4 Reasons Social Media Should NOT Take the Place of Your Website

  

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(By TODD BOSSLER)

You seen the commercials on television (and heard them on the radio): area businesses and national chains imploring you to “visit them on Facebook.”

There used to be a time that businesses would ask you to visit their website.  However, that practice has declined in recent years.

Does this mean that making sure your recruiting firm has a presence in social media is as important as having a website?  Is it more important?  Should you just junk your website and concentrate solely on social media efforts to market your firm and promote yourself to candidates and clients?

In a word, no, no, and no.

Yes, social media is important, and your firm should definitely have a presence within that realm, but social media should NOT take the place of your website.  Here are four reasons why:

1. A website lends credibility—What will prospects think when they “Google” the name of your firm and they can’t find a website for it?  That’s probably going to knock you down a few notches in their mind.  When they “Google” you, they want to know more about you.  A website lets them know that you really “exist.”
2. A website serves as your online “base of operations”—The goal is to attract candidates and prospective clients and engage them.  A website allows you to engage them on your terms.  When you use social media sites only, you’re constrained by what they allow you to do.  In other words, you have to "play by their rules."
3. You can put your job orders on your website—Sure, you can advertise your jobs through social media (tweet them, put them on Facebook, etc.), but the best way to convey these opportunities is to have a place on your website to post them.  This encourages candidates to visit your website on a consistent basis . . . even without any prompting from social media.  (The Hiring Hook Job Board feature allows recruiters to post jobs to their firm’s website.)
4. You can measure your activity with a website—Incorporating Google Analytics into your site will allow you to track all sorts of interesting data, including how many people are visiting your site and what they’re doing when they arrive there.

Social media should only be part of your overall marketing plan, not the ONLY part of it.  Your recruiting firm’s website should serve as the anchor for everything you do online to gain more leads, more business, and a greater market share.

What’s your strategy in regards to social media and your website?  What are some things you’ve done that have been successful?  What do you have questions about?

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(Hiring Hook = websites for recruiters.  With a Hiring Hook website, recruiters can post their jobs to their website and also have the option of adding them to LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to attract qualified candidates.)

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