Content marketing isn’t just about putting words out into the world and hoping for conversions. In fact, this will never happen if you don’t start with the basics and master the hell out of them. You can go ahead and get fancy with your content, but it’s never going to get your agency anywhere if you don’t know understand and prioritize the most important components. Before you get caught up in producing videos and managing multiple social media platforms, let’s review the ABCs of content marketing that are essential to your agency’s success in attracting the most talented candidates for the best jobs you have.
A – Add Value
Content marketing is all about what you can offer. Laurie Thompson, Content Manager at BSquared Media says, “The goal with content is to provide your customers with answers, or help them solve a problem that they are currently having.”
When people enter search terms and come across your blog, it’s because they’re looking for those answers. When someone browses your recruiting agency’s social media feed or subscribes to your newsletter, they have their own interests in mind and are looking for ways that you can help them on their job seeking journey. Your recruitment marketing strategy needs to take this into consideration.
What this means is that your content should be answering those questions and providing the guidance people are looking for. If you’re not adding value, they’re going to click away and find another recruiting firm that will. Before you publish a blog post, hit ‘send’ on your newsletter, or tweet anything, ask yourself, “what value does this offer?”, “what problem does this solve?”, or even simply “who cares?” If you don’t have the answers to those questions, then go back to the drawing board.
B – Be Brand Aware
Whether you’re a recruiter, or selling rubber spatulas, branding is a core component for any business. Branding involves more than just splashing your logo around. It’s about figuring out who you are as a recruiter and as an agency and conveying your brand personality in everything that you do.
When you get clear on what your business stands for, who your audience is (more on this later), what your tone is, and what your vision is, you can apply that to every piece of content you produce, whether it’s a Facebook post or a LinkedIn article.
When businesses do this well, they have a strong presence in their industry and stand apart from their competitors. For your recruiting agency, this means establishing yourself as experts in the industry with a roster of great clients and talent banging down your door.
On the flip side, if you aren’t clear on who you are as a company, or you aren’t consistent with communicating your brand, your content will fall flat. As Laurie says, “If you aren’t sure what your brand actually is, your customers won’t be able to figure it out either.”
C – Communicate with your Audience
Stop – don’t hit “publish” until you can answer this question: who are you talking to? Do you know who your target audience is? And by this I mean, do you know exactly who your audience is? Don’t say “it’s people who are looking for a job.” That could not be more vague. Dig deep – look at who your clients are and what your areas of expertise are. Suddenly, you’ve narrowed it down to executives in the healthcare industry. Now we’re talking. Now you can tailor content to that audience and deepen your recruitment marketing strategy.
After all, you’re not just creating content for the sake of it, or at least you shouldn’t be. The goal of your content is to connect with clients and candidates. As Frankie Vaccaro, Chief Operating Officer at Masis Staffing Solutions puts it, “Using blogging and other avenues, like social media, really helps us talking with people at a mass scale. It not only gives us a chance to show job seekers how we’re different, it also allows us to converse with potential candidates anytime, anywhere.”
Now that you see the power in content, make it matter to your audience of job seekers. What do these people want to know? What current events are they interested in? What are their concerns in the job seeking process and how can you address those and bring your knowledge to the table to help them solve their problems?
Laurie hits the nail on the head when she explains, “If you are just constantly putting content out that you “think” will work, then you don’t know your customers very well. Businesses who take time to get to know their customers will have an advantage because their content will meet the customers where they are in their journey.”
In other words, don’t write a blog post on how to work your way up the corporate ladder if you’re communicating to executives who have already been there, done that.
Recruitment marketing doesn’t need to be complicated – it needs to be strategic. The good news is that you probably already have a lot of these things figured out about your agency, like what your niche market is and what your brand is all about. Now the key is how to create content that lets job seekers and clients know that as well. If you have a successful recruiting agency and want to take it to the next level with strong content, but you’re just not sure how to execute it, you’re not alone.
Fortunately, there are professional writing services who specialize in taking your company’s brand and whipping it into blog posts, social media content, newsletters, email campaigns and more – all the content your business needs to make your mark in the industry and solidify your presence as a thought leader and authority in the recruiting space.
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Eli is an expert in PR, Outreach, and SEO writing. He’s worked in the industry for over a decade and excelled in providing clients with effective content marketing strategies that have had incredible success.
