Social media valuable for hiring, marketing

July 9, 2009 | Print this Page.
Small business hiring managers may want to check out a candidate's social media profiles before extending an offer, experts say.
When staffing your small business, the value of social media tools should not be ignored. Many small businesses focus too much on the marketing and advertising aspects of the technology, ignoring a potential hiring and networking resource, experts say.

LinkedIn in particular has emerged as a valuable tool for researching job applicants, with a Jump Start Social Media survey recently reporting that 75 percent of hiring managers go to LinkedIn to research job candidates before making an offer, compared to 48 percent for Facebook and 26 percent for Twitter, according to Entrepreneur.com.

In addition, the survey found that 66 percent of hiring managers go to LinkedIn to find potential candidates, compared to 23 percent for Facebook and 16 percent for Twitter.

Though small businesses keeping an eye on their working capital may be anxious for immediate results from their social media efforts, patience is key, experts advise - it takes approximately six months for even the most plugged-in companies to build substantial relationships via social networking sites, the news provider reported.

Recent data from Forrester Research showed that social media is expected to experience the largest growth out of any interactive marketing platforms, with annual spending in social media assets projected to reach over $3 billion by 2014.

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July 9, 2009 :: 11:45am

I was an Executive Search Consultant and had used LinkedIn for 90% of my recruiting efforts. A very useful tool to laser-target the right candidate for any search assignment.

At first I was a bit apprehensive as I thought only a handful of executives in my country have signed up and posted their profiles on LI. I was ecstatic to find out that A LOT of them are already on LI way before I even used the service for my recruiting activities.

Capital Solutions Bancorp
July 9, 2009 :: 11:35am

Nikhil,

I appreciate your comment and your recommendations. I know our readers will take a look at your book and put it to use. And yes, I agree, LinkedIn is a great resource that anyone in business should be using. As a business lender, we use it all the time to network with peers and prospects alike.

Rob

Nikhil Vaswani
July 9, 2009 :: 11:15am

LinkedIn sure can be an amazing way to enhance career opportunities. Even if you are not actively looking for a job, it will keep you abreast of what all is happening in your profession and this info can be essential in the future as well.

By the way, I am new to LinkedIn and have found this resource quite useful. It is a new book called "How to REALLY use LinkedIn" by networking expert Jan Vermeiren. Check it out, you can find a free lite version at http://www.how-to-really-use-linkedin.com/

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