If you already have experience in the world of digital recruitment, you’re probably no stranger to owned and paid media. But what do these buzzwords 🐝 really mean, and how can they affect your recruitment strategy?
To avoid any confusion: owned media are all media that your organisation publishes. 🏠 The content usually consists of information about your company, products, and services: completely unique to your brand. You effectively control and manage this content. The most common forms of owned media are your company website, blogs, and social media channels. Whether it’s a long story about your organisation’s origin or a short post about your Christmas party, every type of owned media gives you an opportunity to grow your brand presence.
Paid media is the collection of all paid-for media 💰 your organisation uses to promote content and generate traffic to your owned media.
Paying to promote your content can help you reach a much larger audience than usual. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn offer different advertising opportunities to boost your website’s content. Another option is to call upon the digital help of influencers to increase your reach. Influencers can easily promote your products or services on social media, gaining your brand a huge dose of popularity and brand awareness. All in all, we like to compare paid media and owned media with a scale: both elements are equally important for an optimal, well-balanced digital marketing strategy. ⚖️
Research shows us that 79% of job seekers use social media to search for new job opportunities. Interesting right? What’s more, that figure rises to 86% when the focus shifts to younger job seekers looking for their first permanent job. To attract these candidates to your vacancy page, you will inevitably have to enter the realm of online advertising. Paid media can seem intimidating, complicated, and even overwhelming at first sight, 😰 and if you’re not familiar with its do’s and don’ts, it can get expensive very quickly! 💸 No need to panic, but pay attention…
It’s vital to build a stable, solid foundation for the construction of your paid media campaigns. Candidates should always have the possibility to read more about your offer, vision, and purpose… This is where “Owned media” comes in: the umbrella term for Content marketing. Owned media websites are an extension of your brand and create new, additional ways for candidates to interact with your organisation. The more, the merrier, as long as you have the right resources to maintain your owned media! Constantly optimising your content on your website will keep your audience interested and benefit your SEO score on Google. 👏🏼
If you can combine both, you will achieve your ultimate reach in no time. Bear in mind not to focus on just one channel, such as blogging or Tweeting. 🐦 Puzzle a little, and learn through trial and error to find the best formula for your organisation. Are you craving inspiration? We’ve got your back! Here are a few examples:
Create original content on your blog (owned) and share this with your followers on your organisation’s Facebook page (owned). You will only reach a small percentage of your potential candidates organically, so you’re best off publishing an online ad (paid) to extend your reach.
Collaborate with a few influencers (paid) to create fun, interesting, and shareable content for your blogs (owned). Give this content an extra boost by sharing it on your social media (owned) platforms.
There’s no way ‘round it; both paid and owned media are essential for your digital recruitment strategy. How you will tip the scales is entirely up to the objectives of your recruitment strategy…
Are you ready to dive a little deeper into the world of digital recruitment with paid media and owned media? Get those swimsuits ready, because we are!
