Social media will continue to be a critical part of a B2B marketing program, and your company is probably using it to generate leads and build your brand. With Generation Z (now 25 and younger) entering the workforce as true digital natives (sorry Millennials), social media marketing will continue to pay dividends. But social media is not just for lead generation and branding. Successful companies are using LinkedIn and Instagram to support their talent acquisition strategy, as well.

Glassdoor reports that 79% of job applicants use social media in their job search, and, combined with the Jobvite statistic that 40% of all new hires are employee referrals, establishes the case for Employee Social Media Advocacy campaigns to become a cornerstone of your talent acquisition strategy.

Employee Social Media Advocacy is defined as using the social networks of your employees. It is when your company works with your employees’ social profiles to spread the values and messages of your brand on social media.

We know from research that over 50% of your employees are already posting content about the company. Your team may be posting about a product announcement or community involvement, or just news about a post they read from their CEO.

The value of these types of posts to you and your company or organization is amazing. Research shows that there is a massive increase in the number of new people you can reach. Your post will be seen by the followers of your company’s page and all the connections of your employees’ social media profiles as well. Companies that use social media advocacy software like SocialHP or Oktopost will typically have a 60% participation rate with their staff.

For example: if you have 100 employees, about 60 of them will allow your company to post to their LinkedIn or Twitter account on your behalf. You will then be reaching their network through those platforms’ algorithms. So typically, the reach has increased by anywhere from 15 to 25 times because there are so many more profiles being used, instead of just the brand’s profile.

This is the first benefit – increasing your reach of potential viewers of your company’s content.

The second benefit is that companies like yours that use social media advocacy are seeing a decrease in the amount of time for new employee hiring, as well as seeing an increase in employee retention.

The third and equally as important benefit of a social media advocacy campaign for talent acquisition is that 47% of referral hires have greater job satisfaction and stay longer at companies. (Jobvite)

With a well-developed Employee Advocacy campaign, you’re getting referrals from your employees for better talent and quicker speed to hire. If you’re not yet leveraging Employee Advocacy, you should, and begin to leverage your social media marketing for talent acquisition and retention.