses Snapchat to promote their products, but they also use stories to showcase their employer brand. They have a couple series that put their employees in the spotlight, “Desk Job” and “4 Questions With.” During “Desk Job,” employees share five things they keep on their desk, via photos or videos in the Snapchat story. This shows a fun and real side to what it’s like in the Warby Parker offices or locations. “4 Questions With” is geared toward job seekers specifically. Featured employees are asked four questions related to what they do and how someone might be able to find themselves in a role like theirs. That’s not all! Warby Parker then takes the next step and repurposes content from Snapchat on other channels like Instagram and Twitter. This not only spreads the wealth of content around but it also helps promote the channel.

Try It: Building your content around a series is a smart way of tackling Snapchat. This way, you have structure and set guidelines, rather than having to spontaneously snap content. Also, don’t forget to take that next step and utilize photos and videos on other channels.

Eventbrite

The new LinkedIn Life Pages were released in October 2016. A lot of companies are slacking on fully taking advantage of this feature, but Eventbrite got right to it. Their page is totally filled out, complete with a selection of their leadership team, company photos, and a simple yet engaging video that showcases their employees. For the Employee Perspectives section, they selected a maximum of three articles, each of them related to what they do as a company.

The articles are recent and published by employees from a variety of departments on their team. As a note of improvement, they might include articles that would appeal to job seekers, e.g. job search tips or day in the life at Eventbrite.
Try It: Creating your new Life Page is easy! Remember, this is exactly what job seekers will be looking at while researching what it’s like to work at your company. Make sure to curate content and design with them in mind!

ProCore Technologies

Another great example of using Instagram is from ProCore Technologies. @procoretech  shows great images about what the company does and its values. Most notably, their employee perspectives posts are a great representation of what their employees have to say. Sharing insights from team members helps candidates learn if the company is the right fit.

Try It: Publishing thoughtful, meaningful posts on Instagram can build thought leadership, contribute to employee brand, and network growth.

Cisco

Source: blogs.cisco.com

Everyone in the industry was buzzing about how Cisco turned their employer brand and social recruiting ship around. Most notably, they’ve built one of the strongest Snapchat strategies I’ve seen. If you have them added on Snapchat, they will almost always appear in the recent stories. Their key to success has been their ability to pass the torch (or smartphone) to their employees. Their Snapchat story is a mix of content – day in the life, special events, and showcasing career opportunities (e.g. hiring fairs).

Try It: Snapchat is not for everyone, but if you want to attract millennials (and, let’s be real, if you have the bandwidth to dedicate to it), start small. Try snapping your company’s visit to a career fair or a college campus hiring event. Even if you don’t have a big following, you can get a feel for what it takes to build a Snapchat story.

Suggested Reading:

Social Media 101 for Recruitment Marketers and Recruiters
3 Things You MUST Try On Instagram For Recruitment
The Benefits of Using Social Media to Strengthen Your Employer Brand

Which other companies are doing great things on social media when it comes to careers? Let us know below, and we will add to this article.

Audrey Agot Fox

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Audrey is a writer with experience in marketing, advertising, content marketing, social media, and recruitment marketing. Her work spans a variety of industries, including software and technology, but her deepest passion is using her writing to promote social justice and literacy for all. When she's not writing copy, she's likely hanging out with her dog or honing her cooking skills.