It’s so easy for candidates today – all you need is a smartphone and a search engine to make your next big move.

And with supply and demand very much in their favour, it’s employers who will need to stand out to be seen, to influence and to attract.

But this is not a ‘brand’ job.

This is not about placing more online job ads.

Your most effective strategy is engaging your leadership team.

Here are the numbers:

• People prefer to work for leaders who use social media 4x more than leaders who do not. Social is where they find them, learn what they stand for, and start building trust. (Brunswick Group)

• 82% of people expect leaders to use social media to communicate mission, vision, values. They want to hear more than corporate messages and marketing brochures – they want a personal, purposeful connection. (Brunswick Group)

• Candidates start looking at potential employers’ content on LinkedIn up to 9 months before joining. (LinkedIn)

It’s worth asking a few key questions:

What would they see if they looked at your leaders online today?

Would they be inspired?

Would they be compelled to join our team?

Would they see personal stories that reflect the values and culture of your organisation? Stories that act as talent attraction rocket fuel on the globally accessible and searchable platforms of social media.

If ‘yes’, you’re well ahead of your competition.

If ‘no’, consider starting a conversation with your executives with one of these three points:

1. Candidates want to hear from your leaders, not your brand.

Brands are great for large scale campaigns and for service. But they cannot connect the way humans can. To win the hearts and minds of talent today, leaders need to be visible and accessible online. Anything else leaves the door open for your competition.

2. Candidates want to see real, diverse stories like their own.

No one leader can be everything to everyone. One leader’s voice can easily be lost, can rapidly become an internal bottleneck, or can quickly become inauthentic when talking to issues beyond their experience. Far better to empower multiple leaders to tell their own stories, authentically.

3. Platforms like LinkedIn favour leaders over brands.

Despite platforms pushing paid media, real performance – and connection – rests in your leaders’ ability to engage. In just one of our clients’ experiences, the CEO’s profile with almost 10x fewer followers generated almost 14x more reach than their Company Page. Why limit your reach and impact by relying on brand messages?

It’s too late for leaders to start building or improving their online presence in early 2023 – the talent migration will have already happened.

Start the conversation now, use these examples and data points to drive change, and help your leaders to capitalise on the opportunities social media affords them.

I hope you make real progress in the coming weeks before a well-deserved break and, as always, please reach out if we can be of any assistance. Hit reply to this email, DM me via LinkedIn or give me a buzz – whatever works best for you.

We love connecting social to business strategy, and talent attraction just happens to be your best opportunity right now.

Until next week, take care.
Roge