Search Engine Optimisation Web Log (BLOG)
Editor: Matt Paines

| This News Blog is dedicated to bringing news, information and innovations targeting the Search Engine Optimisation industry.

Firms can no longer afford to ignore social media

With the country gradually emerging from recession, many businesses are looking for new ways to differentiate themselves from the competition and make the most of new opportunities.

This fresh business thinking has coincided with the rise of social media and firms of all sizes and all sectors are catching on. A recent survey found that 66% of all companies are investing in social media as part of their business development strategy for the foreseeable future.

One commercial sector that has been quick to recognise the importance of social media has been the recruitment industry.

It has found that social media is particularly good when it comes to developing a cost effective and targeted way to identify quality candidates, as well as being a useful research tool.

Social media have also proved its worth when it comes to retaining good candidates. It can achieve this through knowledge distribution, such as announcing quality articles and highlighting jobs that may not be in the public arena.

Meanwhile networking sites such as Facebook can help recruiters to build up a better profile of candidates and this can help alongside other personality profiling techniques such as psychometric testing. In a tough market when, employers need to ensure they have the right candidate for any jobs that are available, finding the right character fit is almost as important as finding someone with the right skills and experience.

But, like many other commercial sectors, the recruitment and HR industry can benefit by developing a clearer understanding of how effective online marketing and social media can be to their businesses. A common misconception is that platforms such as Linked In and Twitter are merely passing fads.

In this modern age, technology is moving fast and it is likely that in time these platforms will be overtaken by other forms of social media, but this is no excuse not to get to grips with the issue now.

At present social media in all its forms is gathering in momentum and companies that don't invest in exploring this rich marketing tool will be missing out, not just now but in the future too.

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