Employers using social media to promote organizations: Survey

Jobseekers on social media sites looking for up-to-date information about working for the company


As companies emerge from one of the steepest economic downturns in history, they understand the importance of using social media to promote and rebuild their organizations.

More than one-third (35 per cent) of 2,534 employers in the United States say they use social media to promote their company, according to a CareerBuilder survey.

One-quarter 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 per cent) or strengthen their employment brands (13 per cent).

"As communication via social media becomes increasingly pervasive, organizations are harnessing these sites to help achieve a variety of business goals," said Jason Ferrara, vice-president of corporate marketing for CareerBuilder.

"Social media allows organizations to communicate in ways that didn't exist ten years ago, promoting their services and brands while also supplementing their recruitment strategy."

When it comes to managing social media strategy, 43 per cent of employers report their marketing department handles social media outreach, followed by public relations (26 per cent) and human resources (19 per cent).

The 4,498 workers also surveyed report they are turning to social media sites to research companies and jobs. Workers who come across company pages on social media sites would most like to see:

• Job listings: 35 per cent

• Q&A or fast facts about the organization: 26 per cent

• Information about career paths within the organization: 23 per cent

• Evidence that working at the company is fun: 16 per cent

• Employee testimonials: 16 per cent

• Pictures of company events: 12 per cent

• Video of new products/services: 10 per cent

• Company awards: 9 per cent

• Research or studies that the company has conducted: 9 per cent

• Videos of a day on the job: 8 per cent

On the flip side, workers say their biggest turnoffs when encountering a company via social media include the company's communication reading like an ad (38 per cent), failure to reply to questions (30 per cent), failure to regularly post information (22 per cent) and removing or filtering public comments (22 per cent).

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