How to Use Marketing Best Practices to Attract Top Talent

Recruiting is Marketing 

If you think that, as a hiring manager or employer, you’re not in the marketing business, you’re mistaken. Candidates often seek a particular company based on referrals or job boards, but in many cases, to find the best talent, you must attract candidates in other ways. Many of the best candidates will seek you organically through their awareness of your brand. To help attract more of these candidates and increase your brand awareness within your industry, familiarize yourself with content marketing and learn how it can help boost your brand and increase your company’s visibility.

86% of recruiters agree that recruiting is becoming more like marketing and that recruitment marketing is an effective strategy to attract, engage, and nurture their next great employees.

What is Content Marketing?

Inbound marketing leaders HubSpot define content marketing as,

"Content marketing is the process of planning, creating, distributing, sharing, and publishing content via channels such as social media, blogs, websites, podcasts, apps, press releases, print publications, and more. The goal is to reach your target audience and increase brand awareness, sales, engagement, and loyalty."

You can best show off your offerings and establish yourself as an industry leader through the content you release — everything from blog posts to rich website copy to social media posts. Take a break from reviewing resumes, put on your marketing hat, and try these content strategies that will put your company at the forefront of the recruiting game.

Content Marketing Tips for Recruiters

Have a Plan

Consistency and strategy are key in creating content for your business. Only posting to your blog every few months or maintaining a spotty social media presence won’t strongly convey your brand message. Brainstorm your content ideas and create a calendar that you can stick to for each medium. Schedule a month’s worth of Facebook posts or line up a list of blog posts with specific publication dates. A tight strategy will create a consistent online presence that your followers can rely on, and newcomers will be attracted when searching for industry information.

Track Your Results

When you’re starting out, it’s hard to know what medium will resonate best with followers and what will generate the most new leads. Will it be social media, podcasts, blog posts, or newsletters? Pick one form and track your results. If you publish a weekly newsletter and don’t see an increase in job applicants after one month, it might be time to switch to social media. Keep a track record so you can determine what works and what doesn’t.

Don’t Make It All About You

Great content is all about balance. Some content (such as discussion about your business’s features) should be brand-focused, but other information should be more generic. Link to articles that others have written and create your own content on industry-related topics that your target audience will find interesting. If all your content is a sales push, readers will quickly tire and move on. Your goal is to establish yourself as a thought-leader and an expert that candidates want to work for, not to shove your business down readers’ throats. Mix it up and create content interesting to your audience so they have a reason to tune in or seek your company for available positions.

Want more tips for attracting top talent? Check out The HiringThing Guide to Increasing Your Applicant Traffic!

Make Recruiting Content Marketing a Priority

If you haven’t already made content marketing a priority for your hiring strategy, now is the time to start. Put a plan in place and increase your brand awareness by creating unique, interesting content for job seekers to read and engage with.

About HiringThing

HiringThing is a modern recruiting and employee onboarding platform as a service that creates seamless talent experiences. Our white label solutions and open API enable technology and service providers to offer hiring and onboarding to their clients. Approachable and adaptable, the platform empowers anyone, anywhere to build their dream team.