Benefits August 18, 2010

Companies Using Social Media for Marketing and Recruiting

August 18, 2010 (PLANSPONSOR.com) – A new CareerBuilder survey finds that more than one-third (35%) of companies are using social media to promote their businesses.
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One-quarter (25%) of these employers said they are using social media to connect with clients and find new business, while others are using it to recruit and research potential employees (21%), or strengthen their employment brands (13%), according to a press release.  

Twenty-nine percent of organizations with 500 or fewer employees said they use social media to promote their companies, followed by 38% of companies with 501 to 1,000 employees and 44% of companies with more than 1,000 workers. Comparing industries, leisure and hospitality topped those surveyed with 57% saying the use social media to promote their business, followed by IT, (48%), retail (43%), and sales (41%).   

When it comes to managing social media strategy, 43% of employers report that their marketing department handles social media outreach, followed by public relations (26%) and human resources (19%). One-quarter (25%) of employers have one to three people communicating on behalf of their organization, while 7% report that four to five people handle the work. Eleven percent said that more than six people communicate for their company via social media, and 57% said they don’t know.  

The survey finds workers are also using social media to research companies and jobs.   

The press release said workers who come across company pages on social media sites shared what they would most like to see, including: 

  • Job listings – 35%, 
  • Q&A or fast facts about the organization – 26%, 
  • Information about career paths within the organization – 23%, 
  • Evidence that working at the company is fun – 16%, 
  • Employee testimonials – 16%, 
  • Pictures of company events – 12%, 
  • Video of new products/services – 10%, 
  • Company awards – 9%, 
  • Research or studies that the company has conducted – 9%, and 
  • Videos of a day on the job – 8%.  


Workers also shared the biggest turnoffs when encountering a company via social media, including the company’s communication reading like an ad (38%), failure to reply to questions (30%), failure to regularly post information (22%), and removing or filtering public comments (22%).   

The survey was conducted online within the U.S. by Harris Interactive on behalf of CareerBuilder.com among 2,534 U.S. hiring managers and 4,498 U.S. workers (employed full-time; not self-employed; non government); ages 18 and over between May 18 and June 3, 2010.

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