How Insperity Recruiting Services Uses Social Media

Recruitment agencies have always had a challenge when it comes to social media. Firstly, they need to grab the interest of potential candidates through exciting and eye-catching content. Secondly, they need to make them want to apply for any positions they have, and then, finally, they have to keep them interested. This marketing can sometimes be quite time-consuming and take a lot of effort. However, recruitment agencies like Insperity show good results for a high level of input on social.

Insperity has been advising and recruiting from America’s top businesses for roughly 27 years, and provides an “array of human resources and business solutions” which are “designed to help improve business performance.” In this case study, I will examine their social media strategy, the content they use, what ROI they get and how they measure it plus any campaigns and advertising they have undertaken.

I was also lucky enough to speak with Kara Singh, Insperity Recruiting Services’ Social Media Manager along the way, and I wanted to begin by asking why Insperity use social media. Kara pointed out, rightly so, that in today’s business world any business or company who aren’t using social media “will be left behind” and we’ve already seen a wide range of businesses using social media well.

However, one of the significant priority points is giving candidates choice and Kara explains that while “not everyone enjoys using Facebook” and Twitter can sometimes be “too fast-paced“, Insperity want to “provide candidates with options“, and therefore they have profiles across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram, and Pinterest. This way “candidates can choose how they engage with Insperity Recruiting Services“. I will now explore each of these networks in greater detail and investigate Insperity’s social media strategy.

Social media strategy:

As with any social media strategy for a business, Insperity’s social media strategy is “to provide job seekers with information and resources,” according to Kara. Additionally, Insperity have an internal Brand Ambassador Program that is designed to help with the professional branding of the company (Nokia also have a strong way of doing this and read our guide on how to do this for your company here). These Brand Ambassadors are given social media training and are “responsible for engaging Insperity’s audience” online. It’s always important to give your ambassadors some responsibility and to encourage them to increase their activity on social media.

Facebook:

When it comes down to the actual strategy of Insperity and their recruitment services they have accounts on multiple sites. On Facebook, there are two Insperity Facebook pages – their Insperity corporate page and their Insperity Jobs page. Both pages have roughly 2,000 likes and regularly post content, but there’s a major difference between the two – Kara explains that the Insperity Jobs page is mainly focused on posting and “sharing advice for all phases of the job search” and this can include anything from resume preparations to salary negotiations. However, and this is important, the page also publishes content about the team behind the scenes, so that candidates applying can see the human side of the Insperity brand. Here’s a good example of a team-related post which has a high level of engagement:

The main contrast between the two pages is the Insperity corporate page focuses on “the entire [Insperity] organization” and does not post any career or recruitment topics. If a business has the same setup – with a recruitment section that is quite huge and can be a brand by itself, it’s sometimes important to split up the two to avoid confusion. Here’s a good example of a post from the corporate page, all to do with toffee apples (yum!) and not with jobs:

Twitter, Google+ & Pinterest:

The same strategy is used across on Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest too. Insperity have two accounts on Twitter too – the @Insperity corporate account (with almost 4,000 followers) and @InsperityJobs account (with almost 8,000 followers). The @Insperity corporate account tweets between 5 and 10 times a day, with most tweets being non-visual and links to blog posts. Sometimes they use hashtags for bigger news, for example:

Insperity Launches OrgPlus RealTime Express – http://t.co/lAGkBHXOHf #orgcharts #organizational #planning

— Insperity (@Insperity) October 21, 2014

On the opposite side, the @InsperityJobs account tweets less than the main account (roughly between 5 and six times a day) and links to content related to job seekers – e.g., CV tips, resume advice and interview tips:

How To Get A Recruiter’s Attention On LinkedIn http://t.co/HSl915oWIm #JobSearchTips

— Insperity Jobs (@InsperityJobs) October 21, 2014

In general, they use Twitter extremely well – doing manual retweets of interesting content, and even cross-promoting to their other social networks. However, something they lack in engagement with other users. They could use Twitter to its full potential and post interesting content that grabs people’s attention and engage with those who may be possible candidates. Don’t let those amazing prospects slip through your hands!

On Google+, Insperity post similar content to Facebook and Twitter on their Insperity and Insperity Jobs pages. Both pages may only have around a hundred followers each but have had thousands and thousands of views. I always feel that companies mistakenly ignore Google+ – it’s indexed by Google and updates can sometimes appear in search results. Google is the first place people come to search for positions, so if you’re using Google+ correctly, there’s a higher potential that you’ll reach the correct type of person. Another clever trick I noticed was an Insperity Careers page. The only update points to the Insperity Jobs page, and is a different way of collecting and redirecting those who may be searching the word ‘Careers’ instead of ‘Jobs.’

Great work Insperity! This will be additionally helpful when it comes to Google search results as searches for careers will also bring up this page (as you can see from the views total alone).

When it comes to Pinterest, Insperity has the Insperity corporate page and the Insperity Jobs page. The corporate page contains boards that are meant to inspire on a broader scale – ‘Inspiring Quotes’ and ‘Inspiring Books’ are two boards which are regularly updated (and give an insight into where Insperity may have got their name from – a want to inspire). The Insperity Jobs page has more followers (almost 3,000) and a higher number of boards, and, again, these are all career and job-based. The content is varied and sometimes humorous, such as this ‘What NOT to Wear to Work’ board:

Through engaging content that can be relevant to job seekers, those at work and even fashion fans, Insperity has hit a goldmine and know exactly what they’re doing with Pinterest. Across all social networks, it’s important sometimes to swap your content, so you are relevant to a broader audience.

LinkedIn & Instagram:

The only networks which have one account are LinkedIn, and Instagram. LinkedIn only has one main corporate Insperity page, which is reserved for a mix of job search content (for the LinkedIn users), company updates and professional posts. Instagram has one account – @InsperityJobs and this is mainly used for behind-the-scenes photos and inspirational quotes (which are then posted on other networks).

However, it’s no use having a robust social media strategy if you don’t get results. Kara explains that Insperity “see an equal amount of activity on Twitter and Pinterest,” but due to “two very different reasons.” Twitter is read by job seekers and anyone who is interested in furthering and improving their career. Pinterest “captures a more passive audience” who are interested in seeing content about career-related topics (as was mentioned above).

Insperity has shown that if you have a highly engaged strategy with varied content across many networks, you can reach any candidate (active or passive candidate) in the broader audience. Additionally, by splitting pages on individual networks, they’ve allowed for more specialized content to ensure they don’t switch off any viewers.

Content:

When working on social media, it’s crucial that you also get your content marketing correct. Insperity sometimes share free guides and information booklets on all their networks and Kara explains that instead of bringing traffic to their site, these are used to “create connections with new followers” who would not have connected with Insperity otherwise. Sometimes, the only way to grab people’s attention is to give them something free!

In terms of subject, each network has a subject matter that is popular: on LinkedIn “employee-generated blogs perform well“, while on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter it’s the behind-the-scenes content that gets the highest engagement. On Pinterest, it’s the “topics of employee interest” (e.g., workwear and job success) that get the most interactions. We’ve found that, although Insperity cover a wide range of content, they keep it to a specific job-related topic.

ROI & measurement:

Alongside a strong strategy, and great content, it’s important always to measure how your social media is doing. There’s no point putting in a lot of work if you’re unaware on what you’re receiving back. Kara explained to me that Insperity have always grown their platforms “organically” and if the measurement was based on a time investment, their social media has gained thousands of interacting followers which allows them to “disseminate information on new job openings to fill positions within a minimal time frame” – in other words, they’re more capable to fill any job post that may come their way in a quicker amount of time!

Although, how do Insperity measure success on social media? Kara explains that “[any] social media platform that has a positive outcome related to advising job seekers is considered successful,” and that they’ve had “great success” across Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. They don’t, however, track clicks to their website, and this is something they’re “currently evaluating” – tools like Bit.ly can be beneficial in this!

Advertising:

Although it’s not a prominent point of social media, Kara states that, alongside the Brand Ambassadors who serve as their “resource” for advertising by sharing both Insperity content and job openings, she “strongly recommend[s]” social advertising as it’s a “valuable investment.” Her quote sums up social media quite nicely: “Every tweet, post, pin, and share is an advertisement that can reach a whole new market.”

Conclusion:

As I’ve shown throughout this case study, Insperity has a powerful social media strategy (that could do with a minor smudge of improvement in some places), share interesting and relevant content and are already measuring and seeing their success through social media. It’s exciting to see a recruitment agency being extraordinarily engaging and different on social media. I wanted to finish by asking Kara herself what her top 3 tips for recruitment agencies wishing to use social media would be:

1. “Develop a strategic plan that incorporates a content calendar of topics that can be used throughout the year. It is helpful to include holidays and any current marketing campaigns already in place.“
2. “Always be responsive to your audience. Timing is key!“
3. “Carefully select the person who manages your social media presence. Remember, you’re handing over the reputation of your company.“

(Thank you to Kara Singh and the Insperity team for their assistance in writing this case study).