Social media recruiting: build a practical channel plan

Look at where relevant candidates find employer and role information. Review how other employers use those channels, including the content they share and the conversations it invites.

Use that review to choose where to spend the team's effort. Check current channel features before depending on a particular listing or contact route, and keep the career page accessible as a reference.

Agree the qualifications and responsibilities relevant to each vacancy. Identify the part of recruitment that needs improvement, such as reaching people with relevant experience or making role information easier to find.

Keep the employer message grounded in the work. The employer branding guide can help you connect the content with employee experience rather than trying to attract candidates through a generic promise.

For an illustrative open-banking company recruiting an Implementation Manager, choose a post about how the role connects customer conversations, technical colleagues and provider relationships. Link to the vacancy with its actual responsibilities, location and working arrangements. Ask the recruiter to own replies and check where applicants heard about the role. The open banking employee journey explains the people around that role; the recruitment post should still give candidates a direct route to the vacancy.

Define the vacancy, review period and recruitment goal before comparing channels. Track applications that meet the agreed role requirements, progress to interviews and accepted offers. Record channel spending and the team time needed to create content and respond.

Use the same definitions for the channels being compared. Follow applications received during the same intake period to an agreed review date, and report applications still in progress separately. This gives candidates a comparable opportunity to reach an interview or offer. Record how candidate source information was obtained and mark unknown sources rather than assigning them to the latest post. Likes and follows can show interest in content, but they do not establish that a post caused an application or hire.

Create a calendar and give people responsibility for content and conversations. Employees can share real accounts of their work, with guidance about the organisation's message and the purpose of the activity.

Make the application link and contact clear. Use the candidate engagement guide to plan replies and follow-up so an interested candidate can reach the next step.

Bring the team together to compare results with the goal. Identify which content and channels produced useful contact, where effort did not help and what should change next.

Check the candidate journey beyond the social post. A channel can introduce the role, but the application, interviews and updates still need clear information and people responsible for them.