Using social media to build a Talent Community [podcast #71]

#71 Working as a Talent Community & Social Media Manager

Talent Community makes the improved, more polished and a far more valuable update to your talent pools.

But what is a talent community and what does it take to get one up and keep it running?

What is a talent community?

A talent community is an active group of formed by talents relevant to a company’s hiring needs who share a common interest with the company. The members of this community join and stay in this community because it offers them something meaningful and valuable.

This meaningful and valuable in the context of a community tends to be a shared place where people are able to share experiences, learn from each other and enjoy social moments with others sharing the same interest.

What sets a talent community apart from a CV bank of open applications or the interviewed but turned down former candidates in your recruitment system is that these people are not necessary looking to change jobs right now. Or they may not even be qualified yet for your vacancies. Your current job opportunities and hiring isn’t the talk of the town in this community.

How does one define any community?

If you think of a community, it is a social unit with a shared commonality such as norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, town, or neighbourhood) or in virtual space through communication platforms (source: Wikipedia).

Instead of thinking of a CV pool open your mind what a community in general means and then think about what that could mean for your employer branding.

What is I was your talent marketing coach

Why does social media make a great platform for your talent community?

If you think about it, social media is the only sensible platform for building your talent community.

  • It’s free.
  • The features supporting a talent community are there already.
  • Your audience is there already.
  • The behavior already exists especially on Facebook as the platform is prioritizing groups over other use.

Does it feel too much work to start your own group?

You are right. It is going to require an active hand. Communities in building need an active community manager organizing reasons for people to come together. But you need to think about this as a strategic choice for building your employer brand instead of another tactic adding to your already full schedule.

The same goes for social media groups. The talent community manager needs to set an example of the characteristics of this group. You also need to be prepared to actively moderate your group. Otherwise the topics can get out of hand.

However, don’t limit yourself thinking you need to set up a separate social media group to build a talent community for your company. All you really need is a social media profile dedicated for the topic you choose for your talent community.

A modern talent pool explained

Building your talent community on Instagram

The best social media for this is Instagram because of it’s nature as a relationship building social media.

What you need is a profile dedicated for your talent community. This can not be done on a profile what advocates your company, your job opportunities and highlights your special moments. That would be your company profile.

Your followers make up your growing community. They come together and follow your profile because they are interested in the theme and the promise you make them on your profile bio.

Your content is only about the promise you make on your bio.

But instead of just posting you are using the engagement features available for you on Instagram:

  • Stickers available for Stories
  • Direct messaging
  • Closed friends -list
  • Comments to active a conversation
  • Live sessions to interact with your followers

This is a much easier way to build your talent community than starting a group on Facebook or LinkedIn. It’s super hard to get a group active and going unless your topic is a niche but there is a large audience interested in that niche.

Why isn’t the CV pool on our ATS enough?

What we are used to considering as an equivalent to a talent community is a talent pool in our recruitment system. But it’s not really a pool, more like a CV bank of open applications and interviewed but rejected candidates.

It really can be enough for you though. It all depends what your ATS (applicant tracking system) allows you to do and what is your own plan for nurturing the applicants already in your system.

The downside to working with CV’s is that they expire pretty soon. People get new jobs and develop new skills and interests. And you don’t have that information at hand.

Also, most recruitment systems are not built in a away that would allow to build an actual community.

And finally, your pool is as large as who applied to your vacancies and who you find interesting enough to keep there.

Some companies successfully use their CV pools which might be just what they need to continue with. But that’s not employer branding, that’s sourcing candidates from your own available pool.

What is the value of a Talent Community for the business?

Talent communities need to be built with a strategic employer branding goal in mind. Building and sustaining an active community of talents sharing an interest for the same topic, a professional topic is a great way to build an employer brand.

When your community members regularly check out what’s going on in your community and what people are talking around the shared topic with your company acting as the host, they start to connect the topic with your company.

That’s why this works especially well for topics that are the same as your core business. A talent community for my business would revolve around modern employer branding and the Magnetic Employer Branding Method©.

The benefit and value a talent community like this can deliver for the company is evident. When doing this right, they start to connect the topic with your company. And if you regularly offer your community educational value about this topic, they start to understand the level of experience and knowledge your company has about this topic.

If they want to find a workplace where they can learn more and use their equivalent skills, they are likely to ask you. To put it short: your talent community can become a recruitment lead generator for your business.

How can we find time to do this as well for our employer brand?

The good thing is that you don’t need to find time also for this.

Building and running a talent community on social media is one option for your employer branding strategy.

What you can learn from me are what all is available in modern employer branding and talent marketing for you to choose the best strategies for your employer branding and the best tactics for the execution.

Your current company might choose one out of the many strategic options, and your next place to work might need another type of option. Some options suit different types of companies and their available resources better than others.

Some other companies might find it the best strategy for them to build their employer brand through candidate experiences. Another one finds content and social media marketing their best fitting strategy.

What you can learn from me through my free content are what are the options and at Talent Marketing School how you choose and how you do.

Keep following me and listening to my podcast to expand your employer branding frame of mind into many new opportunities!

Listen to episode #71 of the Building of a Modern Employer Brand podcast

In this episode of the Building a Modern Employer Brand -podcast, I’ll introduce the second role in the modern, Magnetic Talent Marketing Team, the role of the Talent Community & Social Media Manager.

  • What is a talent community and social media manager?
  • What is a talent community and why does it need managing?
  • What is talent community management?
  • How does social media management fit into this role?

Episode-length:  46:15 min

Download the free eBook covering all of the 6 roles in the modern, Magneting Talent Marketing Team >>

Check out the podcast-episode 69 in which I introduced the role of the Employer Brand Manager >>

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