Once upon a time, companies differentiated themselves almost entirely based on the things they made. Early in the 20th Century, the ability to produce items quickly and efficiently was a key differentiator for corporations that brought affordable products to the masses. Over time, production processes became so cost-effective that firms looked to streamlining distribution and opening new markets to gain an advantage. But there, too, they reached an efficiency plateau.

At the end of the 20th Century, the Internet opened up content distribution, but lately there has been a shift in focus. Companies still need to build innovative products and get them to market, but as the differences in many of those products become more subtle, companies need a new way to differentiate. In this new era, companies expect experience to be that new differentiator.
The Role of Connected Devices

Driving this shift is the proliferation of connected devices. These gadgets put serious computing power in the hands of consumers and enable them to have deeper, more enriching relationships with companies. Today’s mobile phones have nearly as much computing power as turn of the century desktops, while marrying the virtual and physical worlds. But it’s not just mobile phones that have had an impact. Touch-screen tablet computers fill a key void by enabling easier input and more multi-touch manipulation than mobile handsets, while providing more portability and a better tactile experience than notebook computers.

This suite of empowering devices has driven customer expectations to new heights, and has increased the frequency of interactions between customers and businesses. It also opens a world of opportunity for companies to enrich their relationships with their customers. The problem is that companies struggle with what experiences to provide on what devices — and which ones to build first. Because companies have typically been organized by channel, they tend to develop siloed strategies for each new touchpoint available to them. This approach to channel development can confuse customers with disjointed experiences. It also doesn’t provide an overarching framework for prioritizing which channels to invest in, leaving companies vulnerable to chasing shiny new objects.

Instead of focusing on channel-specific experiences, companies need to pay attention to the realities of today’s multi-channel customer who may use multiple touchpoints in pursuit of a single goal, and expects all touchpoints to be in sync in visual design, behavior and content. Firms need an overarching digital customer experience strategy.
Where to Begin

A digital customer experience strategy helps guide the activities and resource allocation needed to give customers a great experience across all points of digital interaction. It needs to address the identity and behaviors of target customers, where experiences will take place, and brand image across all touchpoints. How can companies get there?

Start with company and brand strategy. Firms need to ground their digital efforts firmly in the mission and value proposition of the brand. A digital customer experience strategy should translate top-level business objectives into an actionable plan for every digital channel.
Describe the intended digital experience. A strategy paints a vivid picture of how the company’s digital interaction points meet customers’ needs, make the company easy to work with, and provide an enjoyable experience. It should call out the aspects of customer experience that are most critical to a company’s aspirations for differentiating itself.
Direct activities and processes that support the defined experience. Companies set themselves apart by performing a different set of activities than their competitors or by performing the same activities differently. When customer experience professionals have a clear vision of what they need to do and how, they’re better equipped to make decisions about which projects to pursue.
Guide digital channel investments. Firms with a clear strategy prioritize investments in interactions that fulfill the brand promise and avoid wasting money on chasing new shiny digital capabilities if they don’t. With a clear strategy in place, firms can make informed decisions about the projects that have the most impact on their businesses instead of chasing features that might work for another company with a different strategy.

A few years ago, having a digital customer experience strategy meant having a website strategy. But in today’s reality, successfully delivering a cohesive experience that meets and exceeds expectations requires a more thoughtful approach that considers the entire customer journey. If you think customer experience is important, and digital channels are core to delivering those experiences, isn’t it time to make it a strategic priority?

Finding the right candidate for a job is like finding a new apartment: timing, finances and quality all have to align just right. And somehow, the pool of options always seems to feel both prohibitively large and prohibitively limited at the same time.

So, in both types of searches, online tools have become invaluable. But while tweeting out a call for a good real estate agent is fairly straightforward, using social media for recruiting has nuances that, if overlooked, can render the process far less useful. Here are a few key pointers from experts in the field to remember when getting started.
1. Start Early

Simply tweeting out a link to a job posting might get you some viable candidates, but to really make sure you’re reaching your target audience, it’s important to cultivate your personality as an employer early on. “Social recruiting is about getting engaged and having conversations with people before they’re even thinking about you as an employer,” says Bruce Morton, CMO of Allegis Group Services, a company that provides human resources consulting. Morton also suggests that recruiters could “learn a lot from the consumer industry” in terms of marketing. In that analogy, your company is your brand, and the available job is just one of many products you have to offer. Keep that in mind when cultivating a social media presence for your brand that will eventually allow you to incorporate job announcements.
2. Know Your Audience

These days, it’s the rare holdout who has avoided creating a Facebook profile. But just because potential candidates have a presence on a given social network doesn’t mean that it’s the right site to use when targeting them. Debbie Fischer, human resources manager for advertising agency Campbell Mithun, found resounding success by using Twitter as a recruiting tool for summer interns. But, she cautioned that “you have to think about the types of roles you’re recruiting for,” because while college students can be open about their job hunt, more seasoned professionals may not feel comfortable publicly sharing that they are considering a career move. For those types of roles, Morton says that LinkedIn can be a good place to start, because, as he puts it, “what LinkedIn has done is given people the permission to put their resume online,” without fear of repercussions from current employers.
3. Get Creative

When you make the foray into social recruiting, you are entering a space in which both passive and active job seekers are already receiving a massive amount of information on a daily basis. So, to get the best results, your message has to stand out enough to make people take note. Additionally, presenting your job openings in a creative way allows companies to show more about their personalities as organizations, which in turn helps potential candidates get a feel for whether or not the culture is likely to be a good fit.

This year, Campbell Mithun hired for their “Lucky 13” internship program through a process that required those interested to apply by submitting 13 tweets over 13 days. Due to its novel use of social media, the campaign garnered press from national outlets like AdAge.com, as well as Mashable. Even a straightforward job description can spread like wildfire on social networks if it’s written in a way that sparks discussion, like this announcement from a Florida newspaper that readers found refreshing for its candid and witty tone. And if you have more resources, you might consider creating a short video, as corporations like Facebook have done, to present your material in a more engaging manner. Morton says that when seeking Generation Y talent, recruiters can’t assume that candidates will read a page of text, “but they’ll watch a video.”
4. Be Open in Return

Finding candidates through social channels means you’ll be asking them to share information with you via possibly public means. For the process to work, employers need to be willing to share information as well (while, of course, carefully and closely guarding any personal information they might have about their applicants). Morton says some employers express staunch resistance to putting jobs on Twitter, when in fact, the listings in question are all on Twitter through unofficial channels anyway. For Campbell Mithun, the finishing touch of a successful social media-driven hiring process was getting to showcase the talented, web-savvy young people they had selected. Kristine Olson, the agency’s Director of Corporate Communications, had a communications strategy in place that was designed, fittingly, to use social media channels to share the results of the campaign, noting that the HR team “had to be really open to allow us to publicize who we were hiring.”

Do you have any success stories about finding great candidates through social recruiting? Let us know in the comments.