How to increase your recruitment firm’s organic reach on social media

Have you noticed a decline in your recruitment firm’s organic reach across social media over the last few years? You’re not alone. Algorithm changes at Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter have all negatively impacted the number of people that businesses are able to reach.

Organic reach is defined by Hootsuite as: "the number of people who have seen your post through unpaid distribution."

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Six ways to overcome the decline in organic reach on social media

1. Focus your efforts on the right channels

Many recruitment firms assume that they need to at least have a presence on the traditional ‘big four’ social media channels – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram – however, that’s not necessarily the case.

You need to take time to establish which platforms your target audiences are using and the type of content they are actively looking for on each one. This will enable you to devote the time and resources needed to create engaging content on the most appropriate channels for your candidate and clients rather than ‘spraying and praying’ that your content will be seen by the relevant audiences.

To do this, you should revisit your candidate and client personas to see if they contain information on the social media channels commonly used by your ideal audiences – and even if they do it is worth checking to see if this information is still the same. It is important that you are staying up to date with developments with new social platforms that are on the market – if asked, say in 2019 what was the most used platform the general consensus would be Instagram but now arguably the most used platform is TikTok.

2. Understand the algorithms

The second thing you should do to help overcome the decline in organic reach is by understanding how the algorithms of each social media platform you’re using work.

At a basic level, social media algorithms use three main principles to deliver the most relevant content to the feeds of its users. These are:

Recency – How long ago your post was published

Relevancy – How relevant the content of the posts are to your followers

Engagement – How your audience engages with your posts in the form of likes, comments, shares and clickthroughs

You should think about these whilst producing and posting your content in order to maximise engagement.

3. Create unique content for each platform

One of the biggest social media faux pas recruitment marketers commit is reposting the exact same content across all of their firm’s platforms. You should look at who your audience is on each channel and tailor the content appropriately.

For example, you could look at showcasing your employer brand on Instagram by posting ‘behind the scenes’ content of what is happening in your office or how your teams are working remotely, whilst using your LinkedIn to post jobs and demonstrate thought leadership by sharing blogs and press coverage.

You should also consider using platform-specific tools to see which ones generate interest. Ways to do this include using LinkedIn or Twitter polls to survey your audience, stories or Twitter Moments to round up the highlights of an event you’ve attended, sharing Reels on Instagram, or creating a job listing on Facebook.

4. Go live

Have you tried using live video on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter or TikTok?

Live video is prioritised on Facebook and Instagram’s feeds resulting in it reaching a larger number of followers than many other forms of content – making it an ideal content format to use to help overcome the decline in organic reach on social media. Think about how your recruitment firm can use this effectively to generate engagement and leads. For example, you could host a live Q&A session with one of your consultants or broadcast a senior figure speaking at a conference.

One of the most overlooked aspects of live video is that you can AND, in most cases, should repurpose the content. For example, you could upload the footage to YouTube complete with captions, produce a number of shorter clips for use across your social media channels or repurpose the topics discussed in the video as a blog post.

As shorter form video platforms such as TikTok continue to grow, 'going live' on platforms where your following can grow rapidly is essential for your recruitment company to build rapport with your target audience.

5. Publish quality content

This may sound like a no-brainer but it is something that often gets overlooked by recruitment marketers due to their busy workloads. However, instead of simply giving in to consultants’ requests to publish job vacancy after job vacancy you should ensure that your content mix adds value to your audiences.

At BlueSky PR, we recommend using the ‘Rule of Thirds’ model to ensure that your content attracts and maintains an engaged following.

Producing and curating content that’s relevant to your audience means that they will be far more likely to engage with and share your posts – which will signal to the algorithm that it is relevant content and therefore help it appear higher in the feeds of your followers.

6. Use your analytics

Social media platforms all have their own built-in analytics tools available which provide deep insights into how your posts are performing. Make sure it’s a regular part of your routine to use the data available to assess what is and isn’t working for your recruitment firm. This will enable you to see which topics and jobs are most popular, as well as which content formats (text only, images or video) drive the most engagement.

As organic reach continues to decrease, it is vital that you develop a solid understanding of what content resonates with your followers so that you can help counteract this decline and cultivate an engaged and growing audience for your recruitment agency.