If you’re looking to hire a new employee, you’re probably posting your job opening in a variety of places. If you use social media as a recruitment tool, you may have noticed the platforms have become more “pay to play”—i.e., if you don’t put dollars behind your posts, they won’t be seen nearly as often or by the right people.
Do you have to use social media as a recruitment tool? No. There are plenty of ways to get great candidates through the door without relying on the metaverse. Networking conferences, job boards, recommendations from current employees—none of those requires an algorithm. But there are some perks of using Facebook as a recruitment tool. It can help you reach people you weren’t previously connected to, and it can help reach a wider range of people.
If you do choose to use Facebook, you might want to consider paid advertising to get your post seen.
Facebook ads are nothing new. The social media platform launched its official advertising section in 2007, and ever since, Facebook ads have been a major player in the online ad game. But in the past couple of years, Facebook has relied heavier and heavier on ads, prioritizing paid content over authentic content in many cases. It’s very common for companies to pay to boost their posts or to create posts that are specifically advertisements to get more attention. If you’re serious about filling your job opening quickly, it might be worth a shot to throw some money behind a post to get it seen by more Facebook users.
Here are a few pros and cons of recruiting using Facebook ads. Take some time to consider what’s right for your recruitment efforts and your unique company.
Pro: You can reach a massively large audience.
Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world. With almost 3 billion active users, Facebook continues to reign as the king of online usage. That means you’re advertising to a whole lot of people and casting your net much wider than you’d be able to cast on your own. You can also reach people from all over the world, which, depending on your remote work policies, might be advantageous. After all, if you’re searching for the best coder and the person doesn’t need to be local, why not advertise to coders all over the world? Facebook’s audience is large, diverse, and engaged, making it a great place to post what you need.
Con: You may not be able to tell if they’re the right audience.
Facebook recently changed its privacy policies and no longer allows for the uber-specific targeting it used to be known for. Starting in January 2022, Facebook no longer allows you to target “sensitive” topics, like religion or political beliefs. These may not matter for your job position, but they might. Furthermore, because you are casting such a wide net, you may have to deal with a wave of applicants who aren’t a great fit but just saw the posting on Facebook. Sometimes it’s more prudent to recruit to a smaller, more niche group of people, but it depends on your industry and needs.
Pro: You can easily track your dollars.
Facebook ads are one of the few recruiting tactics you can get a firm return on investment (ROI) on. The platform lets you see how much you’re paying per click, and knowing that conversion rate can be really helpful for your recruitment efforts and decisions. If you’re paying for ads that aren’t performing, you can do A/B testing to tweak your ads and figure out how to make them more appealing. If your ads are performing, you can take more risks and use larger ad spends. It’s always good to know how worthwhile an ad spend actually is.
Con: That might be a whole lot of dollars.
Facebook ads aren’t cheap. Depending on market conditions within your area and industry, you might have to drop quite a large chunk of change to get a reach. This can depend on all kinds of things outside your control, but in general, Facebook ads are more expensive than they used to be and are obviously more expensive than simply posting a job opening to your page. But if you don’t pay for that coverage and your competitors do, you’re going to have a hard time recruiting.
Pro: It doesn’t take a lot of time or effort.
Facebook ads require as much time as you want to put into them. They don’t need to be a massive time commitment, and Facebook makes it pretty easy to create ads that look nice without the need to hire a graphic designer or create something in-house. The tracking platform may seem complicated at first glance, but it’s actually fairly simple to understand once you get the hang of it, and there are a ton of free videos on YouTube that walk you through what the different metrics mean.
Con: Things that don’t take a lot of time or effort can feel impersonal.
People are very used to simply scrolling past ads on Facebook. They often feel impersonal, even if they directly target us. You may find candidates aren’t as excited about a position they found on a large social media platform as they are about a position they heard about from a trusted friend or colleague.
Facebook ads may or may not be right for your recruitment efforts. Consider making an ad with a small spend and playing around with it—see how intuitive it feels, what kind of reach you’re able to achieve, and the applicant quality that comes from it. You can always turn the ad off or pay more to boost it further. The best part about social media is that it’s basically a playground or a lab where you can experiment. Giving new things a try never hurts!
Claire Swinarski is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.