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The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook

SOCIALRECRUITING2.0

What’s Inside Don’t Leave Facebook Out of Your

Recruiting Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

How to Set Up Your Recruiting

Presence on Facebook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Using Facebook Messenger as a

Recruiting Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

To Succeed on Facebook, You Need

Great Content and Great Tech . . . . . . . . 22

info@textrecruit.com | textrecruit.com | 415-952-6094

TextRecruit is a candidate and employee engagement platform that leverages text, chat, and artificial intelligence to optimize your hiring funnel. Powered by analytics, personalization, campaigns, and integrations, this is the most effective engagement software for HR on the planet.

Learn more at TextRecruit.com

Hire and Engage at the Speed of Now

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 4

LinkedIn enjoys a privileged position in the popular

discourse as the recruiter’s favorite social network.

This makes sense, given that LinkedIn’s entire

platform is oriented around professional life.

Facebook? That’s not for recruiting. That’s for

pictures of your friends’ kids, exasperating political

meltdowns, and those mesmerizing cooking videos.

This line of thinking is reflected in the fact that 94

percent of recruiters are active on LinkedIn,

compared to 65 percent on Facebook.1

But as it turns out, recruiters may have it all wrong.

Don’t Leave Facebook Out of Your Recruiting Strategy

While they are hanging out on LinkedIn, the job

seekers aren’t. They’re actually on Facebook: Only 36

percent of job seekers are active on LinkedIn,

compared to 83 percent on Facebook.2

And Facebook offers a much larger talent pool to

choose from, with 2 billion monthly users against

LinkedIn’s 125 million monthly users.3

In terms of sheer numbers, it’s obvious that Facebook

presents recruiters with an unmissable opportunity.

But what, exactly, can recruiters do with all those

Facebook job seekers? Isn’t the platform too personal

1 https://blog.textrecruit.com/is-facebook-messenger-right-for-candidate-communication

2 https://blog.textrecruit.com/is-facebook-messenger-right-for-candidate-communication

3 https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-recruiting/

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 5

for recruiting? Shouldn’t they just stick to LinkedIn?

Not exactly. In addition to having a more sizable user

base, Facebook offers recruiters and employers some

additional functionality that gives

LinkedIn a run for its money — or

outcompetes the site altogether.

Facebook Is Great for Branding

Consider the different ways in

which people use Facebook

and LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is largely transactional.

People only log onto the site when

they’re looking for something in particular — a contact

at a target company, attention for their latest profes-

sional announcement, endorsements for their skills,

etc. This is not a place for people who just have some

time to kill. No one’s productivity is struggling be-

cause they can’t tear themselves away from LinkedIn.

Facebook, meanwhile, is the great time suck — which

sounds bad, but is actually a blessing for recruiters.

Consider how you use Facebook in

your own life. You scroll through your

newsfeed with no pre-programmed

agenda, stopping to click on articles

that look interesting, watch videos

that seem fun, and add your two

cents to any ongoing threads that

catch your eye. This makes Facebook

a perfect place to engage in smart

recruitment branding efforts.

Job seekers on Facebook are more receptive to brand

messaging because they use the platform in a more

open, casual manner. There is a lot of competition for

eyeballs on the site, but as long as your recruitment

branding content is well constructed (more on that

in a later section) you should be able to attract more

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 6

than a few curious, well-qualified

candidates to your talent pipeline.

Competition aside, your brand

messages are more likely to

be seen on Facebook than on

LinkedIn simply because people

spend much more time on the

former than the latter. The

average Facebook user spends

35 minutes a day on the site,4

compared to 17 minutes per

month on LinkedIn.5

You can also make use of Face-

book’s ad options and sponsored

posts to increase your reach.

The extensive amount of data

Facebook has on its users means

ad buyers can zero in on the

most relevant market segments

to promote job ads, content,

and other marketing messages.

More Engaged Users =

More Organic Marketing =

More Referrals

Facebook, as we’ve established,

boasts a larger pool of more

engaged users than LinkedIn,

with a third of Facebook’s users

reporting they engage with

brands regularly on the site.6

When users are more engaged,

they’re also more likely to share

your brand’s content, which

dramatically increases the reach

of your recruitment messaging.

This organic marketing potential

can help bring in more referrals

to your open positions.

Referrals are by and large

considered the best source of

talent. Referred candidates are 3-4

times more likely to be hired than

non-referred candidates, and they

produce 25 percent more profit.7

Why is Facebook a good source of

referrals? Your employees, like other

people, spend more time on Face-

book, and they engage more with

the content they find on Facebook.

4 https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-stats-for-marketers/

5 https://www.omnicoreagency.com/linkedin-statistics/

6 https://sproutsocial.com/insights/facebook-stats-for-marketers/

7 https://www.recruiter.com/i/10-employee-referral-program-fast-facts/

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If you share recruitment branding content and job ads

to Facebook, your employees are more likely to share

those messages with their own networks. The people

in your employees’ Facebook networks are also more

engaged and, thus, more likely to see your recruiting

content. By extension, they are then more likely to

apply to jobs that interest them.

All in all, Facebook stands out as a great but under-

utilized source of engaged candidates. Too many

recruiters confine themselves to LinkedIn while failing

to take advantage of all that Facebook has to offer.

This is a strategic error that requires swift correction.

As with any recruiting effort, however, recruiters

need to be smart about how they utilize Facebook.

You won’t see results if you aren’t thoughtful in your

approach. In the next section, we’ll cover some of

the fundamentals for building a strong recruiting

presence on Facebook.

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 8

On Facebook, content truly is king. Your recruitment

messages are competing in job seekers’ newsfeeds

with other brands, publications, media outlets, and

even the job seekers’ own friends. Gaining any

traction for your Facebook recruiting efforts will

require genuinely engaging content that gives job

seekers a reason to stop scrolling and pay attention.

Before you start pushing out content, however,

you need to set up a homebase.

Creating a Company Careers Page on Facebook

You could use your company’s regular Facebook

page to host recruiting content, but that isn’t ideal.

Instead, the best option is to set up a separate page

dedicated specifically to career content. That way,

you can deliver a more focused stream of curated

content to an audience of people who are interested

in working for you (or your client).

For example, Whole Foods has two Facebook pages.

One, called “Whole Foods Market,” is purely

customer-oriented. Most of its content promotes

Whole Foods’ products. The second page, called

“Whole Foods Market Careers,” is dedicated to

advertising job opportunities at Whole Foods

locations around the United States.

If you use the company’s regular Facebook page to

host recruiting content, your audience won’t be as

targeted. Sure, some of the people following your page

will do so because they are interested in jobs with the

company, but most of your followers will be there as

customers. They’re more interested in promotions,

How to Set Up Your Recruiting Presence on Facebook

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 9

sales, and giveaways than in job opportunities. Some

customers can convert into candidates, but rather

than keeping them in with the general population of

your brand’s Facebook fans, you can funnel them

to your careers page to keep in closer contact.

The other issue with using one page for

both consumer and recruitment brands

is that it makes your Facebook page

seem scattershot and disorganized,

which can be a major turnoff for job

seekers. There’s nothing wrong with

cross-promotion, and you should share

some of your careers page content to

your main brand page in order to attract

customers who may become candidates. However,

keeping two separate pages simply makes it easier to

organize your content, track your recruiting efforts,

and target audiences effectively.

Another thing to note is that Facebook now allows you

to host job ads right on the site — and it allows users

to apply to those ads directly through Facebook. These

job ads, as you might have guessed, should be hosted

under your careers page instead of your main page.

(We’ll talk more about Facebook’s job application

functionality in a later section.)

Once your Facebook careers page is up

and running, it’s time to start planning

your content.

4 Types of Powerful Recruiting

Content on Facebook

1 . Job Ads

It’s an obvious move, but worth mentioning:

If you have a Facebook careers page, you should be

using it to share job ads. As mentioned above, you can

host the ads on Facebook directly, or you can host

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 10

them elsewhere and share links

with your followers. This is mostly

a matter of preference, although

if you want to give job seekers the

option to apply directly through

Facebook, you will need to host

your ads on the site.

Job ads aren’t always the most

exciting of content, but there are

ways to spice them up — which

you should do, considering all the

other content you’re up against on

Facebook. Some quick notes:

• Wherever possible, include

eye-catching pictures and videos

along with your ads.

• Keep the content lively. Instead

of a bland list of requirements,

foreground an exciting

description of the company’s

culture, mission, values, etc.

• You can promote your job

openings through Facebook’s

advertising options, which is a

good way to zero in on target

demographics. Buying ad

space will also make it easier

for your content to garner

attention above the din of

competing posts.

2 . Company Culture Showcases

You’re more likely to draw job

seekers in with culture-focused

content than by relying solely

on job ads alone. Culture-

focused content is anything that

showcases life at the company.

It can take many forms, including:

• A photo album of pictures from

the latest team-wide volunteering

effort

• A video tour of the office

• Blog posts written by current

employees reflecting on what

the company’s mission means

to them

Don’t be afraid to get candid

with it. People respond positively

to authenticity on social media.

Did a hot-dog-eating competi-

tion spontaneously erupt during

lunch? Grab your phone and

broadcast it live to Facebook. Post

a picture celebrating an employee

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 11

who just achieved something big. Candidates will

be thrilled to see your company recognize its high

performers publicly.

3 . Industry News and Analysis

Show candidates your company is on the cutting-

edge of its field by sharing content related to your

industry’s news, trends, and developments. You can

produce such content in house, but that’s not

entirely necessary. Simply sharing articles from

trustworthy sources, video clips from news shows,

and other industry-oriented content is enough.

You also want to share news and analysis of your own

company, if possible. Post press releases regarding

new products, profiles of employees who recently

won prestigious awards, and any other content that

portrays your company in a positive, innovative light.

4 . Helpful Tips for Job Seekers

Your candidates will greatly appreciate content

targeted toward job seekers and their specific

needs. Not only will they like having some helpful

tips and tricks, but they’ll also see this as evidence

that your company cares about job seekers as

people, not just fodder for a talent pipeline.

Again, this content can be produced in house or

sourced from other outlets. You can also consider

creating content around your organization’s hiring

process, such as a step-by-step guide to filling out

your application or a video that shows candidates

what your team looks for in interview answers.

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Choosing Your Content Format

The content you produce and share on Facebook

can take a variety of forms, including but not

limited to:

• Blog posts

• Journalistic articles

• Videos

• Pictures

• Memes

Each content format has its strengths and weak-

nesses, so the best approach is to share a mix of

different types. You can make the production

process much easier by producing multiple

content pieces oriented around the same topic.

For example, you could write a longer article

covering interview tips, film a short video

illustrating a few tips in action, and even produce

an eye-catching meme or two around one of the

tips from your article. That’s three separate

content formats derived from the same source!

While it is recommended to use a mix of formats,

it should be said that video is generally the most

engaging. In fact, some estimates claim that social

media videos generate 1,200 percent more shares

than text and images combined.8 You don’t want to

trade all your other content in for video, but you do

want to leverage video whenever possible.

Your content should adopt a tone that feels authentic

to your company’s culture and values. Above all else,

people appreciate sincerity on Facebook. That said, you

don’t want to seem too stuffy or buttoned-up. Your

content should be friendly and personable, but still

aligned with your company’s culture, mission, and values.

Don’t be afraid to have fun with it! The fast food brand

Wendy’s scored a big win with consumers when it

released its own rap mixtape.9 A mixtape may not be an

authentic move for you, but the point is that taking creative

risks can have big returns for your recruitment brand.

8 http://www.responsiveinboundmarketing.com/blog/video-marketing-statistics-for-2016

9 https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/26/wendys-just-released-a-hip-hop-mixtape-heres-what-the-ceo-had-to-say.html

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3 Brands That Get Facebook Recruiting Content Right

Now that we’ve outlined in the abstract the kind of recruitment content that performs well on Facebook, it may

be helpful to take a look at a few real-world examples.

1 . Chipotle

Chipotle’s careers page features visually engaging posts such as this one, which

combines an eye-catching picture with a testimonial from a current employee.

The picture serves to differentiate Chipotle’s post from the rest of the posts in

job seekers’ newsfeeds, while the testimonial offers an authentic glimpse into

life at Chipotle.

2 . Six Flags

Amusement park Six Flags shares plenty of photos of team members in ac-

tion, such as this picture of a roller coaster maintenance worker standing on

the tracks high above the park. Check out that view! Not only do these team

member snapshots give job seekers a look at what it’s like to work for Six Flags,

but they’re also genuinely interesting in their own right, meaning they’re much

more likely to catch the attention of job seekers just scrolling past.

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3 . Whole Foods

Whole Foods cuts right to the chase by using as its header image a series of short, funny videos. These videos are

not directly related to recruitment, but they brand Whole Foods as an approachable company with a great sense

of humor and a dedication to its mission of providing shoppers with healthy, high-quality foods. Take one look at

these videos, and you may find yourself moved to click on the “jobs” tab of the page — just to see what’s out there.

Scheduling and Sharing Your Content

There are many competing opinions on best practices for posting on Facebook, but the soundest estimate

comes from the data-crunchers at Coschedule. They surveyed a few sources10 and came up with the

following guidelines:

10 https://coschedule.com/blog/how-often-to-post-on-social-media/

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 15

• Post once a day, every day.

• Do not exceed two posts a day. Any

more than that will feel

“spammy” to your audience.

• Post between 1 and 4 p.m. for

maximum engagement.

• Share a mix of new original content,

curated content from other sources,

and previously posted original

content. One strategy is to share

different types of content on alter-

nating days — e.g., post original

content one day, then curated

content the next, then original again,

then reshare an older but still

relevant post, and so on.

You don’t need to have someone

manning Facebook each and

every day. There are scheduling

tools out there which allow you

to create and schedule posts far

in advance. Buffer11 is one such

tool that comes highly recom-

mended. Using Buffer, you can

set up an entire week’s worth of

posts in just a few minutes, and

Buffer will automatically publish

those posts according to the

schedule you set. Buffer can also

track your posts’ performance to

help you refine your strategy, and

you can manage multiple social

media accounts (Facebook,

Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) all

within one Buffer profile.

11 https://buffer.com/

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Using Facebook Messenger as a Recruiting Tool

Facebook Messenger is your direct line of communication

between yourself and your candidates on Facebook.

However, it can be tricky to establish first contact

because of the way Facebook sorts

incoming messages.

Messages job seekers receive from

their Facebook friends go straight

to their inboxes — but messages job

seekers receive from new contacts

go to a separate inbox called “Mes-

sage Requests.” To be entirely honest,

Facebook is not very good at notify-

ing people of new message requests, so it’s very easy

for your messages to slip through the cracks — unless

you get candidates to opt into liking your page and

starting a conversation. There are a few ways to do this.

Getting Candidates to Opt in to

Communicating Through Messenger

1 . Use Content to Get Candidates“Liking” Your Page

To best engage candidates on Face-

book, you must first get them to like

your careers page. Not only does this

boost the chances of candidates see-

ing your recruitment content, but it

also puts you in a better position to

contact those candidates when it’s

time to reach out. There are a few

methods you can use to get more likes for your page:

• Use posts to attract candidates to your page: When

you share posts, you have the option to promote

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 17

them as sponsored posts. These posts gain a wider

reach across Facebook, and even job seekers who

aren’t already fans of your page may see them. If your

recruitment content is engaging enough, it just might

entice candidates to click “like” and start following

your page.

• Use an email campaign to drive traffic to your page:

You probably already have a candidate database of

some kind, whether it’s stored in an ATS, cultivated on

LinkedIn, or kept somewhere else. The candidates in

this database may not have found your Facebook

careers page yet, so it doesn’t hurt to send out a

mass email about it.

You can also promote your careers page to other

mailing lists you may have. The people on these lists

may not all be interested in working for your company,

but it’s likely at least some of them will convert.

• Use a text message campaign to drive traffic to your

page: Similar to the email campaign above, sending

links to your career page via text message can also

bring in more likes for your page. As above, you can

send texts to existing candidates in your database or

to any other contact lists you may have.

It is important to note that, in general, text message

campaigns perform much better than email campaigns.

The average email open rate is about 30 percent, but

text messages have an almost 99 percent open rate.12

This means candidates are more likely to see the link to

your Facebook careers page if that link is sent via text.

2 . Advertise Your Page on Messenger

You may not be aware, but Facebook allows you to

advertise right in the Messenger window. What makes

this avenue particularly useful for recruiters is that

Facebook offers “Click-to-Messenger” ads. When

12 https://www.business2community.com/infographics/text-market-ing-vs-email-marketing-one-packs-bigger-punch-infographic-01249186#HlYebylM-l1Z5Uwke.97

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 18

clicked, these ads start a Messenger conversation

between the company’s page and the person who

clicked the ad. What better way to get candidates

to opt into communicating via Messenger than

through a direct link?

3 . Allow Candidates to Apply Via Facebook

Facebook’s job application function is highly under-

utilized. In fact, there’s a chance you may not even

know it exists. That’s a shame, because allowing

candidates to apply to your jobs on Facebook is an

easy way to get them into a Messenger conversation.

When you host job ads on Facebook, you have the

option of including an “Apply Now” button. This

button is similar to the one-click apply function on

LinkedIn in that it uses the candidate’s Facebook

profile as their application. The application is sent to

you, the recruiter, via Facebook Messenger. In effect,

when applying for a job on Facebook, a candidate

opens a direct link between themselves and the re-

cruiter by way of Facebook Messenger.

Hitting It Off: How to Start Conversations With Candidates on Messenger

Once you have candidates liking your page, sending in

applications, and clicking your ads, you can start con-

necting with them directly through Facebook Messen-

ger. But what exactly should those conversations entail?

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In some situations, the answer to that question is

simple. When candidates start the conversations

themselves, it’s usually to ask specific questions. In

that event, you’re simply giving candidates the

information they request. Similarly, if a candidate

applies to a job via Facebook, you can use Messenger

to hold a screening conversation, gather more details

on the candidate, and offer more information on the

company and role.

However, if you as a recruiter are making the first

move, you will want to be strategic about how you

open the conversation.

The single most important thing to remember is that

personalized messages do much, much better

than form letters. According to some estimates,13

personalized messages have open and response

rates that are six times higher on average than the

rates of impersonal messages.

Personalization matters even more on social media

than it does for email. If you send a candidate a

canned message via Facebook, they’ll just assume

you’re a bot looking to scam them.

If you’re reaching out to candidates via Messenger,

remember the following best practices:

• Put in your research ahead of time: Review the

candidate’s social media presence carefully. Step

outside of Facebook to find other profiles they may

have. Track down portfolios or resumes, if possible.

• Try friending the candidate on Facebook or other

social media platforms first: Then, you can start

engaging with them by liking their posts or commenting

on their activity. In general, people see such interactions

as less intrusive than direct messages. If you start

building an online relationship before moving to

Messenger, you’re more likely to get a positive

response.

13 https://newtonsoftware.com/blog/2016/12/13/10-tips-for-effective-recruiting-emails/

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 20

• Open your conversation by

talking about the candidate —

not about what you want from

the candidate: Praise some great

work they’ve done, or thank

them for sharing an interesting

post, or ask them about some

issue for which they have a

passion. This personalization is

more likely to elicit a warm

response from the candidate.

• Once you have the candidate

engaged, bring up the role:

Again, you want to frame the

conversation in terms of the

candidate: Explain why they

would be good for the role and

what the role has to offer them.

Moving Candidates Into Your Hiring Funnel From Facebook Messenger

You’ve started a conversation,

hooked the candidate’s interest

in your role, and now it’s time to

move them into your hiring funnel.

The simplest way to do this is to

direct the candidate to your online

application. You could also have

the candidate send a resume and

cover letter directly through

Messenger, which does support

document uploads.

For the most efficient and candi-

date-friendly experience, however,

you may want to have your

candidate apply directly through

Facebook. Doing so makes

Messenger into a hiring funnel of

its own, with applications coming

to you directly through the app.

If you’re looking for a more inno-

vative solution — one that takes

some of the burden off yourself

and your team — you may want

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 21

to integrate an AI chatbot into your careers

page’s Messenger app.

The Power of AI on Facebook Messenger

Some of the most advanced recruiting chatbots,

like TextRecruit’s Ari, can integrate directly into

Facebook Messenger. The benefits of leveraging

this integration are many, including:

• You don’t have to assign Messenger duty to a

member of the recruiting team: Instead, the chat-

bot can handle any questions candidates may

have. If the bot can’t answer something, it will

alert the team so someone can step in.

• The chatbot can carry out screening conversa-

tions through Messenger: When candidates apply

via Facebook, you can have the chatbot automat-

ically contact them to gather more information

about their qualifications. The bot will record the

candidate’s answers and pass them along to

recruiters for further evaluation, if necessary.

• Chatbots can make it easier to directly engage

candidates via Messenger: A human recruiter can

make the first move by sending a personalized

message. Once the candidate is engaged, the

chatbot can take over to answer their questions

and assess their fit.

If you do integrate a chatbot like Ari into your

Messenger, you can make Messenger into a

central component of your recruitment process.

Use your careers page to promote the fact that

candidates can reach out via Messenger anytime

with questions, comments, or concerns. The

chatbot will field all of these messages, which

means your recruiting team can focus on the

more strategic aspects of your Facebook

recruiting efforts.

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To Succeed on Facebook, You Need Great Content and Great Tech

Recruiters can no longer ignore Facebook. Its large

user base and high levels of user engagement make

it fertile ground for attracting talent.

However, you can’t just run in blindly. You need a

smart recruiting strategy that includes the following

components:

1. A dedicated company careers page meant

to showcase job openings and share relevant

recruiting content

2. A smart content strategy that includes a mix of

direct job ads, industry news, company culture

content, and job seeker advice

3. A mix of content formats that will capture

candidate attention, including videos, images, and

articles

4. A personalized approach to using Facebook

Messenger in order to engage candidates and funnel

them into your talent pool

5. An AI chatbot that can run much of the company’s

Messenger presence, freeing up recruiters to handle

more strategic aspects of the company’s recruiting

efforts both on and off Facebook

Social Recruiting 2.0: The Complete Blueprint for Recruiting on Facebook | Page 23

While each of the five components listed above are

critical to a successful Facebook recruiting initiative,

the AI chatbot is of particular importance. Integrating

a chatbot into your Messenger presence can

transform Facebook from just another social media

platform into an integral component of your

recruiting process.

If you’re in need of a chatbot that integrates with

Messenger, be sure to check out TextRecruit’s Ari,

a customizable recruiting chatbot that uses natural

language processing and machine learning. Ari can

announce jobs, screen candidates, answer

questions, and even schedule interviews — all from

within Facebook Messenger.

For more information, visit

https://www.textrecruit.com/ari/ today.

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