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Social Media for Staffing.

55 ideas ... in less than 22 minutes a day.

Over the past year, I've had the opportunity to speak about social media at staffing conferences across the U.S., from big conferences like the 2015 Executive Forum and Staffing World to smaller events like the Midwest Staffing Owner's Conference and Alternative Staffing Alliance Annual Conference. I've been in crowded rooms in front of hundreds of staffing firm owners, executives, salespeople and recruiters ... and they're all asking the same question:

"What should I be doing with social media?"

I have two answers to this question:

You should be using social media to support your direct sales efforts.

Think of social as the new way to cold call. It gives you the ability to directly connect to staffing decision makers, create awareness of your firm, educate prospects about the value you can offer, nurture relationships and support your traditional sales activities. Just like email and the phone, social offers another way to sell.

You should be using social to drive inbound leads for employers, and to recruit job seekers.

Social media is an effective way to reach people you don't already know. You can use it to engage people with intriguing ideas, to get them to visit your website. And once you get them to your website, you can then convert them to active sales prospects or job candidates.

At this point, most people will tell me "that makes sense, but what should I really do?" I've learned that when it comes to social media, most staffing professionals want a specific "to do" list. They want to know the best way to invest their time on social media.

Well, here's my list:

What to do on LinkedIn

I recommend that people spend 15-to-20 minutes per day on LinkedIn (this doesn't include time for direct recruiting). This time should be used as follows:

Twitter (No, it is not a waste of time)

I get a real kick out of Twitter. People seem to love it, hate it, or not get it at all. For some, it's a primary connection to the world. For others, it's a complete waste of time. I'm sort of in the middle. I think most people waste a lot of time on Twitter, but used in the right ways, I've seen it be a powerful sales tool (and I've personally closed more than $100K from Twitter). Here's what I suggest:

Facebook

At this year's Staffing World conference, I spoke with a lot of people about Facebook. Most people use Facebook regularly (OK, obsessively), but they didn't see much business value. Then there were those firms who were killing it on Facebook. Here are a few secrets to their success:

One last note about Facebook marketing: Think locally! The most successful Facebook marketers I've met have very strong local Facebook accounts. They build a big following in a specific geographic market, and then they "train" people to know that the hottest jobs will be released first on Facebook. While larger national companies tend to have more "likes," they don't get the same quality of response to their jobs. Our best guess is that the followers of a local staffing company know all the jobs are relevant to them, so they are more likely to respond.

How will you spend your 22 minutes?

Like any sales tool, social media takes work. But it's really a lot less than most people think. You don't have to master 15 different social tools, and you don't (and shouldn't) kill half your day online.

Whether you're using social media for direct sales, recruiting, or inbound lead generation, the key to getting the highest ROI is to use the tools strategically. Have a plan for how you will invest your time each day. Be deliberate about who you target, how you communicate, and how you plan to drive response.

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