Social Media Challenge

Challenge & Goal -  To grow Facebook Followers and increase candidate engagement with IBM India Careers Page on Facebook


 

IBM India Recruitment has presence across all Social Media platforms on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin with large following.  IBM India Recruitment  Facebook page  had large following of 80K followers in April . To grow more number of followers was a challenge.

Strategy - Growing Facebook Followers was a challenge, so the fist step was to identify opportunities through a quick audit and analysis . In April, deatiled Social Media Audit and Analysis was done to identify the strengths,  opportunities and find areas of focus to develop IBM India Recruitment Brand.   Social Media Experts know that  Content is the glue that binds it all together on Social Media  . During audit, the findings were that a coherent Content Strategy was missing despite presence across all Social Media Platforms. A content strategy was followed and insights were leveraged & applied  from Social Bakers 2 research articles for  postings on Facebook.  These 2 research articles were particularly useful and insightful .

1. How often should you post on Facebook pages ?
2. What is the co-relation between posting frequency and Brand engagment  ?

Plan of Action  -
On Facebook Recruitment India page ,  the Content calendar was followed for various postings . A simple plan  of action was adopted -   to remain consistent , post interesting relevant content almost everyday . Reflect on these questions if you are in a Social Media role -  Are you sharing stories or content which is relevant to your target audience ? What  updates do your followers like to receive ? What kind of stories would they believe and like to listen to ? Do you know who our followers are ? Do you know your target audience  ?

The variety of content  was posted on IBM India Recruitment Facebook page eg Campus Hiring Events details, Events that highlighted IBM India Diverse culture, Job postings, Interview series with Experts, Technology that IBMers are passionate about, IBM Apple Deal, Walk in Interviews, Career Tips, Interview Tips , What makes one an IBMer and visually appealing content.  This variety of content on a consistent basis helped not only build engagement with followers over a period of 3 months, but followers count also increased.

The Result - We witnessed 50% growth in our Facebook Followers in a span of 3 months. Facebook followers grew from 80K to 120 K in a span of 3 month. Moreover, this  Growth is organic, without paid advertising . In short, The key to success on social media is Meaningful and Relevant Content, Consistency , Research backed action, Time Investment and Purpose.

Consistency and Purpose is the key to Success on Social Media

Consistency and Purpose is the key to Success on Social Media 



"The Difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping old ones  "  ~ John Maynard Keynes 





This was the thought I had in mind when I joined in Recruitment Marketing role. What are some of the old habits one need to unlearn ? How does one Reinvent oneself ?  IBM is a land of opportunities so much so that one needs to learn to say No to stay Focussed in a given role . If you are the Expert or Consultant, be assured there will be no dearth of work opportunities or interesting work projects or different roles one can play at any given time. One clear vision I have in mind is that  in addition to be known as Enterprise Collaboration and Social Media Expert , the goal is develop skills in the realm of Digital Marketing in near term.  Social Media is an ever- growing and complex field. There are as multiple platforms , each platform has a well defined personality with its unique features and benefits. I like to keep myself updated on latest Social Media trends and now I have the opportunity and a role - wherein I can formally leverage the insights gained about Social Media from Social Media.

 IBM India Recruitment has its presence on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and had its very own blog , when I joined in the role. I did a quick Social Media Audit and Analysis to identify the strengths and opportunities and find areas of focus. As soon as I joined new team,  my colleagues , posed me challenge to Grow the number of followers on both Twitter and Facebook. The First thing Social Media Expert will  tell you is  that Content is the glue that binds it all together . It was no brainer to find out that a coherent Content Strategy was missing despite presence across all Social Media Platforms. So, starting  with a stretch target to grow Facebook followers seemed a palatable idea. I believe in this philosophy - Success leads to more success .

After convincing myself that Content is king & having done the quick social media audit and analysis, I started exploring research articles on Social Media and implemented some of the insights gained from that research.

1. How often should you post on Facebook pages ?
2. What is the co-relation between posting frequency and Brand engagment  ?



Basis the reports by Social Bakers, we  developed simple strategy & decided on a plan  of action  to remain consistent , post interesting relevant content almost everyday . Keep challenging yourselves by reflecting on such questions -  Are you sharing stories or content which is relevant to your target audience ? What  updates do your followers like to receive ? What kind of stories would they believe and like to listen to ? Do you know who your followers are ? Do you know your target audience  ?


 Growing Facebook followers organically with 50% growth in 3 months is something I am proud of . It is a pleasant  fact to know that Growth is organic, without paid advertising . I continue to learn bit more about Marketing, Branding, Advertising .  From my experience , I can sum it up  -
The key to success on social media is Content, Consistency , Research backed action, Time Investment and Purpose.