logologo_light
SIGN-UP
  • HOW IT WORKS
    • SRA Home
    • SRA Learner & SRA Coach
    • Compare Subscriptions
    • SRA Course Content
    • SRA Chrome Extension
  • PRICING
    • SRA Pricing
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • BLOG
    • The Savage Truth Blog
  • PARTNERS
    • Savage Partners
  • BOOKS
    • Recruit The Savage Way
    • The Savage Truth Book
  • FREE RESOURCES
    • Free Video – Behaviour & Activity
    • Free Video – Selling Is Listening
    • E-Book – Kpis & Performance
    • E-Book – Fill More Roles
    • E-Book – Starting A Business
    • E-Book – Successful M&A
  • SIGN-IN
    • Sign-In – Existing
    • Sign-Up – New
  • HOW IT WORKS
    • SRA Home
    • SRA Learner & SRA Coach
    • Compare Subscriptions
    • SRA Course Content
    • SRA Chrome Extension
  • PRICING
    • SRA Pricing
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • BLOG
    • The Savage Truth Blog
  • PARTNERS
    • Savage Partners
  • BOOKS
    • Recruit The Savage Way
    • The Savage Truth Book
  • FREE RESOURCES
    • Free Video – Behaviour & Activity
    • Free Video – Selling Is Listening
    • E-Book – Kpis & Performance
    • E-Book – Fill More Roles
    • E-Book – Starting A Business
    • E-Book – Successful M&A
  • SIGN-IN
    • Sign-In – Existing
    • Sign-Up – New

Recruiters. Never forget. Followers are vanity – sales are sanity!

Anyone who has heard me speak, or read my blog, knows I believe social media has an important role to play in business development, attracting talent, and building brand.

I have coached my recruiters how to do that, and now many companies pay me to teach them how to do it.

But let’s get real here.

Social media is a tool. Not an end in itself. Social media for recruiters is a way to build brand and connections. But they are only of value if they result in something tangible. Something valuable that leads to an outcome that we get paid for.

Such as; client visits, job orders, new candidates and, ultimately, more people placed in jobs.

But it’s a fact now that some recruiters have latched on to ‘social recruiting’, not because they believe it works, but because it gives them a reason not to work!

Counting ‘Likes’, and ‘RT’s’, and deluding yourself, and your boss, that three hours on social media is time well spent, is foolish to the extreme.

If ever there was a mechanism to waste corporate and personal time, it’s fiddling on social media. Yes, recruiters need to use social media. But in a disciplined way. In designated time slots. And always with a clear goal in mind.

That’s the beauty of recruitment. And the downside. It’s totally measurable. You fill a job, or you don’t.

No one is going to pay you because your witty tweet got 7 RTs, or your Facebook update got 14 ‘Likes’. You are not going to build a meaningful brand in your niche, just because you tweet a lot.

Social media is not a silver bullet, suddenly going to replace all the difficult things we have to do to be successful. Social media is simply another communications channel. Great for initiating and leveraging relationships, but in the end you are still going to need to do the grunt work. Sourcing, interviewing, visiting, matching, selling, and closing.

Never forget. Followers are vanity – sales are sanity!

So, please, quit your social media shilly-shallying. Stop hiding behind your ‘social media time’.

I know, and you know, you are just avoiding the real job.

Nothing has changed.

We still celebrate placements baby, not followers!

*****************************************************************************************************

Subscribe to The Savage Truth, ‘Like’ our Facebook page, and connect with Greg on LinkedIn to ensure you get your recruiting brain-food fix.

******************************************************************************************************

 

  • Posted by Greg Savage
  • On September 3, 2013
  • 9 Comments
Tags: Coaching recruiters, Recruiter coaching, recruitment, social media, social media recruiting, Social Networking, Social recruiting

9 Comments

Sam
  • Sep 3 2013
  • Reply
I wholly agree Greg - what's important with social media is engagement, not just being a broadcaster.
Alan Allebone
  • Sep 3 2013
  • Reply
Get out there and do it like we use to. the real way, the hard way and the best way. FACE TO FACE, Talk, Speak, engage and WIN! This is a very old profession we are in and 37 years ago we never had the tools we have today. We got our hands dirty, we got burnt but we always came up smiling. All we had had was the newspapers (this is where we got our hands dirty - reading and touching the print) Another good one Greg! Good man! From a Golden Oldie Alan
Helen Harvey
  • Sep 3 2013
  • Reply
Best (and oldest!) social media tool we have......the phone! It has opened more doors for me in my recruitment career than anything else!
Terry Edwards
  • Sep 3 2013
  • Reply
Greg Spot on as ever.. I would further add if you cannot measure your social media activity in terms of direct response from clients and candidates, stop wasting time and money on it-http://recruitment-coach.com/
Adam Lyko
  • Sep 4 2013
  • Reply
Well said, Greg - especially like this part "We still celebrate placements baby, not followers!"
Lisa John
  • Sep 6 2013
  • Reply
People are using social sites like Facebook, Twitter and a new one " Avastring " (www.avastring.com) for entertainment, chatting or for "ONLINE RELATIONSHIPS". Companies are using these sites to ascend their business. And I think that social sites are really helping their business. because almost every person who has to use computer for work r if anyone using just for entertainment, they spend minimum 2 hours on an average day. And they often visit pages of their favorit brands. From there they get new information about those brands and they go to the stores to see whats new (even if they are not going to buy it), but they will talk about it for sure and someone else will buy it for sure. In this way , or you can say because of words of mouth, social sites are helping brands to increase business.
lisa john
  • Sep 6 2013
  • Reply
Even after my previous comment, I have to say,with the marketing pint of view Social Media cannot help you increase the business as much as your marketing staff can do, And actually this post is worth reading.
Emma
  • Sep 6 2013
  • Reply
Ironically I came upon this post via Twitter!
Michael
  • Sep 7 2013
  • Reply
Nice article Greg! I like the old school but profitable approach. I have grown to really dislike all the chatter about social media, yes it works but it is a drain on a recruiting company. The only way to build trust with either a client or a candidate is to meet and speak. Twitter and Facebook are good to get info, like this article, not build relationships.

Leave Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SAVAGE TRUTH
SUBSCRIBE NOW
SEARCH
THE LATEST SAVAGE TRUTH
  • Global staffing market forecasts downgraded
  • Use ChatGPT like a recruiting champ
  • Recruiters, let’s go to McDonald’s!
  • Recruitment. Australia up 🚀 UK down 🔻
  • Scale your recruitment business fast 🚀

Top 20 HR Blogs 2019

The Savage Truth – Categories
Greg Savage & The Savage Truth

Greg is the founder of leading recruitment companies Firebrand Talent Search, People2People and Recruitment Solutions, and a current shareholder and director of several others, including Consult Recruitment. He is a regular keynote speaker worldwide and provides specialised advice for Recruitment, Professional Services & Social Media companies.





Greg Savage would like to talk to you…

How to ‘rev-up’ your sleepy recruiters!

Next thumb
Scroll
LOVE THE WAY YOU LEARN

From on-demand video training, through to AI delivered advice direct to your desktop, our SRA learning platform now enables users to ‘Ask Greg’ questions and receive advice in real-time, without interrupting work-flow.

> SRA Learner & SRA Coach
> Subscription Pricing
> SRA Course Content
> Compare Subscriptions
> SRA Chrome Extension

RECENTLY ON THE SAVAGE TRUTH BLOG
  • Global staffing market forecasts downgraded
  • Use ChatGPT like a recruiting champ
  • Recruiters, let’s go to McDonald’s!
  • Recruitment. Australia up 🚀 UK down 🔻
  • Scale your recruitment business fast 🚀
  • What it really takes to be a leader 🥇
  • AI will replace these recruiters soon ☠️
  • 18 ways you screw up placements
  • Recruiters, can you sell your ‘value’?
  • Are you a recruiting ‘TechnoEmpath’?
The Savage Recruitment Academy
Copyright The Savage Recruitment Academy 2025 | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Site By AMC Creative