COMMENTS
Heading over to check out your communities now! And anything to make searching easier,I'm all for. Love HubSpot... keep it coming!!!
You've obviously got something valuable to say but you need to keep it simpler for the stupids.
I DIDN'T UNDERSTAND THIS PART AT ALL:
"we ran a detailed study of our audience, performed an SEO analysis for all six of our division lines, and projected the success rate of targeting each individually. The results told us to go live and go live fast."
OR THIS
"We have strategically placed each community so that the right types of professionals can easily find them."
Thanks for the comments Animal. As a recruiting professional who is likely unfamiliar with SEO, I can understand where you may have gotten lost here. Let me explain.
1."We ran a detailed study of our audience"
This simply means we did a market analysis on our current and prospective customer. Because we have six division lines, we analyzed each as a group and then all as a whole. We outlined the basic demographic makeup, professional behaviors and trends within each industry/space.
2. "Performed an SEO analysis for all six of our division lines"
SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" or un-paid search results. Basically, if we want these groups to be found by our target audience, we have to first understand how each audience searches online and then title each group with a name that can be found by including the appropriate keywords.
3. "Projected the success rate of targeting each individually"
When we initially considered the launch of over 20 online communities, it was critical for us to determine whether or not the communities would be successful and continue to grow.
4. "The results told us to go live and go live fast."
The results of our analysis concluded:
1.That our market is very broad which makes it challenging to target it as a whole while adding consistent value
2.The names that we chose after an SEO analysis were not yet taken, hence “go live fast”. If we waited too long, we would risk losing the group names to someone else. Example: we were in absolute shock when we found out that @BostonMarketing was available on Twitter
3.We determined that all of our target audiences were migrating to the online space and recognized that if we failed to launch something of value and sustainability, we would risk losing touch
5. "We have strategically placed each community so that the right types of professionals can easily find them."
This statement simply restates what I explained above. Example: Anyone who has a background in creative will more than likely eventually stumble upon the “Boston Creative Group”
I am crazy about your post. I am nowhere near Recruiting, but have given a little thought and can see how the process can be remodeled for just about any business. Thanks for the sharing and giving a push to some great insight. You've set off an idea bomb in my head.
Main critique. Your article is too wordy and abstract
SHORT VERSION:
1. People want a place online where they can talk shop
2. Figure out what keywords your target audience is using.
3. Set up a discussion group using those keywords so they can find you on Google.
YOUR VERSION
1."We ran a detailed study of our audience"
NO CONCRETE EXAMPLE.
2. "Performed an SEO analysis for all six of our division lines"
= WE MATCHED OUR KEYWORDS TO THOSE COMMONLY SEARCHED BY THE TARGET AUDIENCE.
3. "Projected the success rate of targeting each individually"
HOW DID YOU DO IT?
4. "The results told us to go live and go live fast."
> The names that we chose after an SEO analysis were not yet taken, hence “go live fast”.
MYSTERY EXPLAINED
> our target audiences were migrating to the online space and recognized that if we failed to launch something of value and sustainability, we would risk losing touch
ANOTHER FACTOR EXPLAINED.
"VALUE & SUSTAINABILITY" = UNNECESSARY CORP BLATHER
5. "We have strategically placed each community so that the right types of professionals can easily find them."
DOESN'T STATE THINGS IN CONCRETE TERMS EVERYONE CAN UNDERSTAND.
MEANING = YOU GAVE SITES AN ONLINE ADDRESS PEOPLE WERE LIKELY TO USE
Do either of you two know where I might find a Motor Design Engineer with expertise in Electro-Magnetic disciplines? This would be for a position in Fort Wayne, IN.
If so - please call me at 260-347-1715.
Hello Meg,
Great post! I just checked out your communities, very impressive. How long (maybe I missed this part) did it take to build these?
On a side note, I thought your post was very well written and informative. I don't know a ton about recruiting, but it seems as though you just experienced "Jealously 2.0" with your recruiting peer above. Ha-ha! I guess that's some form of recognition/praise for you.
Looking forward to reading more from you...
Mike A.
Thanks for your comments Mike. It took about a month to design and launch all of our communities on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook and the growth rate of each has varied depending on the type of group. For example-our Accounting & Finance and Administrative groups have been developing at a much slower rate than say, Marketing, which on LinkedIn broke the 1000 member mark within a month.
Great post Ms. Toland - I found your article very insightful and accurate. I agree with many of your points and I should mention that living and working in the Boston area, I've been impressed with Hollister's efforts within social media. Most recruiting and staffing companies are cluless but your firm seems to be right on target.
Jonah, when I was job searching - I was amazed at how behind recruiters were - which was especially difficult for me as that I was looking for fresh and current companies (and found HubSpot, yay!). It's very challenging to trust a recruiter when you feel that they aren't up-to-date on the current trends for your industry. I love Meg's strategy to go where the job searchers are - I'm curious how Hollister is keeping the interest of people after they have found a job - I imagine it would be beneficial to access their networks of job searchers through re-tweets and sharing.
It’s interesting that you bring that up Shannon. In a business where we are literally placing thousands of professionals in jobs across a multitude of industries, historically it has been very challenging to remain in touch and engaged with what we refer to as the “passive jobseeker”(those who are not actively on the market for a new job). One of the greatest benefits of Recruiting 2.0 is that it gives us real-time industry data and access to qualified professionals, regardless of where they are at in their career.
The model is most definitely forcing our business to remain up-to-date on the trends that are impacting our candidates and clients across all six division lines. And at the end of the day, yes, a recruiter that is up-to-date on the current trends of your industry will be able to provide you with the most valuable experience and lead you down the most fitting career path.
How would a member of the group know that they were joining a group established by a staffing firm? Did I miss the link to Holister?
Hi John,
Thanks for the response.
Depending on the site, Hollister’s involvement is more or less visible due to the layout differences. Twitter, which gives you more freedom to design custom backgrounds, allows us to position our brand as the host to each group through design http://twitter.com/bostontechhub. To note: we purposely decided to have the groups “sponsored by Hollister” as opposed to being focused on Hollister as our mission in creating these groups was to bring value to the members.
You will see that each group does contain links back to our corporate website, mostly through jobs posted for our clients.
As the Marketing and Communications Director for full-service Boston-based staffing firm, Hollister, I discovered early on that a basic Facebook fan page.Outrider doing real
SEO, which means that we go straight to the heart of the problem and optimizes the inside out with on-site work.Through analysis of the site being worked on, we provide an overview of what issues should be addressed to achieve better visibility through organic søgning.Outrider was one of the first companies which offered its clients sponsored links.
Hi Meg
Sorry it has taken me so long to respond to your invitation to view the article and to comment.
What I have found most interesting is that you have sparked some debate after actually implementing Social Media programmes for recruitment. The Animal's comments are, imho, an attempt to bring some clarity to readers who may not yet be as familiar with the various technical aspects of using social and business groups, much less the sophisticated marketing efforts you have put in place.
On the other hand, this really does start to open the questions - Do the candidates really care? Will they really use Facebook to find jobs? Is anybody actually asking the candidate(s) those question?
This topic will run and run, as the hot topic for 2010. When the economy begins to rebound, will employers 'revert to type' and return to traditional media (job boards) and sourcing techniques (calling the recruitment agency), or will they keep exploring these 'new' sourcing channels?
Lots of fun ahead. We are looking forward to your thoughts and efforts.
Best wishes for the Holiday Season.
Alan Whitford
It’s great to hear from you Alan and thank you for your insight. It will be very interesting to see how the behaviors of candidates, employers and recruiters fluctuate throughout 2010. Right now social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter still remain quite cloudy for candidates and for recruitment altogether.
In regards to reverting back to traditional media:
Job boards: I don’t see job boards going away for a long time. I do however think we will continue to see a substantial uptick in competition between the big job board players such as Monster, Career Builder and Hot Jobs as they are challenged to expand and become more integrated with more online passive candidate sites – especially given the high cost of boards compared to free social sites. In addition to this, I think we will be seeing more startups like Job Thread (http://www.jobthread.com/), which bring some innovative technology to the table that has the potential to change the job board space all together.
Recruitment agency support: Tools are great for initial targeting and basic screening of candidates, but as we know well, they don’t replace the personal component that is most critical to recruitment. I believe what we are experiencing is an evolving space that will ultimately enhance traditional corporate and agency recruiting, not replace it.
Lot’s of fun ahead indeed Alan. Great to hear from you again and have a wonderful Holiday!
Meg
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