How to Use Snapchat for Recruitment

By Elise Nelson on October 23, 2017

In 2011, Snapchat began as a simple tool for sending disappearing photos to friends. Today, housing a variety of intricate features, it’s the hottest social media app among millennials — and businesses trying to reach millennials.

According to Business Insider, 158 million people use Snapchat every day, making it an excellent outlet for businesses to communicate with consumers. The most tech-savvy companies have started using Snapchat to advertise products and recruit new employees.

In a world ruled by social media, it’s time for your business to get creative with recruitment — why not use the app worth $3 billion? Here are five ways to use Snapchat in the recruiting process.

1. Sponsored stories

Snapchat ads, or sponsored stories, are quick advertisements that play automatically between photos and videos that users share with their followers. Snapchat launched its ad program in June 2016, allowing hundreds of businesses to reach consumers via an ever-growing social media platform.

Image via Tech Insider

According to AdWeek, “Snapchat caps the amount of ads so that each person is served three so-called Snap Ads Between Friends promos per day — one in the morning, one in the afternoon and one at night.”

This way, consumers will still see memorable ads, but not so much that it becomes overwhelming.

These 10-second video clips can target specific ages, genders, locations, devices, carrier, etc. As a recruitment strategy, Snap Ads can link to your business’s career page or directly to an application. For example, McDonald’s successfully used Snap Ads to recruit over 250,000 workers in July. Their “Snaplications” method allowed users to apply within the Snapchat app.

2. Geofilters

Once a photo or video is taken on with the Snapchat camera, users can swipe right or left to see different filter options. Basic filters include the current temperature, time, altitude, and weekday. Additionally, users can also find location-based filters called geofilters.

Snapchat lets anyone create on-demand geofilters for community, personal, or business reasons. Creators must select a geofence for the filter that determines how far the geofilter will reach, as well as the date range in which the filter will appear. Price estimates are then based on the size of the fence and the amount of time the filter runs.

Business geofilters can be used to advertise your company’s recruitment events to users who live in the area, or show users that your business is hiring and encourage them to visit your application page. JPMorgan chose to create a filter for high school and college events that highlighted different roles in the banking industry.

3. Lenses

Lenses are similar to (and often confused with) filters. The difference is that lenses are used when the picture or video is being taken. These animated filters change fairly often, bringing users back for more every day. Some popular lenses include dog ears, a butterfly crown, and a flower crown.

Image via AdWeek

Many lenses are sponsored animations that advertise new films or products. Custom lenses for businesses cost big bucks, but advertisers see it as a top-notch method for reaching younger generations, according to AdWeek.

Taco Bell took advantage of Snapchat’s fun feature on Cinco De Mayo in 2016 to literally turn people into tacos. The out-of-the-ordinary lens was just weird enough to create a buzz about the popular Tex-Mex fast-food chain. This same concept of raising awareness for your company can be applied to recruitment strategies.

4. Snapcodes

Advertising through Snapchat can be a large expense when lenses, filters, and sponsored stories come into play, but there are cheaper routes to take. Snapcodes, introduced in 2015, use the app’s built-in QR code reader to direct users to a specific URL. Users take a photo of the Snapcode icon, a ghost with dots around it, and are then able to browse in the app.

Custom Snapcodes are free and easy to create, and they can be placed anywhere. Anyone can create a Snapchat account and a build QR code in-app. Once the Snapcode is created, it is saved to a camera roll or emailed.  The code can be printed on flyers, in brochures, or even sent directly to other users.

Snagajob suggests that businesses looking to recruit via Snapchat should create custom Snapcodes for career pages, individual job postings, or even for specific store locations. Print small business cards with the Snapcode on them to hand out in stores or at recruitment events!

5. Active accounts

Another free way to keep up with recruitment on Snapchat is to simply stay an active user; this works especially for smaller businesses. Designate one person or a team from your business to manage an “official” company Snapchat account. Advertise your Snap username on social media and encourage anyone to follow you. Post daily updates of life on the job, introduce team members, and leave a note reminding followers that you are hiring.

Image via Small Business Trends

Snapchat recently invented the option for users to add attachments directly to snaps – users simply have to swipe up on a photo or video with an attachment to be directed to a website. In some of your company snaps, you can attach a link to an application.

You can also encourage users to send “reply” snaps to your stories if they would like to apply. Being interactive with your target audience will bring more interest to the positions.

Visit the Snapchat Business website to begin creating custom advertisements for your company. 

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