It’s no secret that organisations recruiting in Social Care talent in both century and experienced roles right now. It’s only going to get harder!

We know the talent is out there, so why aren’t enough people engaging with us to work in our services? We genuinely believe keeping up to date with the latest trends in content marketing and fundamentally understanding your “hiring audience” is what will help minimise the headaches.

So how do you wade through the deep pool of marketing channels and know which platform and types of content will work best?

Key Marketing Channels

Let’s start by lining up all the assets we need to use in hiring great people. Its essential to have an up-to-date job spec, which we can put on paid ad platforms, social media, the careers page on your website and anywhere else you see fit. 

Ensure that the applicant is placed at the centre of the advert as they want to make sure it would be a good fit as much as the employer does. You will need to talk about a lot of information from the details of your service, your customers, your company benefits and all the added perks involved. Candidates want a “ window” into your opportunity. Think about what they will be doing, why they will be able to succeed and the progressive pathways – this should all be clear in your adverts.

Remember that, according to LinkedIn, 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before even applying for a job. It is crucial your values come across in your hiring marketing. Candidates want to know there values align to yours.

Make sure your service comes across as one your target audience would want to work for – consider what you can do for them too, like providing job satisfaction, making a difference to your service users, annual leave and social outings.

So with branding in mind, next we need content for your adverts. Is there someone in your organisation who can create visual graphics to advertise the job on all the different digital platforms you use?

At Unique, we use Canva, a popular software used to create and edit graphics and photographs. It offers free templates, creative suggestions, and you can choose between a free or a paid plan.

The main marketing channels for hiring, naturally, are job searching apps and websites like Indeed, Reed or CV-Library. Get your vacancy up on those as soon as you can, but don’t limit yourself.

Social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook are also useful for job vacancies, and offer a more informal, relaxed route of application for relevant talent who might only passively be looking for new work. It can be low cost and works well for small organisations at a community level, and is a must-have in your hiring strategy in 2022.

Also, make sure you have an up-to-date Careers page on your website. This will give you somewhere to link your content to, allow people to find out more about your service and brand, and with Google Analytics, you’ll be able to track the amount of traffic you get on the page – how many people have viewed it.

This might sound like a lot, but if you have a plan in place it will be a quick task to create great content for your vacancy on a variety of platforms.

What is great content?

Great content is “content that provides value and resonates with a specific targeted audience”.

Videos, graphics, highlighting employee success stories, quizzes, podcasts, blogs… These are just some of the many options you have.

To create compelling content in the health and social care sector, try to abide by four key points:

• Compelling. Make your service be seen as a great place to work, somewhere that offers a real career path and a place to learn and develop.
• Authentic. Show real compassion and a genuine interest. Make sure your audience knows your purpose and how much you really care – perhaps offer some congratulatory posts showcasing your star employees.
• Personable. Share community stories, give your team the spotlight, and make sure to follow trends and post relevant content.
• Audience orientated. Your prospective talent could be working parents, returning retirees, students, and people looking to change careers. Nail down your best audience and create content they respond to.

While most content marketing is created to generate brand awareness and new business, content marketing is also a very viable resource for recruitment, using engaging content to attract healthcare and social care talent.

Recruiters can sometimes forget about the commercial value this also brings to the table. Digital content about your people can indirectly show prospective clients that you genuinely care about the level of service you provide. 

There’s lots of existing content out there, from local competitors and the wider health and social care industry. It is absolutely worth your time to check out their websites and follow their social pages to see what kind of content they put out.

If people have responded to it, or even if you think “we should be doing that”, do it! There is no harm in piloting to see what works.

On the other hand, if you don’t find anything quite so inspiring during your content research, you might ask yourself “why didn’t that work? What can I do to make it work for me?” – Use your team that work with you – to critic your marketing.

According to The Undercover Recruiter, only 37% of marketers say they have a documented content marketing strategy. Perhaps it’s time to put one in place for your business, execute it consistently and track the results too.

As long as you track the engagement and notice which avenues seem the most responsive, you’ll be nailing your service’s content in no time.

Understanding and targeting your audience

Research why your current employees joined your organisation – think about the wide range of people that could be interested or have the right transferable skills to train and progress with you. Even if they already have experience, they will have had a reason to join – flexibility, additional pay, second job, school hours, return from retirement or have recently lost a loved one they cared for. There really are a lot of reasons why people want to work in social care, and they are not always the most obvious.

Another huge benefit of digital recruitment marketing is being able to build the audience you want. In social media hiring, you’re able to curate who sees your content. Nail down your target demographic in terms of location, education, experience and qualifications, and target them.

Target your audience by analysing who is applying for your jobs, who is engaging with your advertisements, and what industry trends you can spot.

If you mainly get working parents or early career seekers applying for your roles, they’ll be your primary target audiences. See how they respond to your content and build your digital presence around that.

It’s always useful to create Character Personas too, to give you a better understanding of the type of people to apply for your vacancies. Did you know, for example, over 80% of people working in care own a dog or a cat?

Skills for Care have some superb material on how to attract a workforce that suits your organisation’s service, and tips on how to widen your pool of talent too.

Aligning your commercial and recruitment marketing

The importance of an in-depth marketing plan as part of your recruitment strategy cannot go understated. Align your people and hiring strategy alongside your commercial sales strategy, and anyone who has an interest in your organisation will notice the dedication and consistency to a first-class service.

If someone is planning on finding a care service for their loved one, seeing content that highlights the great work of your workforce can help persuade them to contact you over somewhere else.

To make sure you have access to the best talent prospects, commit to and budget for a concise digital marketing plan as part of your recruitment strategy.