Social Marketing Workflows

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What are Social Marketing Workflows?

  • Social marketing workflows in HR refer to the series of steps and tasks to execute a social media strategy in the context of human resources.
  • Tasks include creating social media content, scheduling posts, engaging with followers, tracking analytics, and adjusting the strategy as needed.
  • Goal is to effectively use social media to support recruitment, employee engagement, and employer branding efforts.
  • Also ensuring compliance with laws and regulations is important.

What tasks are included in social marketing workflows?

Tasks that are typically included in social marketing workflows in HR are:

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Image showing the meaning of social marketing workflows
  1. Content creation: generating ideas and creating various forms of content such as text, images, and videos to be used on social media platforms.
  2. Scheduling posts: planning and scheduling when and where content will be posted on social media platforms.
  3. Engaging with followers: monitoring and responding to comments, messages, and reviews on social media platforms.
  4. Tracking analytics: monitoring and analyzing the performance of social media campaigns and posts, including metrics such as engagement, reach, and conversions.
  5. Adjusting the strategy: regularly reviewing and analyzing the performance of social media campaigns and making adjustments to the strategy as needed.
  6. Compliance: ensuring compliance with laws, regulations, and company policies on social media usage and data privacy.
  7. Budgeting and management: allocating resources and managing the budget for social media campaigns, including paid advertising and influencer partnerships.
  8. Employee training: training employees on how to use social media for recruitment, employee engagement, and employer branding.

It’s worth noting that tasks and specifics of the workflow may vary depending on the company, and the specific goals and objectives of their social media strategy.

How do social marketing workflows in HR support recruitment and employee engagement?

Social marketing workflows in HR support recruitment and employee engagement in several ways: HBR’s social marketing research

  1. Building a positive employer brand: Social marketing workflows can be used to showcase the company’s culture, values, and employee testimonials on social media platforms, which can attract top talent and improve the quality of candidates that apply for job openings.
  2. Recruitment: Social media platforms can be used to post job openings, and promote employee testimonials which can help companies reach a larger and more diverse pool of candidates.
  3. Employee engagement: Social marketing workflows can be used to improve communication and collaboration among employees by using tools like instant messaging, video conferencing, and social networks. This can lead to higher levels of employee engagement, which can improve productivity, performance, and retention.
  4. Employee development: Social HR can be used to provide employees with learning and development opportunities through online training and resources.
  5. Building a sense of community: Social media platforms can also help build a sense of community among employees, which can improve engagement and retention.
  6. Compliance: Social marketing workflows can also ensure compliance with laws and regulations by providing regular training and education to employees and managers, and implementing policies and procedures that comply with legal requirements.
  7. Employee advocacy: Social media platforms can also be used to enable employees to share their own experiences and stories, which can help build a positive employer brand and attract top talent.

In summary, social marketing workflows in HR support recruitment and employee engagement by leveraging the power of digital platforms and social media to reach a wider pool of candidates, improve communication and collaboration among employees, build a positive employer brand and provide opportunities for professional development and compliance. SHRM’s social marketing and recruiting guidance

Social marketing workflows in HR enable systematic employer brand content distribution that reaches passive candidates across platforms efficiently. Using pre-employment assessments alongside a structured hiring plan drives results. Strong talent acquisition focused on skills-based hiring improves outcomes.

Frequently asked questions

Social marketing workflows in HR are systematized processes for creating, scheduling, publishing, and measuring social media content that supports HR objectives — primarily employer branding, talent attraction, and employee engagement. They define: who creates content, what types of content are published on which platforms, how content is approved, when it is scheduled, and how performance is measured and optimized.

HR social content types: employee spotlight stories (day-in-the-life, career journey features), culture and values content (team events, office culture, behind-the-scenes), job posting amplification (sharing open roles with compelling context beyond the job board listing), employer award and recognition announcements, thought leadership from HR and business leaders, community involvement and CSR content, and diversity and inclusion narrative told through employee voices.

Platform selection: LinkedIn (primary platform for professional talent attraction — B2B and white-collar roles), Instagram (visual culture storytelling — effective for younger talent and creative roles), TikTok (growing platform for employer branding — particularly effective for hourly, retail, and healthcare worker recruiting), Facebook (still relevant for hourly and local hiring), Twitter/X (industry thought leadership), and Glassdoor (review management as a social channel). Platform mix should match where target talent segments spend time.

Social marketing tools: Hootsuite, Buffer, or Sprout Social for scheduling and analytics across multiple platforms; Canva for employer brand content creation; LinkedIn Talent Solutions for job promotion and sponsored content; Phenom People or Smashfly for candidate engagement workflows; and employee advocacy platforms (Sociabble, EveryoneSocial) that help employees easily share employer brand content from their personal networks. HR and Marketing should share social tools where brand consistency is required.

Key metrics: reach and impressions by platform, engagement rate (likes, comments, shares as % of impressions), follower growth on employer social channels, click-through rate on job posting social shares, career site traffic from social media (UTM-tagged links), application source attribution from social channels, candidate pipeline quality from social-sourced applications, and cost per application from social vs. paid channels. Review monthly and adjust content mix based on what generates the strongest candidate engagement.

Marketing-HR coordination: establish who owns employer brand social channels (usually HR with marketing support for design), align on brand voice and visual identity (employer brand should complement consumer brand), share content calendars to avoid conflicts, leverage marketing’s social media expertise for platform strategy and analytics, and ensure all employer brand content is reviewed by marketing before publication to maintain brand consistency. Joint ownership typically produces better results than either function operating in isolation.