Social Media Recruiting Beyond Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Recruiters have nailed the big three of social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, but going beyond the big three is the next step. Some of us were dragged into the social media world kicking and screaming. It has been derided and called a passing fad, but it has become apparent that social media in recruiting is effective, inexpensive, and … fun? Expanding your company’s reach via these newer social networks is the next natural step.

Think bigger … or smaller, whichever way you want to look at it. You’re expanding your reach through smaller outlets like Quora, Dribble, Github, Foursquare, and Instagram.

Quora

That best way to describe Quora is like Wikipedia with a Facebook twist or LinkedIn Q&A forums (but about everything). The gist of the site is a question-and-answer forum, but it likes to keep it clean and organized. As the collection of Q and As grows, it is monitored, edited, and organized by its users. Used optimally, the idea is that each question page should be the best resource for that topic formed by your peers. But how is this used in recruiting?

Quora enables you to take a deeper look into potential candidates. Other sites might scratch the surface, but Quora will highlight competitive intelligence, dialogue, and a reflective experience. When you can use a site to find relevant information about candidates, it’s a win. Quora is also a great way to follow passive candidates and their interactions.

Quora answers the question: Do they really know their stuff? For recruiting outside your comfort zone in highly technical fields or those above your pay grade, this can be invaluable, because there is the added benefit of the crowd up and down voting the answers.

For your own use, Quora can be a bit overwhelming in the beginning. This is a powerhouse of data that at first may take some time to navigate. But when you first sign on, you can choose to follow those on your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook pages. You can refine your search and browse by specific topics. Quora is largely used by startup and tech folks for recruiting purposes but there are plenty of regular people who swap recipes, car tips, and more on this popular site.

Dribbble

Dribbble itself put it best when it said it is “Show and tell for designers.” All types of designers use this site to flaunt their work, process, and projects. Unlike Quora, which was not designed for recruiter and sourcing uses, Dribbble is for just that. It is meant to showcase work and generate leads for designers.

This is a niche site meant specifically for the professional networking of designers and their counterpart sourcers. For the purposes of the recruiter, you can instantly see a designer’s work. If you like what you see, you can then follow them on other networks, or go right in for a recruiting contact.

Github

This one is for all things code. It too puts it best when it says it is a site for “powerful collaboration, review for code management, and open source and private development projects. Obviously, this is another niche site, but this one is for coders and developers. You get snapshots of coder insights, reviews, and work. Sites like these enable recruiters to save time and resources by giving them quick and easy to access samplings of candidates’ work, whether they’re passive or not.

FourSquare

This is one of the more familiar ones. Followers are able to see your location check-ins with comment and pictures. The world can see your hangouts and what you have to say about them.

Obviously, this site wasn’t built for recruiters, but that is pretty irrelevant. As recruiters we have to figure out what we can get out of these tools. This is another great way to interact with candidates on a more personal level. This is not intended as a spy tool’ your profile should be full, updated, and you should actually check into places. It’s okay to be a real person. You are one.

For your use, you can see conferences people attend, if they telecommute, and where they spend their free time. If there are daily check-ins at the gym for instance, you might want to let them know about the gym facilities at the company in your recruitment contact. If their home is closer to the company than the one that they are currently at, that might also be something to highlight.

Instagram

If you haven’t heard of this one before, let us now redirect you to social media 101. Instagram was a hit from the get-go. It provides unique filters and easy sharing ability of pictures. Like other networks you follow and are followed back.

There was recently a fun story going around the Internet about a young college grad being offered her dream job via an Instagram picture. She followed ePrize throughout her college career and they followed her right back. The company was able to get a feel of her work, photography, and attitude. In turn, she was able to get a feel for the company culture and employer brand.

Knowing about sites like this and establishing a presence is the key to good recruiting. Just browsing won’t cut it. The best way to use these tools is to engage your community. Become a part of what they’re doing, interact, comment, and follow. There are endless possibilities with these easy to use tools. If you don’t know how to use them, or how to get started … Google it! Don’t shy away from the fun and exciting world of recruiting in social media simply because you’re stuck in your old-school ways. And furthermore, sites like these shouldn’t be ignored because of their “smaller reach,” but should be embraced for their niche and engaging qualities.