How do you align SMS and chatbot strategies with your employer brand and values?

1 Know your audience

Before you craft your SMS and chatbot content, you need to understand who you are talking to and what they expect from you. Research your target talent pool, their preferences, pain points, and motivations. Use data from your applicant tracking system (ATS) to segment your candidates by factors such as location, role, stage, and source. Tailor your SMS and chatbot messages to each segment, using personalized and relevant language.

2 Define your voice and tone

Your voice and tone reflect your personality and attitude as an employer. They should be consistent across all your communication channels, including SMS and chatbots. To define your voice and tone, think about your core values, mission, vision, and culture. How do you want to sound to your candidates? Friendly, professional, casual, formal, humorous, serious, etc.? Use words, phrases, emojis, and punctuation that match your voice and tone.

3 Create engaging content

Your SMS and chatbot content should not only inform, but also engage your candidates. You want to spark their interest, build trust, and encourage action. To create engaging content, use clear and concise language, avoid jargon and acronyms, ask open-ended questions, provide value and feedback, and include a clear call to action. Use A/B testing and analytics to measure the effectiveness of your content and optimize it accordingly.

4 Be human and helpful

SMS and chatbots are not meant to replace human interaction, but to enhance it. You should always be transparent and respectful with your candidates, and let them know that they can reach out to a real person if they need more help or information. Use SMS and chatbots to provide timely and relevant information, such as job alerts, application status, interview reminders, and FAQs. Avoid spamming, overloading, or annoying your candidates with too many or irrelevant messages.

5 Follow best practices

SMS and chatbot strategies should always adhere to legal and ethical guidelines, as well as user preferences and expectations. To ensure compliance with the law, respect for your candidates' privacy and consent, and a positive user experience, it is important to obtain permission before sending messages, provide an easy way to opt out or unsubscribe, use a dedicated number or short code, send messages during appropriate hours and frequency, and use secure and reliable platforms and tools. Doing so can help you create messages that showcase your employer brand and values, connecting with candidates on a deeper level. Ultimately, SMS and chatbot strategies can help you attract, engage, and convert more candidates on mobile devices.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?