How to Recruit Salespeople Using Social Media

Social Media (YouTube, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.) is hot. Many of our clients are finding they can advertise on Social Media for next to nothing -- and get good candidates.

Here are some tips to using Social Media as a tool for recruiting salespeople:

Remember, before you start that advertising on social media needs to be as brief and to the point as you can make it.  Like it or not, the nature of the media breeds a mindset with the attention span of a fruit fly.

Using Twitter to Recruit Salespeople

Let's start with Twitter: each tweet can be at most 140 characters. 

When recruiting using social media, first come up with a catchy headline for your advertisement.

Something that will attract people wanting to make money: “Earn $70 K your first year!”  “Recent college grad looking for great job?”  “Looking for driven persuaders”  etc.

Then, create the page for your advertisement, and put it on a weblink, preferably on your website.

On Twitter, you will have a company profile page.  On it will be all the tweets you have recently posted. 

They should all look like this: Headline for advertisement, then link for followers to click on that takes them straight to the advertisement, with the bottom being a click to send resume.

Facebook used to be for young people, but more and more older people can be reached for recruiting salespeople

On Facebook, you can use this same strategy, however you will have to pay for the ad; the amount is very minimal and worth checking out. 

On Facebook, you will choose your target audience and any key words you want to grab their attention. (For example, if a recent college grad, your headline ad could be “Looking to hire ____ grads, where the __is the name of the school they are a recent alum of.) 

Facebook ads (like google ads and youtube) have a way of matching keywords with your ad. The headlines for the ad will change, but the target audience, and the landing page for those who click on the ad, will remain the same. 

On Facebook you should include a picture for your advertisement, and one that attracts money-motivated persuader types.  Like a guy with a grad hat with a wad of cash in his hand.  Or, change the ad with the college logo the ad will advertise.  (Ex: The Blue Devil for Recent Duke graduates… it will attract their eyes and make an instant connection for the alums of Duke.)

LinkedIn is probably the Social Media of choice for recruiting salespeople.

On LinkedIn, which is more professional, you should use a two step process.

First advertise on www.simplyhired.com. Click the logo after the advertisement that is a blue IN: this is the logo for LinkedIn. 

This will allow your advertisement to be shown on both LinkedIn and on  www.simplyhired.com.

Also, consider going through your network and requesting members to send you referrals. LinkedIn is like a giant Rolodex that works at the click of a mouse.

Linkedin is the social media tool used for professionals, so the clientele is slightly older. They are on LinkedIn for the purpose of business. 

You may not receive as many hits, but the hits may be more serious.  The point though is to fill the pipeline by advertising heavily; this more traditional route of advertising on job  boards is what many companies are still doing.

If you have any questions about how to use any of these tools, call us at (US) 703-229-4224. We're happy to share with you ideas of how our clients are using Social Media for them.