The world is full of experts – No, really…

It is quite bizarre to see the whole world are now trainers in social media – everywhere you look – promising to take you to the golden sunset in the sky. It can be anyone with a Twitter account, LinkedIn company page or access to Google + and yet there seems to be so few  examples of success. Here are a few we have worked on recently, just to prove you can make it work – with applied science and thinking.

Recruiting with Social Media:

The last three HR roles I have put through social media channels and pushed round my networks have been successful – an HR Manager in Edinburgh, a Head of OD in Glasgow and a Head of Recruitment in Glasgow. All involved simple web basics, social media, contacts, networking and a bit of LinkedIn. All three were done for a costs in the hundreds of pounds – rather than thousands. I still find LinkedIn-only approaches can be hit or miss, especially via Inmail – despite all the outward selling, it’s not a passive candidate silver bullet – just another part of a varied successful strategy.

Managing Company pages

The A G Barr example I have used proves that with the right push and message you can attract and deliver new followers and in the last three months we have created and populated 3 other Company Pages on LinkedIn. They do work, but again you need a follower and content strategy.

Training

I don’t actively sell the training we do – I let word of mouth do that for us. It doesn’t work for everyone and needs behavioural change within an organisation – but you can add social media to your recruiting process and at worst help display your roles getting them to new people.

Creating a complete social media strategy

I am helping two companies at the moment deliver social media strategies – one established and high flying – one brand new – both have interesting challenges and both have exciting times ahead. In both cases the willingness of the companies has been huge and as the saying goes watch this space.

Lists

I still do random lists for companies, lists of candidates from social media. It is thanks to some newly found tools that these lists often contain little gems – candidates that are easily found from all social media. I have one on-going that is extremely confidential, but its figures are hugely impressive to say the least 15 top class names against brief, 11 contacts, 4 to short-list.

Thanks to all the clients we have worked with in the last 6 months – all out there using social media – I will share a few examples with you later in the year through client testimonials.

Incidentally: the picture is Crammond and the sunshine is real!