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After learning about what my friends think of the Celtics, the thing that gets me most excited about social networks is how they can be used to help us make decisions. What Simply Hired has done to integrate Facebook friends and your LinkedIn connections into its job search engine is a great example of how social networks can be a valuable and productive tool.
I came across this amusing presentation on Slideshare on measuring the ROI of social media. It seems that everyone has something to say about this topic, including me here, here and here, but this one is very unique… and fun to watch.
It’s point is that you cannot measure the ROI of social media by just looking at social media data. The impact social media can make on a business can be significant, but it is non-financial. One of the classic comebacks in the social media ROI debate several years ago was “how you measure the ROI of putting on your pants?” (The funny thing is that this golden oldie surfaced again in an AdAge article just last week so I guess it’s getting a second wind.) The idea is that interaction with prospects in social media… and putting on your pants… are all critically important to the outcomes you achieve in your day, but you cannot arrive at an ROI by analyzing that activity alone. They are important precursors to the business transaction where the financial impact of the transaction occurs. This is the only point where ROI can be measured.
I had an opportunity to film a segment on social media for the New England Job Show recently. If you’re not familiar with them, the New England Job Show is a TV show about helping job seekers succeed in their job search. Shows are streamed on their website at NEJS.org and they are available on TV on Comcast OnDemand in the Local Programs area.
JCSI is a big believer in the power of social media to improve recruiting practices. This blog and much of this site were created to communicate our point of view. We’ve also created a road show that we’ve taken to clients and out on the road at SHRM and recently to a sold-out even at NEHRA this week.
With the economy beginning to turn around, entry-level job seekers are starting to shop around the job market instead of jumping at the first company who offers them a paycheck. Choosing a first job is a tough decision for anyone, but for recent college graduates, it’s their first leap into the real world.
A few months prior to graduation; my classes, email inbox and seemingly every conversation I had with my parents revolved around my job search. I hadn’t even ordered my cap and gown and already I was stressed about what I was going to do with my post-college existence. What do I want to do with my life? The question was so simple, yet so complicated. Along with the millions of other students in America who graduated alongside me, we all pined over the same question which was more difficult than any we would find on a final exam.
I started using Facebook when I was a freshman in college, when profiles were filled with favorite movies, music and that picture you looked great in from the weekend before. It has been 5 years since its inception, and Facebook has evolved from a way for college kids to keep up with their friends to a business communication tool. Now more than ever, companies are using this popular community to recruit talent for open positions and connect with their current employees.
We know that many companies are still reluctant to jump into social media, but why? Equation Research provides some interesting insights in their new Marketing Industry Trends report. The report compares the responses from agencies, small companies and larger companies (defined as 500 or more employees) to see how marketing is evolving with the changing consumer/media landscape. It is interesting to see how each of these groups view social media differently, but we’ll focus on the responses from large companies here.
As a staffing partner to Boston Scientific, JCSI has created a careers page for Boston Scientific on the Facebook social network. We are big believers that social media participation on sites like Facebook are the most effective way to communicate the value of a career with a company and to recruit talented people not actively looking for a job.
A new study from Altimeter Group and the Wetpaint shows that financial performance of a company correlates to the level of engagement the company has with its audience in social media.
The report analyzes the social media activities and practices of the 100 brands in BusinessWeek’s 2008 “Best Global Brand” publication. Companies were evaluated on 40 social media attributes and the results were cross-referenced to the company’s publicly available financial reports. The results are pretty compelling. Those companies with the greatest engagement scores outperformed other companies in both revenue and profit. Read More
There are many studies about the amazing growth of Twitter, but it is more interesting to see how the influence of Twitter is changing business. Here is another anecdote… PR blogger Todd Defren had problems with his new Netgear router so he called the company’s customer service number for assistance. After waiting on hold for half an hour he was dumped into a voice mail with a message promicing a prompt return call. You know what happens next – days go by and that return call never came. Todd airs his frustration on Twitter and within minutes he gets a response from Netgear on Twitter and he is given a direct line to a specialist who solves his problem in minutes.
Forrester Research published a new report this week on the future of the social web. This identifies the series of stages over the next several years that will transform the social web from disjointed communities to a shared social experience that will shift influence away from brands and replace current CRM systems.
JCSI exhibited at the SHRM Staffing Conference in Las Vegas this week. As usual, our booth was a fun place with our orange guerilla “Reqs” entertaining the attendees. (see the pictures here on our Flickr page) .
Since we had a large booth space this year, we wanted to try something different. The role of social media in HR wasn’t discussed in depth at the conference so we conducted several live workshops at our booth on the impact social media is having on staffing and recruiting today. The feedback was very positive and many people stuck around to continue the discussion on an individual level. I thought I’d share the slides with you here. Feel free to contact me anytime to discuss this in more detail.
I am a big proponent of importance of a strong employment brand in recruiting so Ken Horst’s post “Employment Branding - Your Agency’s Big Lie” on RecruitingBlogs.com struck a chord with me. Ken states that agencies can’t build employment brands with ads, and unless you are listed on Fortune’s “Best Places to Work” your money is better spent on lottery tickets.
SocialMediaExporer.com is one of my favorite blogs. Every day you can find thought-provoking opinions, engaging writers and valuable insights on the social media. Just after Easter, Kat French posted her “10 Commandments of Content Marketing” where she summarizes what it takes to success in social media. I like this list because effective recruiting online is all about sharing and distributing your content across web platforms for the right audience at the right time. Here’s her list and every one of them applies to our social media staffing strategies: