It’s all about the uniqueness… of targeting your audience

{ 07/08/2013 @ 7:48 am } · { Awards, Candidate Engagement, Creativity, Social Media, Social recruiting, TV }
{ Tags: Awards, CIPD, Creativity, Digi Awards, instagram, Recruitment, Social Media, Social Recruiting, Twitter }

It’s not just the use of social media per se to find and recruit a certain audience that we’re talking about here. Knowing where to target is often used to shotgun your messages at them. But the true benefit of social media is utilising how your target audience use social media, that is the key. Joining in with them, rather than shouting at them.

Take Boots. Everyone knows you can pop in for pharmacy advice, beauty tips, etc… but for a spot of hair styling? Yes, Hair stylists are to be found at the Bumble and bumble Styling Bars in selected stores across the country. Who knew? Certainly, not many hair stylists until we started to attract them through social media.

There is a whole social media world of beauty and fashion out there – just look out for the #bbloggers and #fbloggers hashtags. Across Twitter. All over Instagram. Throughout the blogshere. It’s everyone from make up artists talking about the latest trend to hair stylists showing off their newest look. The perfect environment for attraction. By joining in with their world. Blogging like they do. Pictures of hair styles like theirs – but created in a Boots. On hashtag overload like they are. (Plus the extra twist of an #instajobs in there.) BootsStyle has become part of their world rather than looking in from the outside.

Then there is the RB Cookery School. We knew that chefs were heavy users of Twitter and that they followed celebrity chef TV shows which led us to the Dual Screening Social TV approach that we blogged about in January. This understanding of their involvement in both mediums, their love of cooking, their inspiration – and the unique social TV commentary – ultimately culminated in recruiting success after 18 months of relying on the more traditional ‘targeted’ method of industry recruitment  job boards.

But rather than us go on about it even more, here’s Jason, who was recruited through Twitter, to tell you what he thinks:

“So there I was settling down to watch the first episode of The Very Hungry Frenchman, wholly unaware that a cursory glance at my Twitter page was to change my working life for good. I read a tweet from @RBCookerytutors saying to follow them for interesting news on the job front. The follow-up tweet was the info I had been waiting for. It said, “Chef’s, would you like the opportunity to work with Raymond Blanc as a tutor in his Cookery School”. Knowing I had to react fast I sent a direct message and the ball was rolling!

I think the whole recruitment process has been brilliant. When I tell people that I got my job at the Raymond Blanc Cookery School through Twitter they are fascinated and are keen to know more. It is a fresh, modern and innovative approach to finding staff.”

@RBCookeryTutors has been shortlisted at the Digiawards, on Tuesday, in Best Use of Microblogging and in Recruitment Effectiveness at the CIPD Recruitment Marketing Awards on Wednesday night, together with Boots (with #BootsStyle) which has been shortlisted in Best Campaign. We can’t wait to see what reaction the judging audience had in the final results. Fingers crossed.