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Every month, Talent Propeller will be reviewing various types of media to share an honest and unbiased account of the best media options for recruiting candidates. This is media review #3: Targeted Facebook Advertising

MEDIA:

Targeted Facebook Advertising

ABOUT THE MEDIA:

Targeted Facebook advertising is a specific form of advertising which allows you to define your audience based on specific demographics - including education, location, languages, past employment and their interests.

Defining the candidate persona results in your advert being displayed to people who match your criteria, but may not be actively hunting for jobs. It is a smart, cost effective way to target your ideal audience rather than a “post and hope the right people see it” option.

Targeted advertising on Facebook has increased by 300% across Talent Propeller customers in the past 12 months.

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN – WHAT ADS WE RAN:

We run on average 1500 ads per month, approximately 200 of these are Facebook ads. Facebook ads are effective for a wide variety of roles.  Some of the most popular and effective campaigns include Trades, Drivers, Retail and Administrsation.

For this review, we ran the following campaigns:

• Digital Marketing Coordinator
• Graduate Graphic Designer / Mac Operator
• Senior Graphic Designer
• Marketing Manager - Part-time

Our Initial Findings:

• Optimal budgets range from $400 to $500 for a 7 to 14 day campaign.
• Your budget can be allocated to cost per impression (how many times your advert appears in a newsfeed) vs cost per click (how many times someone clicks on your advert). For job applications cost per click appears to be better value.
• Your advert can direct to a careers page to provide more information on the opportunity and allow candidates to apply directly to you.
• As Facebook is an international platform, it is a cost-effective medium for relocation campaigns.

HOW APPLICATIONS ARE RECEIVED:

When a candidate clicks on your advert on Facebook, they can be directed to your careers page, or to the advert listed on a job board such as TradeMe or Indeed. Our recommendation is to direct applicants to a careers page outlining the specific vacancy within your brand.

QUANTITY OF CANDIDATES RECEIVED:

• Digital Marketing Coordinator:                                  5% of applicants came from Facebook
• Graduate Graphic Designer / Mac Operator:           7% of applicants came from Facebook
• Senior Graphic Designer:                                         9% of applicants came from Facebook
• Marketing Manager - Part-time:                                3% of applicants came from Facebook

QUALITY OF CANDIDATES RECEIVED:

Of all the candidates who apply through Facebook, on average 20% were worth interviewing.

WHAT WE LIKED:

• You can target based on interests and job titles – you are not limited by category or single locations as you are with a traditional job board e.g. For a Receptionist role based in a Mechanic shop, you can target people who are also interested in cars rather than sticking with a reception/administration category.
• Facebook works well across the board for most trade-based, customer service and hospitality roles. 
• Facebook advertising provides the opportunity to get in front of passive job seekers - people who are not currently looking for a role, but could be tempted. This method of recruitment advertising widens your potential Talent Pool.
• Facebook advertising increases Employer Brand awareness, so even if your ad does not convert a lot of applications, it still strengthens your brand and drives traffic to your careers page.  

WHAT WE DIDN’T LIKE:

• Your budget can be spent very quickly if your target audience is too broad.
• Whilst the campaigns can deliver a lot of clicks to the ad, the conversion rate to applications is lower than other media.
• Facebook advertising is not effective for recruiting senior management, such CEO/CFO type roles.

OUR VERDICT:

Whilst it does work better for trade based roles, drivers, part-time and hospitality, we are seeing our results grow every time Facebook is used. The pricing may be more than a traditional job board but it delivers applications and also increases your employer brand awareness.  It is a rapidly growing and evolving form of recruitment advertising.