Today’s guest blogger is Cameron McClennon. He is an account executive for Paiger, an award-winning marketing tool for recruitment agencies that helps users identify, research, and nurture potential clients and candidates.
The list of things recruitment agencies should be doing to increase sales is almost endless. From recruiter training and networking events to marketing investment and staff incentives. There are countless options for business owners to consider if they’re looking to increase their sales in 2021.
But how many recruitment companies are taking the time to ensure all their recruiters are utilising their personal brands?
(We don’t actually have the specific answer, but we can make an estimate that it’s currently around the 26% mark.)
Below are three things all recruitment agencies should do to build their recruiters’ personal brands, which, if done properly, will result in an increase in sales.
1. Arrange a Social Media Audit
Firstly, let us clarify – we are not talking about recruiters’ personal social media accounts. Recruitment companies should communicate with all sales staff regarding a “social media audit,” whereby the marketing team reviews all professional social media accounts to ensure they are on brand and consistent.
For example, if all recruiters have a LinkedIn account and a Twitter account associated with their role, simple changes can make a huge difference. Ensuring that profile pictures are consistent, contact details are available and the information in bios and links all match up will ensure the recruiter’s audience knows exactly who they are and how to get in touch, no matter what platform they find them on.
Make sure any social media accounts associated with both the company and a recruiter contain branding, a variety of contact details and a link to your company website. As a whole, candidates and clients will be able to see all recruiter profiles at a glance and know that your company’s employees are on top of their game.
2. Provide Valuable Content
Whether it’s via your in-house marketing team, a digital agency you work with or a freelance content writer or videographer, all recruitment agencies need to ensure recruiters have a variety of content they are able to share. In an ideal world, recruiters would be on board with writing their own blogs and creating their own videos to share on social media, but there simply aren’t enough hours in the day. That’s why it’s the employer’s responsibility.
If you’ve already got a huge variety of marketing content available, that’s great – the important part is educating your sales staff to see the importance of marketing and connecting with your online audience. If your marketing team or digital agency has already created blogs, videos and imagery available for recruiters to share, it’s time to hold a series of training sessions.
Get the marketing team and training team to collaborate on what needs to be communicated to your recruiters. When they see the content available to them, and the type of reach they can gain by simply sharing one or two posts per day, they’ll understand how this can have a positive impact on their sales targets.
Given that it’s 2021, it’s also important to encourage recruiters to get involved with marketing videos. Understandably, not all recruiters will jump at the chance to be recorded for marketing material – some people will simply never be comfortable with it. However, if you target the most comfortable team members and ask them to encourage other recruiters to step outside their comfort zones, soon they will all have their own personal marketing videos that can be shared with clients and candidates.
3. Give Strong Examples
One of the best things about recruiters and what drives them to do more and think outside the box is competition. Whether it’s someone already within your organisation who is reaping the benefits of their perfectly executed personal brand, or a recruiter from a direct competitor, using this as an example will fuel the fire.
When educating and training your staff on the importance of personal brand, find one or two people you know your workforce are familiar with. Screenshot as many examples as you can, whether it’s profiles, specific pieces of content they have shared or just their overall persona when interacting with clients and candidates online. Get as much of a variety as possible and use it when training your staff on building their personal brand.
Being able to see what someone else is doing, how easy it is, but also how important it is to their success, will encourage your recruiters to follow suit. Plus, the more examples you have, the better – even performing SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) could help to determine who is best at what. Knowing where your team’s best qualities lie will make it easier for them to build their personal brand.
Want to start educating yourself and your recruiters on building a personal brand? Paiger’s LinkedIn Playbook is a great place to start. It gives updates and tips to hack the LinkedIn algorithm in 2021 for maximum reach of your posts. Check it out here.