Useful for finding prospects, optimizing your company’s image and extending your professional network—Twitter is no longer the prerogative of a minority. Nowadays, companies are investing time in its use, especially for recruiting campaigns.
The microblogging service, which passed the 100-million-user mark worldwide six months ago, enables the sending of 140-character messages, or “tweets,” to its users, called “followers.” When wisely used, Twitter can—like its peers Facebook and LinkedIn—provide companies with high added value.
Recruiting platform
Outwardly, there was nothing about Twitter that predestined it for recruiting, and yet, HR professionals are increasingly using it as a distribution channel for job ads, especially in the high technology and computer fields. “A company wanting to hire a community manager will easily find one on Twitter,” says Kim Auclair. “For traditional managers, though, you have a greater chance on LinkedIn.”
What if you’re just starting out on Twitter and have not yet had time to develop your professional network? To tweet a job posting, be as clear as possible. Specify the name of your company, the position to be filled and the length of the contract. “You should also link to your company’s career section,” she adds. The objective is to make it as easy as possible for your followers to repost the ad.
To expand your visibility, you also need to knock on the right doors. “Recruiters need to identify influential persons in their sector, and ask them to post their job ad,” Kim Auclair specifies. To find such people, refer to user directories like Twellow and Just Tweet It. Another tip: be sure to link your Twitter account to other social networks (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Viadeo) to publish your tweets on other platforms and enjoy even greater visibility for your job ads.
Looking after your employer brand
Like LinkedIn, Twitter is an excellent way for companies to restore their image, stand out from the competition and be recognized for the quality of their activities and work environment—especially by potential candidates.
To successfully communicate your corporate values on Twitter, follow this rule: interact with your contacts! Don’t use Twitter sporadically; spend at least an hour a day tweeting on your recruiting policy, company projects, and kinds of profiles you’re looking for. You can also differentiate yourself by sending private messages to your contacts. To avoid being spammed, however, use this technique with moderation.
A competitive monitoring tool
“Conversation flows on Twitter provide companies wishing to get closer to their target customers with a valuable source of information,” explains Kim Auclair, a web community creator and manager. Thanks to Twitter, companies can not only identify the expectations and needs of consumers, but also get feedback on their products and measure their quality of service. If you don’t want to be overwhelmed by too many tweets, though, it’s best to use tools that can do the monitoring for you.
SeesmicTweetieTweetDeck and Twhril are social networking clients that monitor conversation flows in real time for previously determined keywords. Twilert provides users with more flexibility by sending e-mail alerts when specific keywords appear in a tweet. Finally, Twollow auto follows people who have typed one of your keywords.
Hashtags are keywords prefixed by a number (hash) sign (#) that group tweets by specific themes. If you are looking for iPad tweets, for instance, just enter “#iPad” in search.twitter.com, the site’s search engine, for access to everything said about the tagged word.