The opportunity to leverage social HR in your company is huge, and organizations are catching on. Ninety-two percent of recruiters are using social media as part of their HR strategy, and 73 percent of recruiters have taken on a prospective employee by communicating through a social channel.
In a few short years, Hootsuite has grown from four to 920 employees and receives 500 applications per week—and that’s largely due to our social HR efforts. Our VP of Talent, Ambrosia Vertesi, recently hosted a webinar where she gave insider knowledge on best practices and the competitive advantages of becoming a social organization.
Here are 3 reasons why you should already have a social HR strategy for your business:
1. Higher Employee Retention
Having a strong social HR strategy is one of the primary ways to attract and retain top talent. According to MIT Sloan research, 57 percent of employees say that they consider a social presence a very important factor when choosing an employer. (This was not a “millennial” study, with the age demographic ranging from 22-52.)
Invest in employer branding by giving your team the opportunity to learn and master social. Encourage your team to get involved and give them time to improve their skills. 76% of employees state that that the most important reason for staying at a company is the possibility for personal and professional development.
At Hootsuite, we provide a free education program to all of our employees. While you may not offer a full certification program for your team, you should think about how you can help employees build new skills to engage in social activities.
What this means for your social HR strategy: Your brand should reflect a fun and innovative culture on social, and your onboarding process should help employees develop the skills needed to get involved in your social community.
2. Increased Exposure for Your Brand Message
Employees are your best brand advocates. They know your organization and understand your vision. And if they love being part of your team, their testimonials are invaluable to your reputation and growth.
Encouraging your employees to amplify your brand through social can have enormous benefits. Based on our internal stats at Hootsuite, we know that we have a 30X greater reach on social with the help of our employees.
It’s important to remember that you should never enforce or push employees to share content. Many employees will use their personal accounts, and they should have the freedom to share what they care about. It’s your job to make content worthwhile for them to share. Our #HootsuiteLife hashtag is a great example of how we create a community across different time zones and offices to share our experiences.
What this means for your social HR strategy: Come up with fun and interesting ways for your employees to become brand advocates, and show your appreciation for their involvement.
3. A Higher Potential for Revenue
Becoming a social organization is crucial to the growth of your business. An organization invested in social has a much higher revenue trajectory: companies with a social HR strategy experience a 34% annual sales growth compared to 8% without. They also experience a 24% increase in revenue per employee.
What this means for your social HR strategy: If you’re looking for buy-in from your CEO, focus on key examples and statistics that showcase growth potential and brand exposure through social HR.
Chat with us about #SocialHR and your brand
Join the conversation! Use the hashtag #SocialHR and tweet @hambrody for more info about why and how you should develop your social HR strategy. You catch up on the full webinar here.
Ambrosia will also be presenting with Lars Schmidt, Founder of Amplify Talent, at LinkedIn Talent Connect in October. They will share their open-source approaches to Hootsuite’s talent strategies, and provide actionable resources to take back to your organization. Register for or follow the event to get all the details.