Organizations of all sizes can no longer afford to ignore or dismiss social media. It has established itself as an incredibly powerful tool that can yield major benefits for those firms that are willing and able to maximize its abilities. Typically, commenters limit their focus to the benefits social media offers for organizations looking to engage with current and prospective customers, clients and members. This is undoubtedly one of the primary benefits of developing an effective social media presence and strategy.
However, there are a number of other ways in which organizations can implement social media to improve their operations – among them is the way in which they hire.
Finding the right applicants
Wayne Levine, managing director of NXT Digital Innovation, recently emphasized this point to Bizcommunity.com. According to Levin, human resources agents can comb through social media to search for potential job candidates. He described LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter as "job-centric" and argued that they can significantly reduce the time it takes for organizations to find suitable workers.
Additionally, social media provides a means for firms to better gauge whether an individual will make a good fit at the organization. As many observers have noted, people tend to freely share a great deal of personal information on social media sites. This information can serve to paint an accurate picture of the person, helping the organization to make a hiring decision.
For example, an organization may discover that an applicant maintains a public blog. While the specific focus of this blog may not be relevant to the organization, hiring managers will still be able to gain insight into the individual's qualifications. If the blog is poorly written, it is likely that the applicant will experience struggles when it comes time for him or her to write emails, reports and other communicative efforts. On the reverse side, an extremely well-written blog is further evidence that the applicant would make an excellent worker.
Communication improved
In addition to improving hiring practices, social media can serve to improve internal communication among employees for an organization. Social media expert Steve Nicholls recently emphasized this value in an interview with Daily Business Buzz. According to Nicholls, social media presents a means for organizations to better develop their community of workers by creating groups, events, message boards and other unifying efforts.
Nonprofit organizations and associations looking to take advantage of the power of social media platforms may want to invest in association management software featuring advanced social tools. These programs can improve an organization's ability to implement social strategies to increase communication and efficiency.
