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Author: Haydn Morgans

How Good Copy Can Level-Up Your Recruitment Marketing

Posted on by Haydn Morgans

When we talk about copywriting, what comes to mind? 

Blogs? Emails? Websites? 

The truth is that copy is ALL of the writing on your site, socials and other online touch-points. Getting your copy right across all of them is important in creating a solid brand identity and engaging effectively with your audience. 

On Episode 3 of The Skill Point Podcast we spoke with recruitment marketing copywriter Luca Rosi, who shared his top tips for nailing your copy. 

What is the purpose of copy?

In most areas of business, copywriting is essentially sales writing. In the recruitment space, that means selling in a non-salesy way that’s engaging for your customers. 

Copy can be everything from a press release to an online blog or white paper, all of which require different disciplines and techniques to produce. 

Do this by addressing your audience rather than talking about yourself, because people want to know what’s in it for them. They don’t care how brilliant you are, they’re interested in your features and benefits. Your copy should focus on messages like ‘We will save you X amount of time and X amount of money’ rather than ‘I’ve got X awards’. 

Good copy also comes across as approachable. Luca says “Don’t overthink it, just give people a contact detail, show them that you’re available, give them the sense that you’re a friendly person. They want to feel like you’re interested in them.” Write with the goal of inviting your audience in.

How do you identify your tone of voice?

Your online presence should be written in the same tone of voice if you want to create a cohesive brand. While that seems like common sense, it’s a common error in our industry. To help you write consistent copy, it’s important that you can communicate your tone of voice to everyone who writes for you, even yourself. 

Brand guidelines will often include terms like ‘knowledgeable’ and ‘professional’ to describe their tone, but at the heart of it, a successful tone will be conversational. Especially in recruitment, your copy should feel like you’re having a chat with your audience. People should want to talk to you. 

Within that you’ve got to demonstrate your expertise and professionalism. Finding a balance can be difficult, particularly when it comes to using acronyms and industry lingo. Using clear, concise and comfortable language is the key to presenting yourself well online.

Luca’s top tip is “Never assume that anybody knows what you’re talking about.” Even if that means over-explaining a point, it’s important to make sure people understand your message, as that’s what gets them on-board. 

How do you write good job ads?

One of the most important pieces of copy in the recruitment sector are our job ads. But are we getting them right? 

When you look at most job ads, the first thing you see is the role description. 

That’s the first mistake. Remember that you’re selling the role to candidates, so you should start with what you can offer them. Think about flexible working, the salary, the benefits and why your company is great to work for. Give them a feel of the culture and slowly talk about the job as you go down. 

One common mistake is being too prescriptive. Companies expect miracles from people. It’s always worth putting in a sentence at the bottom that says ‘Even if you don’t tick all those boxes, we’d still love to talk to you.’ You can’t afford to alienate people that could be amazing at the job. You need to consider what’s essential and only state desirable experience or qualities as that; desirable. Don’t put people off.

The reality is that most consultants don’t get the time or training to understand how to write great job ads, but restructuring the process will improve your performance as a consultant and a company. 

Consultants will have visited the client, talked to the hiring manager and got a feel for the culture. When they’re calling candidates and saying ‘This is a great team, the culture is exciting’ etc, that takes time. Consider putting them in the job description instead and using calls to build a better relationship. 

When it comes to writing job ads, you can either take on a specialist writer to work on them or level up your consultants to grow your business internally. 

What is the ultimate benefit for a business for having great copy in it?

Your copy is your first point of contact with both clients and candidates. Getting it right means starting relationships on the right foot. 

Whether they’re visiting your website, downloading a report or reading an article, your copy is your first opportunity to show people your expertise. 

Making an impact with clear, concise copy will create positive impressions and increase conversions.

 

How to Beat the Competition with Value-Adding Content on Google

Posted on by Haydn Morgans

When it comes to marketing, making it easy for people to find you is one of the most important aspects of your path to success. 

Whether you’re using hashtags on social media posts or focusing on SEO to help your audience find you on Google, getting yourself out there should be the first step in your marketing strategy.

On Episode 2 of the Skill Point Podcast we sat down with David Ellis, an SEO expert and founder of Teranga. We asked him all our burning questions about how Search Engine Optimisation can help you level up your marketing game, and the changes that Google’s algorithms are making to the type of content that will get you to page one. 

What’s ranking well on Google right now?

Google is increasingly prioritising genuinely good content. While keywords are important, the algorithms are also looking at readability, dwell time and click-through rates. When you’re creating content you should consider the question:

Google wants to give its users the best and most relevant content as quickly as possible. If someone finds exactly what they’re looking for on page one, Google has achieved their goal. So what does that mean for you? We’ll get to that, but first, let’s look at what Google thinks is valuable. 

How does Google perceive value?

Value is increasingly being defined by the number of people linking back to an article, how long people spend reading it and how often people go back to it.

To create content in a way that Google will perceive as valuable, you need to ensure that people have positive interactions with your content and that Google’s algorithm can understand what it is and how to use it. That means using the right tags and alt text, as well as creating clear and readable content. Everybody who comes across your content should be able to see what problem you’re solving and what you’re offering, including Google. 

How can small recruitment agencies rank well? 

The key to ranking highly on Google is to pick your battles. More accurately, pick the right keywords to use in your content. 

If you’re still wondering ‘what are keywords?!’, the answer is this:

Keywords like ‘jobs’ are going to pull up a lot of results, so getting to the first page for a phrase like that will be difficult. More specific terms, which are called long-tail keywords, such as ‘senior financial technology roles in Kent’ will have far less competition, so that’s where you can hone in on your niche and start to rank well for exactly what you do. 

In other words, the more specific you are with your keywords, the more likely you are to rank well. 

Having said that, you have to be careful not to make your keywords too niche. Make sure that you’re using phrases that people will actually search for, because there’s no point making it to page one of a search that nobody’s interested in. The key is to find a sweet spot where there’s enough search volume and not a lot of competition. 

To build an authority in your niche, you need to create that all important value-adding content. Your website, blogs and social presence need to provide concise, clear information to the customer, with engaging images that load quickly. Make sure what you’re creating is well-written or produced, research-backed and clearly presented. Remember, it’s all about the consumer!

So how do you make value-adding content?

Our favourite method of creating genuinely value-adding content is – you guessed it – PODCASTS! Sitting down with industry experts and getting their perspectives, insights and opinions is guaranteed to give you mountains of great content. 

Once you’ve recorded a half-hour episode, you can get social media clips, graphics and blogs out of it, perfect for sharing to your network and on your website. These blogs are going to be rich in keywords because you’re discussing the things that matter in your industry, whether you’re talking about all things talent or diving into the topics that are specific to your niche. 

People value having content in forms that are easy to consume, and having a podcast that they can passively consume is a great way to do that. Once you’ve stretched it into bite-sized content that they can engage with on platforms like Linkedin, you’re really meeting your audience where they are. 

 

Make Your Brand Resonate With Your People

Posted on by Haydn Morgans

Creating a great brand can be difficult. Branding is much more than your visual assets and tone of voice; it should be based on your purpose, mission and vision. Building your brand in a way that reflects those core values will make it resonate with its audience and internal people.

On our brand new Skill Point Podcast we spoke to Richard Williams, the founder of the digital branding agency Unearthed about how he helps companies brand themselves effectively. Here is his step-by-step process for creating a brand identity that resonates with people:

1) Get Leadership Involved

Get the key people in your business in a room and have a conversation about your purpose, vision and mission. When you get people inside the company involved, your answers will reflect the core of the business. That makes it easy to get internal buy-in, because the people who are there every day have played a part in making it.

Start with the purpose. Ask yourselves ‘Why are we doing what we’re doing?’ The answer shouldn’t be about financial success or fame, it’s the thing that drives you all to get up in the morning and come to work.

Next comes the vision. Discuss what it is that you’re looking to achieve. That doesn’t have to be an achievable goal, it’s more of the overall aim of the company. Think things like ‘ending world hunger’ or ‘creating world peace’.

Finally your mission is your plan for how you’re going to achieve your goals in a way that matches your why. Think about what you do differently, the processes you’ll need to put in place and the culture you want to create for the people who interact with your brand.

2) Communicate With Your Whole Company

Once you’ve heard from your leadership team, look at the impact that their goals have on the workforce. Have roundtables to see whether those ideas are being reflected in the way that the company works. Take your employees’ perspectives and see what themes you can pull from both sides.

If you’ve built your brand successfully these two perspectives will match up. If not, that shows you where internal work needs to happen before you take your shiny new brand identity public.

Take the information from your leadership team and workforce and distil it into a powerful message. This will inform everything from website copy and visual assets to your service proposition. Your message acts as a guiding light, so whenever you make content or grow into a new area everyone in the company can see how that aligns with your purpose, vision and mission.

Your message becomes the glue that binds the company together and communicates the fact that your business is driven by more than profit.

3) Get Your Audience Involved

Your clients and candidates provide the motivation to keep the company going.

The most important part of a great marketing strategy is to listen to your audience and see what is working for them and what isn’t. Do the qualitative research that tells you why they do business with you, what’s keeping them up at night, why they chose you. Distil those answers down until it gives you a clear vision and mission so that your output speaks to your audience, making it resonate with their needs.

By aligning your brand’s mission with your audience’s input, you can craft a marketing strategy that adds value to all of your people.

4) Create Value-Driven Content

Once you’ve established your brand’s messaging, you can create content that your company can buy into and your audience resonates with.

Consider what value your content is adding for your customers or clients. Aim to translate your message into consumable content that people are excited about interacting with.

Find a tone of voice that speaks to the culture that you’re trying to create around your brand and comment on things that align with your mission. If you want to be positioned as a thought leader in your industry, share insights that you’ve learned from working in it. If you want to transform the industry, shout about what you’re doing differently and what’s working for you.

Once you’ve structured your brand around your purpose, vision and mission, your marketing strategy will make sense. If you’d like to hear more about how you can level up your recruitment company’s marketing game, tune into the first episode of The Skill Point Podcast here.

 

How to Host a Great Interview Podcast 

Posted on by Haydn Morgans

Hosting a podcast is super rewarding, but it can also be hard work. 

Whether you’re talking directly to the audience yourself or interviewing industry experts, your listeners’ experience should always come first. Most of our clients’ podcasts (and ours) are in an interview format, which relies on the host to hold an engaging and informative conversation. 

In this blog we’re going to share our five steps to hosting a great interview. 

Step 1 – Prepare yourself 

Before you even start thinking about hitting ‘record’, you need to find the right people to interview. Consider whether your guests will add value to your audience, whether they’re going to be engaging on tape and if they support the goals of your podcast. Once you’ve found the right fit, taking the time to research their background will set you up for success before you reach out. 

It’s also worth taking the time to research what your prospective guests do. Even if you ask them to explain things for your audience, it’s often obvious if you don’t have a clue, and you want to come across as confident and reliable to your listeners. Having that understanding will also allow you to ask more insightful questions that delve deep into their specific expertise. 

Step 2 – Pitch the Podcast

To get them on board, you should pitch the mission of your podcast and explain what you hope you’ll each get out of it. Are you offering them experience and exposure, or the opportunity to network with some of your previous guests? Perhaps they would benefit from being on the radar of your audience. 

Let them know what you’d like to talk to them about. Preparing at least a few rough questions will also help you to strike up a conversation and build a rapport with your guests. Have they just published a really interesting article that’s relevant to your niche? Are they an industry leader in a specific skill that you’d like to share with listeners? Outlining why you think they’re a good fit makes them more likely to agree with you.

Step 3 – Prepare the guest

Once somebody has agreed to come on the podcast, it’s helpful to have a quick introductory call with them. This allows you to gauge how chatty they are, whether or not you have a good dynamic and how much prompting they’re likely to need. This also gives you the opportunity to get to know each other a little better off the record, which is a good way to put them at ease before the big day. 

It’s also helpful to chat to them about any structure you’ve prepared for the episode and find out if there’s anything they want to share with the audience. Have they just published a book that they want to talk about? Are they launching their own newsletter that they’d like your audience to subscribe to? If you’re both on the same page about what’s going to be said, you’re far more likely to have a smooth and enjoyable conversation where they’re not trying to shoehorn in their own promotion. 

Step 4 – Always start with a clear introduction

When it comes to recording, we find it’s best to count the guest in while you’re already recording, and edit out any smalltalk at the beginning of the recording. We also recommend using a clear introduction format. This can be as long or as short as you want, but here’s a rough example: 

“Hello and welcome to episode 1 of the Example podcast! 

I’m your host, Jane Doe, and I’m joined today by my Lovely Guest, who is the Job Title at Company Name Here. 

In this episode we get into all kinds of fun topics like X, Y and Z, including this Secret Snippet that’s a highlight of the show. 

Lovely Guest, welcome to the podcast! 

(let them respond here)

It’s great to have you! So, let’s jump in. Our first question is…”

Doing this will give your guest time to mentally prepare, as well as building a sense of security by introducing them using facts about their professional life. It also gives the podcast a nice structure, which people will come to recognise as a hallmark of your show. 

Step 5 – Guide the conversation 

Steering the interview is a skill that takes time and patience to develop. Some guests will have more than enough to say, while others won’t be very forthcoming at all. It’s up to you to figure out how to get the best from each guest. If a guest isn’t going into much detail, asking some follow-up questions will help you get all the important details. 

It’s also a good idea to learn how to listen. Active listening, while great in conversations, can come across as talking over your guest when it’s recorded. Even just noises like ‘yeah’ or ‘m-hm’ will disrupt the guest’s flow and spoil the experience for your listeners. Good listening means staying silent and giving your guests the space to share their knowledge. 

Still have questions? To find out more about hosting your podcast, download our Ultimate Guide to Starting a Recruitment Podcast eBook, or get in touch on hello@searchstack.co.uk. 

How to get Consultants involved with Personal Branding 

Posted on by Haydn Morgans

When it comes to recruitment, having a strong personal brand is one of the best ways to gain credibility and build your network of candidates. Despite that, it’s often difficult to get consultants to put time in their personal brands or the marketing campaigns of the wider company. Here are our tips for getting more consultants into personal branding:

Set goals

Are you looking to grow your network? Increase engagement? Boost brand awareness? Establish clear targets before you start so you can demonstrate to the people involved that your efforts have been successful afterwards.

Plan out the project

Write out exactly what you need from people before you start. Approaching colleagues with a fully-developed idea of what you need from them is far more likely to end in success than pitching a vague idea that sounds like a lot of mental work for them.

Get people involved

Start by finding the influencers in your company. Who’s already posting on LinkedIn? Who’s up for doing new things? These people are ideal for testing your strategy, and when people see their colleagues succeed, they’ll want in.

Start small

When someone is used to saying yes to small favours, they’re more inclined to agree to bigger ones down the line. Start by asking people to be in a picture of the office to go on LinkedIn. Move to suggesting them starring in a video for the company’s page. This will boost their ego and set you up for a win. 

Be open to their ideas

If the aim is to get people excited about building their own online presence, encouraging their input is a great way to build confidence. 

Keep them updated

Get enthusiastic consent from people before you post anything that they’re in. Let them know when it goes live and where it is too, as that’ll encourage them to interact with and take pride in the content they helped produce. Be sure to share its progress and celebrate your wins together!

Offer support 

Being online comes with a host of challenges. It’s easy to get sucked into vanity metrics or succumb to the taunts of online trolls, so offering support to people who are venturing online is an essential part of encouraging your consultants to utilise their personal brand. This can be as simple as showing up for them if they’re having a hard time.

Say thank you

Once you’ve gotten people involved, it’s important to show your appreciation for their time and effort. Shout about who’s helped you and share the wins that your consultants have as a result of their personal branding work. 

Translate your success

Once you’ve got your trendsetters creating, posting and sharing great content, it’s time to get everyone else involved. Ask your first consultants to act as advocates for personal branding amongst their colleagues. You can use those metrics from the beginning to show people the impact an online presence can create, or you can let your wins speak for themselves. People don’t want to be left behind. 

Still need some help getting started? Reach out to see how we can help you build your own marketing strategy and promote your personal branding strategy. 

The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Recruitment Podcast 

Posted on by Haydn Morgans

You need to market your recruitment company. Where do you start? 

Maybe you’ve got your own website or you’re active on LinkedIn, but your content isn’t converting. 

If you’ve been here before, you’ll know that the answer is by adding value to your audience. 

People want to be informed or entertained, so everything you share should meet at least one of those criteria. The real magic happens when you combine that with promoting your business and boosting brand awareness. 

While sharing behind the scenes snaps or videos of your office pets is a great way to engage people, it won’t get them invested in your company in the right way. They’ll think of you as the ‘funny dog people’, not industry experts. 

So what is the best way to market yourself as a thought-leader in your niche? 

Podcasts. 

They’re a great way to get in front of the right people, and are fantastic sources for all kinds of content. Whether you’re cutting clips to share on social media or collating expert answers into a research-backed whitepaper, podcasts are the holy grail of recruitment marketing. 

As well as the endless stream of value-adding content that podcasts give you, they have the added benefit of putting you face-to-face with some of the biggest names in your industry – not to mention potential clients and networking opportunities. 

Our customers have reported that up to 50% of their new clients come from their podcasts. Whether those clients are people who have appeared on the show or have simply been inspired by it, a podcast is a brilliant outreach tool. 

Podcasts are also a great way to share your knowledge. If you have a hot take on the next recruitment technique, you can talk about it on air. If you’re smashing your targets this quarter, what better way to celebrate than updating your network in an interesting clip on how you did it? Consistently talking about your expertise and success will build your brand and establish you as a thought leader and industry insider. 

What’s next?

Okay, so we’ve sold you on podcasts. What’s next? How do you get started? 

If you feel confident that you can do it on your own, what’s holding you back? If you need a hand getting set up, we’re more than happy to help. 

No matter what your ability level or marketing budget, our Ultimate Guide to Starting a Recruitment Podcast will help you take the next step. Made up of years of experience-based advice, this eBook is your one-stop guide to getting started in the podcast game. 

The eBook is launching on Monday the 9th of January, so check back then to download your free copy! We’re also making a Notion template available to everyone who downloads a copy of the eBook, giving you the opportunity to flesh out your podcast plans using our structured template. 

How can we help?

If all of this sounds like a great idea, but you’re not sure you’ve got the time, we’re on hand to help you with all your content creation needs. All you need to do is record each episode, and we’ll do the rest, creating the podcast of your dreams. 

Contact us on hello@searchstack.co.uk to talk about how we can support you in starting the next big podcast in your niche. 

Building Communities & Audiences on Linkedin in 2023

Posted on by Haydn Morgans

We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: building an engaged community is the holy grail of recruitment marketing. 

If you want to meet inspired professionals on their forum, the chances are you’re doing a lot of work on Linkedin. To set you up for success, we’ve put together the best advice for growing your audience and building a community in 2023. 

Plan for the Long-Term

As any writer will tell you, you should always start with a plan. Before you set up your strategy for the year ahead, it’s worth researching what your network is talking about and how they perceive you or your company. 

From there, you can create a roadmap and figure out where you want to end up. Do you want people to be more engaged with your content? Do you want a better ROI for your business? Do you want to up your follower count? 

Make a plan that outlines your goals and consistently work towards them. 

When it comes down to your content it’s important that you communicate your company’s mission. That gives people a reason to listen to you and tune into what you have to say. Your mission should be the reason that you’re doing what you’re doing, whether it’s to solve a problem or make people’s lives easier. 

Keep to that message. Consistency builds trust, so give it time and allow your audience to grow naturally. Engaging relevant people with genuine content will give you far better ROI than just shouting your ideas at everyone through boosted ads. 

Optimise Your Pages 

Having great content is useless if nobody can find you. Optimise your page to be searchable by using keywords in blurbs, and complete all the fields on your page. 

Utilise showcase pages to talk about projects or sectors that you have within the business. This will help you build niche-targeted communities who are laser-focused on your message. 

Keep your branding consistent across your page, and consider providing your employees with a branded format to use on their personal accounts. This gives you a cohesive brand feel and boosts the community feel online. 

Create Great Content 

People want to buy from people. Utilising your personal narrative in your marketing will help people resonate with your brand, making you approachable and personable. 

Use simple words that are easy to digest when you’re writing. People on Linkedin are looking to connect with people, not read academic jargon, so make sure that your voice, including hints of your dialect, is present in your writing. 

Create content across a variety of media. Use visual and video content to grab people’s attention, and utilise polls to boost interactions with your audience. Don’t be scared of long text posts. They can provide more value to your audience by giving depth to your topics, thereby providing valuable insights.  

While your personal story is important, not everything should be about you. Try to follow the 4-1-1 rule, which gives your audience four pieces of news or relevant topics from your field, then one personal update and one piece of content from or about someone else in the community. You can put a personal spin on each of these, but you shouldn’t be the focus all the time. 

Understand the Psychology of Your Audience 

It’s easy for social media to convince you to measure success through engagement metrics. It’s important to remember that interactions on Linkedin aren’t always about your content but your message. Someone could find your point really interesting, but not want to align themselves with your message as it’s off-brand for them. Keep posting on-message content and see what happens. 

Always offer value to the reader. People want to be informed or entertained, so think about what matters most to them and offer it in your content. Are you sharing content that helps people feel connected? Are you offering solutions to common problems in your sector? Are you building a network of like-minded people? Build content that speaks to people’s needs. 

Don’t be scared to share your personal or company values in your posts. Advocating for social responsibility, diversity and inclusion will make people feel included and seen. People respond to what matters to them, so telling them what you care about is likely to make them feel included when it’s a shared value or experience. 

Performance Tips

  1. Experiment with different content and see what works for you and your audience
  2. Post 1-2 times per day. If that’s not achievable, post consistently 
  3. Ask questions and invite feedback to get people engaged 
  4. Use links in your posts, these get around 45% more engagement 
  5. Focus on user experience while creating content as it boosts conversion rates
  6. Communities are about people, so Linkedin promotes people’s posts over company posts. Where possible, share your content from personal pages.

Create a Community Feel

If you see people commenting on your posts, reward them for interacting with you and make them feel like valued members of your community. Find champions within your community and raise them up. 

Utilise your team members and encourage employee engagement. This will help spread the reach of your content and get your immediate network invested in sharing your message. 

Healthy communities are an ecosystem. The content you create will bring people in who will then have conversations about what matters to them. That will form qualitative research, which will inform the content you create in the future, which will bring more people in. This is what we call consumer generated content.

It doesn’t have to be professional, but building genuine relationships is essential to a healthy community. 

If you’d like to know more about building your personal brand and audience on Linkedin, reach out to see how we can help!

How to Make Great Videos for Linkedin

Posted on by Haydn Morgans

If you read our previous blog ‘Revolutionise Your Social Marketing Strategy With Video’, you’ll already know the best practices for making and posting videos on Linkedin. 

You might be wondering ‘But how do I make them?’ 

Don’t worry, we’re here to help! 

We’ve put together technical tips and a step-by-step checklist that will help you independently nail your video content. 

Step 1 – Script Your Video

While it’s tempting to include a branded introduction for your videos, ask yourself if your audience will want that. If you only include necessary content people are more likely to stay engaged during your videos. Try to include graphics or logos to promote your brand instead of creating an intro that isn’t providing value to your audience. 

Write a script for everything you want to include in your video and rehearse it before you start recording. Make your content concise and helpful to keep people’s attention. 

Don’t use phrases like ‘that’s how you land your next job’ until the end of your videos. Doing this will tell people that you’ve already given them what they came for, so they’ll start looking for something else to watch. Avoiding those phrases will allow you to  promote your own services or further content while you have a viewer’s attention. 

Wrap up your videos with a simple and clear call to action, and articulate what the benefits of following it are. Invitations like ‘get in touch to find your next opportunity’ let viewers know exactly what you’re offering. 

Step 2 – Record Your Content

So you’ve planned out your content, you’ve got a script and you know how you’re going to grab attention. What’s next? 

When you’re recording your videos there are some things you can do that will enhance your video’s performance. 

Make sure your videos are still engaging with the sound off, as that’s how they initially play on LinkedIn. Your content needs to be visually appealing, so make sure that your speaker has dynamic body language, leans towards the camera and uses gestures to create an engaging video. 

Change up your backgrounds too, even if it’s just filming from varied angles to keep it interesting. It’s also worth considering investing in visual assets that you can have in the background of your videos, such as your brand’s logo, some plants or an interesting piece of decor. 

Set up your recording studio somewhere that has good natural lighting and isn’t too noisy so that you can get clear video and audio. Even making small adjustments like facing a window can make a lot of difference to your content. 

Most of all, remember to have fun with it!

Step 3 – Edit Your Clips

Once you’ve recorded your masterpiece, there are some things that you can fine-tune during editing to make sure that your videos really stand out. 

When you’re editing your audio it’s important to consider how engaging it is. Can you clearly hear the speaker, and is their voice dynamic and engaging? If it’s sounding a little flat it can be helpful to include background music to provide an immersive experience. Be careful not to overwhelm viewers with too much stimulation though – if you’ve hosted a lively conversation with lots of different voices it could be overwhelming to have music playing as well, so consider how best to support the content that you have. 

Consider the pacing of the video, and whether you can cut out any unnecessary pauses, stammers or repetitions. Keeping your content streamlined is essential to keeping your viewers engaged. 

While you’re editing it’s time to insert any visuals such as slides, graphics or logos to your video. Consider adding gifs that encourage people to like or share your video, as well as helpful section headers and subtitles that further communicate your message. It’s also important to ensure that you’ve properly adjusted your colour levels to reflect the tone of your content or brand, and apply this to all of your videos to create consistency. 

Step 4 – Nail Video Copy

Before you upload your videos, think carefully about how you can engage your audience before they even see your video. 

Crafting a great title is almost as important as having a good video. When writing your title, it’s important to reflect what you’re actually offering in your content. Don’t use clickbait as people will leave if they don’t get what they came for, and you’ll have wasted an opportunity to engage with potential clients and community members.  

Referencing your audience in your title can also be a good idea. People are more likely to watch something they immediately know will be relevant to them, so try using titles like this: 

  • “5 Ways Videos Will Transform Your Recruitment Company’s Marketing Strategy”
  • “Why Podcasts are the Future of Recruitment Marketing”
  • “How Recruiters Can Nail Personal Branding”

Another consideration is using closed captions. Failing to use them will exclude those with accessibility needs and limit your engagement. Not only that, videos automatically play with sound off on LinkedIn, so having subtitles can give people an idea of what you’re talking about before they turn the sound on, making you more likely to get people interested in what you’re saying. 

Like titles, headlines are also essential to drawing people into your videos, so think carefully about what you’re going to write to go alongside your video. Make sure you’re giving people a reason to consume your content in the first sentence of your post, so that they’re interested before they’ve even clicked ‘…see more’. 

Do keyword research and tag your videos with relevant terms that will help them find the right audience on LinkedIn. You can include these in both your post and captions to boost their reach. Around 90% of people will read captions at least some of the time, so don’t miss out on this resource. 

Step 5 – Share Your Masterpiece

Now that you’ve grasped the basics, you’re all set to go out and create high-performing video content!

Revolutionise Your Social Marketing Strategy With Video

Posted on by Haydn Morgans

For recruitment companies and consultants, building a community of engaged talent on platforms like LinkedIn creates an invaluable resource. 

If you’re looking to level up your social media marketing game, the perfect way to engage your audience is through video. According to LinkedIn, videos are 5 times more likely to start a conversation amongst users than other forms of content, which prompts the platform’s algorithm to promote your pieces to a wider audience. 

Video marketing can grow your brand up to 49 times faster than text or picture posts, so it’s a fantastic opportunity to grow your audience. 

Sound exciting? 

Read on for our tips for how to make and use videos in a marketing campaign!

Plan Your Content 

Be conscious of the length of videos that you’re making and where you plan to share it. People on socials want to scroll through bite-sized pieces, so consider how you’ll put your message into a short, consumable clip. If you’re tackling big topics, break them down into smaller bits that you can turn into a video series. 

Add Value

Always add value to your audience. Is what you’re talking about relevant? Is it providing insights or information? Posting high-impact marketing videos that boost your brand awareness should be done far less frequently than sharing value-adding brand consideration videos to your channel. 

Script It

Scripting your video can help you keep out any unwanted waffle. Avoid complicated language as this will also alienate people who aren’t in your area and make it inaccessible to a lot of viewers. Rehearse your scripts so you come across as confident and knowledgeable. Keep your content concise, speak clearly and avoid repeating yourself. 

Get Viewers Hooked

Start your videos with a hook that tells viewers what you’re offering them. LinkedIn says that interest drops from 65% to 45% after around 10 seconds of view time, so be clear about why they should watch your content. 

Pace Yourself

Be mindful of your pacing. If you speak so fast that people can’t understand you then you’ll lose your audience, but you also don’t want people to get bored if you’re taking too long to offer them something of value. Find the sweet spot somewhere in the middle to keep your viewers switched on. 

Build a Niche

Consistently posting content in your niche will help you build a reputation and attract a community of like-minded people. Posting directly to groups that your target market is in will help you reach the right people quickly. Once you’ve established yourself as a thought leader in their field, your audience is more likely to come directly to you. 

Be Inclusive 

If you’re regularly producing videos, make sure your cast reflects the people you’re trying to appeal to. Whether you’re inviting diverse guests, stitching videos with people from different backgrounds or including a variety of people from your company, having representation can help make your community inviting to a wider audience. 

Post Regularly

Just one or two videos won’t make an impact. It’s important to have a long-term plan and stick to it if you want to build your following and provide meaningful content to your audience. You don’t have to post every day, but deciding on a schedule and sticking to it is really important if you want to build trust within a community. 

Engage Your Audience

Once your videos are out there, connect with your audience by asking them questions and replying to their comments. It’s helpful to use a call to action such as ‘tell me what you think in the comments’ or ‘if you want to hear more, contact me on xyz’. Even inviting people to share their perspective is a valuable tool. People will come back to your page if you’ve made them feel like part of your network or community.

If you’ve read all of that and still don’t quite know where to start, drop us an email and one of our team will be more than happy to talk through some ideas with you!

How to build a recruitment community

Posted on by Haydn Morgans

Building a community is like the holy grail of marketing.

If you attract an engaged group of potential buyers in a closed-off communication circuit, they become highly susceptible to purchasing from you.  

It sounds simple enough. But like any great thing, achieving it requires consistency and hard work. You can’t expect to see results overnight. You need a strategy. And the first step of that strategy is to:  

Grow an audience  

Because when you’ve got a network of engaged individuals, leveraging them into a community becomes a much easier proposition. And thankfully, there’s a long list of different ways to build an audience. For example:  

  • Start a podcast  
  • Start a blog 
  • Start a newsletter  
  • Publish an online course 
  • Create a regular video series or YouTube channel 

There’s an option for everyone. It all comes down to defining the audience you want to attract, identifying where they hang out, creating content they’ll want to consume, and engaging with them consistently. The goal is to become a point of reference; someone your audience expects and is eager to hear from.  

It requires time and effort, but it’s worth it. An engaged audience can reap results if you leverage it right. Here are a few tips worthy of attention, that will help you build your audience.  

Choose your avenue wisely 

Once you’re defined your ideal audience, work to understand where it hangs out. There’s no point becoming the number one question-answerer on Quora if that’s not where your audience is. Choosing the right platform can make or break your efforts to build a community. So be observant, be inquisitive, and choose wisely.  

Have a strong mission  

How are you making a difference in the market? There’s no point in building an audience of numbers. You want to attract a community of individuals who could, at some point, buy from you. The “more” isn’t necessarily the “merrier” in this context; you want to attract the right kind of people.  

Having a strong value proposition helps you both differentiate yourself from your competitors and ensure you attract individuals who want to support to your mission; people who will help you make it a reality. Consider how you’re adding value; why should people join your community?  

Do more than sell  

You built this audience with the intention of selling to them. So, great, go ahead, sell away. But it’s super important that you don’t spend the bulk of your time on the community just selling to them. It’s one of the surest ways to lose their interest.  

Instead, try engaging in meaningful conversations. Answer their questions, share a funny story, offer advice, and pay attention to what your audience is saying too; what are their concerns? What do they want? What’s annoying them? Discussions amongst them can inform your business decisions; help you come up with new ideas and guide your future content.  

Remember it’s a long game. Strengthen your community’s commitment to you and your brand first through genuine engagement, and only then do you go in for the sale. 

Get to really know your audience 

Don’t execute on your plan without considering your options. Pick up the phone and get to know your audience. Ask them questions that will help you better understand what your audience needs and wants. See where you and your product or service fit into the picture; how can you capture some of their demand? 

Reward loyalty  

Keep an eye on the most engaged members of your community and gradually work to turn them into advocates of you and your brand. You can send them merchandise, for example, something they can in turn showcase and indirectly promote your brand.  

Think how your decisions influence you now, and in the future. Build a community growth roadmap that will carry you into the future, along with your audience, and reward those loyal enough to come with you.  

Building and maintaining a community isn’t easy. It requires strategic planning and consistent execution. You need to be prepared to dedicate time every day towards building and nurturing relationships with your audience, listening, engaging, answering, sharing. It takes hard work and dedication. But get it right, and your efforts are sure to be worth it.