Recruiting with Social Media

2013-12-12T03:12:09-05:00

<p>This one goes out to all my fellow 79R's and those of you on recruiting duty. With the new algorithm being used by Facebook it has become increasingly difficult to pinpoint key times and subject matter to engage the fans and achieve the required outreach to keep the Recruiting Center Facebook pages trending.  Currently I have within a 25 mile radius of my center 1,780,000 17-24 year olds with active FB accounts. 1,240,000 35-44 year olds (parents) and 28,000 accounts that list currently in HS.(11S) </p><p>Has anyone else cracked the FB code yet other than post like crazy and toss it to the wall hoping it will stick? </p>

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 12 at 2013 8:31 AM

2013-12-12T08:31:46-05:00

I am not a FB expert but brain storming; maybe you could do an online article on your website on soldiers who enlisted about a year ago. They say what they like about the army, you put in contact info and they and their families post it on their wall. If people keep commenting only it will move up.

Not sure if that's more work than return.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 14 at 2013 5:50 PM

2013-12-14T17:50:48-05:00

I wouldn't suggest post like crazy to be honest. You will bombard your audience losing interest to follow and relevancy. Post once a day or a couple times a week. Make posts relevant to and about your Future Soldiers, their families and your center's Soldiers and families. Alternate between engaging comments or questions that will draw responses and shared photos, articles and posts.

Via the center's fan page you can like local highschools, colleges, chambers of commerce and such. Besides posting on your own page, I'd make more of an effort to post on other peoples' or groups' pages to expose your page more to different audiences.

Lastly, I always convinced my Future Soldiers and their families to like the page during FS Orientation. There are other things you can do with a FB page like share documents or create a FAQ section. Play around with it but expect an ebb and tide of interest. Best of luck SSG Burus!

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 16 at 2013 9:09 PM

2013-12-16T21:09:09-05:00

That's what it comes down to? Social Media, what happened to Recruiting events ? By the way, why are we still recruiting while we are trying to down size ?

Response by MSG Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 13 at 2014 12:20 AM

2014-03-13T00:20:39-04:00

SSG Burrus,
I am the social media manager for my company. I have developed a social media marketing plan that has been enacted at all stations in my company. The key is TTPs in how you are accessing that market without violating terms of service.
It will take a while to develop a loyal following, but consistency and engagement is key. Ensure Future Soldiers are tagged, new content is posted daily, and discussions are taking place as often as possible. Penetrate the HS market from within using COIs and Future Soldiers sending messages to their friends so that you are not "spamming" people you don't know on Facebook.
We track a number of page metrics and ROI for each RSID weekly. (I am giving Social Media training at my battalion's ATC based on our social media program).

Email me sometime and I can get into more details.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 13 at 2014 3:47 PM

2014-04-13T15:47:20-04:00

Facebook analytics can be dicey at best. I use hootsuite with its auto schedule function which schedules posts based upon historically high view times.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Apr 27 at 2014 4:29 PM

2014-04-27T16:29:59-04:00

I find it most effective to post 3-4 times per week. Also rather then just flooding your page, post articles that are relevant to your area. In my Center we have all our FS like our Facebook page, it is just another way to get information out. My feeling is that Social Media can assist the Recruiting effort and help you strengthen your market. At the end of the day live in your High Schools and conduct quality prospecting with quantifiable results and it will all pan out.

Response by Sgt Randy Hill made May 21 at 2014 10:28 AM

2014-05-21T10:28:01-04:00

At the Vermont Army guard we are having luck by posting job orders on Monster and Career builder as though we were posting like a civilian recruiter would. Using the civilian job order sites seems to be working. Especially if you are in the market for prior service professionals.

Response by Sgt Randy Hill made Jun 27 at 2014 6:57 PM

2014-06-27T18:57:28-04:00

SSG Burrus:

In the Vermont Army Guard we are using monster.com and other civilian software to post job openings and descriptions with success. You can very well see a post for a 42A Human Resource specialist right next to a job order placed by a civilian recruiter. These tools are helping people earn their master recruiter badges. Great tools as long as the recruiting budget allows.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Aug 28 at 2014 10:04 PM

2014-08-28T22:04:51-04:00

Not to drag out an old post but, social media isn't going away for USAREC. It has been a push since 2009 and we all know that is the way to reach the younger generation.
Frankly, using Facebook as a sole means to reach the masses is all losing battle these days. Social media is so vast in today's world and it requires recruiters to really be on our toes! It's that, wearing multiple hats idea. Marketing wizards on the fly.
My point is this, today's recruiters must use the big 3 simultaneously to reach the masses. We have to be the Social media SMEs. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, having them all linked to each other so that you are truly reaching your target market precisely. Using Hootsuite to manage all of your social media accounts makes things simple. Hootsuite manages, gives you reports on activity and allows you to see what works and what doesn't.
Rule of thumb, not to post everything Army all the time. Most kids these days are more apt to follow, like, favorite, retweet, regram and share every day normal things you all do as Soldiers.
I'm no expert but have put a lot of time trying to make things work for my Center by thinking outside the box, learning from others and utilizing great TTPs to be a better social media guru for the center. Google drive is amazing as well, building digital lead cards incorporated into a QR code. Or a Like my FB page QR code leading people to your page..... there is a lot out there, just use what works for you. Get with Sfc Steven Payne USAREC social media guru, he'll help you tons. Good luck.