Master Social Selling As A Recruiter
“If he’s not on social media, does he even exist?!”
Remember when we grew up reading about ‘six degrees of separation’? The idea that all of us are linked with each other via six social connections? Well, thanks to lower data charges and frequent easy access to internet, that number has shrunk. According to a Facebook report (1) from 2016, we are now connected to every other person through only three and a half other people! That’s right, a friend of a friend of yours might be having coffee right now with Elon Musk or JK Rowling!
In this part of the world, social media is huge! Did you know Saudi Arabia has 15 million, 13 million and 11.5 million users on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (2) respectively? And that UAE ranks #1 as the most connected country on LinkedIn (3)? The stats say it all, social media is here and it’s not going anywhere! So, what does this mean in the context of businesses? Every business today has a social media strategy in place and though different platforms work for different industries, B2B businesses and professionals usually try to leverage the global reach of LinkedIn.
This has given birth to a new term social selling. Rather than cold calling or direct sales, the idea here is to build and nurture relationships on a social media platform with prospects that may later convert and bring in business. As cliched as it may sound, social selling is not rocket science! It’s a simple strategy sales professionals and recruiters can adopt as a part of their overall work plan.
Here at AIQU, as a recruitment agency specialising in IT staffing services, we encourage our recruiters to actively use social media to grow their networks of prospective clients and job seekers. Well, we just inform them of the best practices, rest is up to them 😉
(We’re watching you AIQU recruiters)
Here are 6 easy steps to master Social Selling as a Recruiter:
Create your personal brand:
You are not your company; you are a part of your company. As a recruiter, sometimes, your name will precede the business you represent. Remove that profile picture of you lounging on a hammock smoking sheesha and replace it with a smart professional photograph. Be polished and attract the crème de la crème!
Build your network:
Accept connections and send out requests left, right and centre! Ensure you maintain a healthy hybrid network of current/prospective clients and active/passive job seekers. The more connected you are with people, the further reach your posts will have leading to more responses and higher engagement levels!
Understand your audience and platform:
Facebook is chill, LinkedIn is serious. People have already created perceptions about different platforms so use that to your advantage. We didn’t make a TikTok video for this blog for a reason. But we will share this on our Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and hopefully so will our recruiters on their profiles. (☹Please guys!)
Share stories:
“He came late for the interview. He forgot his briefcase. He had three lemons. But I had a spoon and hired him. He is a genius. Believe in people!” – we’ve seen this content format on LinkedIn a million times already! Don’t be preachy and don’t come across as a charlatan. All we’re trying to say is add a human touch to your posts by creating stories that appeal to your audience. Don’t make them ‘unfriend’ you!
Nurture relationships:
“Thanks for connecting! Please buy my stuff!” “How about no?!” Avoid selling and pushing your services onto your connections. Build your relationship with them. Engage with their content, ask them to share their expertise and tag them only on relevant posts.
Use Technology & Data:
Work smart, don’t work hard. Yes, we just paraphrased it but you know what we mean. Make technology work for you. Different platforms have different tools that facilitate recruiting and selling. Use them for insights and to understand how you can use social media to your benefit.
We end this blog with an interesting thought: as you already know, our team of highly skilled 360 recruiters specialise in technology and IT staffing. Some of our specialisations focus on IT infrastructure and software engineering which means we hire people who create technology and software that further helps us in hiring more people. Chicken or egg? Who did what first?
Comment on what you think!
AIQU Search is amongst the leading IT recruitment agencies in Saudi Arabia. We can help businesses with tech-recruitment or IT outsourcing in Saudi Arabia. If you’re a job seeker, don’t be shy to connect with our recruiters on LinkedIn!
References:
- Facebook Research Report, Three and a half degrees of separation, 2016
- Hootsuite, Digital in 2019 Saudi Arabia, 2019
- Gulf News Article, UAE ranks as most connected country on LinkedIn globally, 2017
