Millennials Abandon Facebook. What It Means for Social Recruiting - Workology

Millennials Abandon Facebook. What It Means for Social Recruiting - Workology Facebooks Faults in Recruiting, Sourcing Hiring Join us on Thursday, June 13th at 11 AM CST for a free webinar as we discuss Beyond Facebook: How to Recruit  Millennials  Online. Learn about social media usage, engagement and internet recruiting best practices across the globe.  Register here.   Social media is a great resource to engage, interact and source for job seekers who are spending time online. Like most marketing thats happening online, the ROI can be hard to define. Bosses who sign checks and manage budgets tend to be skeptical of the benefits of social media because its often soft and intangible but so is relationship sales and networking events. Its just a new way of building connections thats happening online. Facebook, in particular offers a great way to engage a targeted group of candidates or prospects for as little as $10 a day. You can target language, location and their interests either through sponsored posts, ads or suggested to pages to like. No other online resource offers such micro and specific options that can provide results and insights literally overnight. With a pay per click campaign on Google to be effective, we have to wait weeks or months to see the benefits and sometimes for thousands of dollars a month. Facebooks Faults in Recruiting, Sourcing Hiring Unfortunately, Facebooks Graph Search still makes sourcing and internet searching bulky. It stinks, and I still cant even search my own profile for updates, photos and  information  Yet, I am on Facebook multiple times a day. Maintaining a Facebook Fan Page is expensive and requires a constant commitment in sharing, updating and commenting unless you are a big brand. Facebook, as an individual is one of my favorite tools to engage, ask questions and connect with business professionals, friends and family. As an individual, I share family announcements and information like you see below. Im also not a Millennial. As a mom, I shared an exciting first time moment in my 4 1/2 year old daughters life. She jumped off the diving board in swimming lessons, and I felt compelled to share. For the Millennial,this is likely too much while Xers and Boomers like me dont give a damn. Facebook serves as the glue that connects a family and friends together online. Updates, announcements and sharing exactly like this is whats driving Millennials away from the leading social networking site, Facebook.com. Its because, the parents (like me) are policing, patrolling and using Facebook to connect with their friends. Thats so not cool so theyre logging out and spending their time online somewhere else. The question in where? The numbers support the Millennial migration away from Facebook. You see below that 36% of Facebooks population (which is in stark  comparison  to 72% of 18-34 year olds in 2008) can be considered  Millennials. Facebook is no longer cool anymore because its also no longer fun. Mom is there poking her nose up in your business and maintaining multiple profiles of yourself is a hard job. Moms judging you and following your every move. For fans of Facebook its a lot like gaming. Its fun. Theres thrill and a need and desire to obtain rewards in the form of  likes, mentions, comments, and pokes. Think of it as your virtual award wall like the ribbons and medals you had as a kid. This recognition demonstrates to the world, youre important, connected and engaged until you dont really care any more. The game grows old. Thats precisely the point where we are with  Millennials  who are  disengaged  on Facebook only logging in once every seven days instead of multiple times a day. Millennials Dont Do Facebook I think my intern, Sarah said it best to me when discussing Facebook. I dont really do Facebook. I connect with you to get to know you and to provide me my phone information. Otherwise, Im not there. The question is how do we engage this technology savvy audience of job seekers in a way that works for them? Learn more about where Millennials are spending time online at our webinar on 6/13 at 11 AM at our webinar: Beyond Facebook: How to Recruit  Millennials  Online. Register here.