Hootsuite are social media bad asses. For those unfamiliar, they’re a publishing platform with a database of users bigger than the pile of empty easter egg boxes by my backdoor (that’s ridiculously big).
Every year they post a hotly anticipated global trends report that dives head-first into the world of online digital behaviour. It’s a big deal and we look forward to it every year.
There’s always a tonne of talking points from it including game-changing social media, eCommerce and advertising strategy. This year is certainly no exception.
Of course, we’ll post a link to the report at the end of this blog, but first let us unpick what that could mean for all of you talent attraction warriors reading this.
Social media use is on the rise.
In the last year, global social media usage has risen by 10%. That’s hardly surprising considering we spent most of it in lockdown with nothing better to do than scroll into the News Feed abyss.
But that’s nearly half a billion new people on socials. So if you want to get your brand in front of both passive and active candidates, then social media is an absolute necessity. Its growth is simply undeniable.
Social media is a big place though. Every other month it feels like there’s a new platform offering a slightly nuanced approached to sharing online content from short ephemeral video to images to soundbites. There’s no surprise that social media users are now splitting their time on average between 7.5 channels.
That’s a lot of snapping and scrolling.
Could social media replace search for brand research?
This one might be the biggest and most important shift in your talent attraction strategy. When it comes to the most popular channels for researching brands, search engines top social media by only a 6% margin on average. In other words, people are gravitating towards social to learn and research about brands faster than ever.
If you segment the data by age, those in the 16- to 24-year-old category use social media more than search engines to undertake brand research.
Let us be clear, social isn’t just about building brand awareness. Over the last year, channel effectiveness has increased from single to double figures. That means that social is great place to convert your audiences as well.
That means social media participation is playing a much more centralised role in every step of a candidate’s journey from discovery and research all the way through to application.
Companies are spending more of the ad spend budget on social channels.
A third of the global online ad spend is spent on social media advertising. That’s an increase of 17.4% vs last year. That’s an eye-watering £140 billion.
Given the increased adoption of social media and the growing influence brands can have, it’s a no brainer that companies are willing to spend big to reach new audiences.
With the ever-increasing number of social channels, it’s hard to know exactly where to invest your precious budget. The most popular channels (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) would be a wise strategy but it’s important not to neglect the lower priority channels, your audience could be there too.
If you want to make the most of your social media budget in 2022 then you’ve gotta be a pro at measuring your ROI. Like anything in marketing, accurately measuring, monitoring, and adjusting will be the key to your success.
Is social media more influential than search marketing?
Well, that’s debatable. You can certainly see from the data that Hootsuite present that social media adoption is rising rapidly. It’s becoming an integral touchpoint in the journey with every brand we experience. Given that 4.6 billion people have adopted social media in some guise, it’s safe to say this represents a great opportunity to reach your audiences.
How well are you utilising social media in your attraction strategy? If you need some help or advice in getting started or taking your social game to the next level, then give us a call here 👉 Contact Us