Social Networking Marketing


How Social Networking Marketing Impacts the Job Search

With the growing prominence of social networking marketing in the lives of billions of professionals, it is no surprise that companies would join in to the social cyber realm to not only post jobs, but research potential candidates.

social network marketing

As one of the most popular social networking marketing websites, LinkedIn serves as a launch platform for many professionals seeking career connections and professional guidance.

In January 2013, LinkedIn reported having over 200 million users representing 200 countries and territories.

Linked in allows users to follow companies, keeping up-to-date on the latest company news, articles of interest, and job opportunities. Company pages display employees who work at the company, as well as links to their profiles. The website also has a unique feature that displays connection maps, showing users second and third degree connections based on shared connections. It allows users to ask shared connections to “introduce” them to members outside of his/her network. This comes in handy when a job is posted with a company and it shows the LinkedIn member who posted the job. LinkedIn shows users how they may be connected to the hiring manager of the company or who of their connections may be able to recommend them.

Not only are companies using professional social networking marketing sites such as LinkedIn to post jobs, but they are also beginning to use Facebook. Many companies will post job opportunities on their Facebook timeline with the idea that a current fan who likes their page may be an ideal job candidate. This could also allow companies easier access to interested candidates’ profiles to get a clearer idea of who they are behind the professional mask.

In fact, hiring managers are now using multiple social media channels in the job candidate selection process. According to a survey conducted by Career Builder, two out of five hiring managers review job candidates’ social media profiles, and some decide who to hire based on their findings. This could help job-seekers for better, or for worse.

According to Career Builder, researching job candidates’ social media profiles provides employers insight on a few different areas. Sixty-five percent of employers check to see how the candidate presents him/herself, about half assess whether the candidate would fit into the company’s culture, and a little under half want to know more about the candidate’s qualifications.

With this knowledge, job-seekers should take great care in maintaining their online image when engaging in social networking marketing. If personal social media pages are not set to private, job-seekers should consider everything posted potentially being seen by a future employer. Job-seekers can also use all social media platforms for their benefit, posting thoughts and articles relative to the industry they want to work in. LinkedIn is an especially great platform for doing this because most social media marketing users are career-minded when using it.

As long as job-seekers are purposeful about the information they place online, social networking marketing can help lead them to success.