Your web site is not a social media channel

After publishing a couple articles about Employer Branding, I received some questions about social media, and career and web sites. I need to clarify a misconception: Web sites are not social media!

If you’re not having a conversation, it’s not social media.

Web sites are generally static, not dynamic or interactive – we often read or watch content here. It’s one way and passive. Social media channels are quite the opposite. Companies often pour a ton of money into their web sites and unfortunately neglect social media.

You need both to serve different purposes. Why? Imagine if you built a hotel in the middle of the desert and didn’t tell anyone about it. Would anybody come? People need to know you exist. And people are busy, there’s a lot fighting for their attention. Social media channels reach people where they already spend their time, where they ‘live’ and ‘hang out’.

It’s naïve or arrogant to assume that people will find or visit your web site on their own.

If you look up the definition of social media on Wikipedia, a few key words are: communities, interactive, sharing, participate and connected.

I like Heidi Cohen’s actionable marketing guide (2019) and these three definitions of social media, they all use the word ‘human’. The other key word is ‘conversations’ which are two-way.

• Real people and their human interactions define social media.
• Social media provides the stage for multi-directional human conversation.
• Conversations among human beings sound human.

Hint: In Heidi’s guide, you’ll also find global social media data about which days and hours are best to post.

This article, There is Only One True Social Network was published in 2014, and the author’s point is still valid today.

“…while other platforms specialize in sharing high quality visual content (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram), Twitter specializes in rapid, real-time communication — aka social networking.”

This article about ‘social media marketing influence’ explains the distinction between traditional and social media channels.

“…mass media puts the audience in a passive position. Social media puts the audience at the center. People are both the audience and the content creator…”. 

This may surprise you… LinkedIn and YouTube are technically not social media sites. My friend and former colleague, Angie Neuberger, gets credit for teaching me this. LinkedIn was launched as a platform for professional and business networking. YouTube was designed to post and share videos. These were not built and designed with the intent to encourage interaction and engagement the way that Twitter and Waze were.

“Waze totally gets the fact that Twitter is a social networking tool while Facebook is a content marketing platform.” (check out the screen grabs in the Medium article)

Notice the pattern? Traditional/ mass media was designed to talk, but not listen, TO people. Other media sites were also designed to publish content, but many have expanded over time to encourage feedback. Whereas social media was designed to talk WITH people, to create community, where people are at the center of the discussion, actively engaging and sharing.

Talent in high demand roles are often sought after and rarely looking for a new job. They are considered ‘passive’ candidates. Thus, they are not actively searching job boards, career web sites, etc. for jobs. This means recruiters must reach them through personal connections, networking and communities both in-person and online. And that’s why they – and your company – need to be active on social media.

Social media is where you can build relationships with people in a virtual world. The point is: relationships.

At the end of an article or presentation, I like to leave people with a question or challenge.

What’s one new way you can reach people who are important to you? How can you engage with them in a way that’s authentic and true to you and your brand? I recommend you go where they are and start by listening.

If you’re looking for more information on Employer Branding and storytelling, here are a few articles I’ve published recently:

• Who does Employer Brand social media well?
• What is an Employee Value Proposition and do I need one?
• How Employers are Getting Vulnerable to Attract Top Talent

I have a soft spot in my heart for Employer Branding because it's where brand + marketing + people + storytelling all come together. Plus, recruiters are fun people to work with. So, have fun!