If you’re new to – or have yet to venture into – social media recruitment, you might want to check out CareerBuilder’s recent webinar on the subject (now available on demand here).

Not just a clever name, “Social Media Basics for Your Employment Brand,” gives a quick and easy-to-digest overview of what social media is and its value as an employment branding tool.

Hosted by Melissa Murray, emerging media consultant for Personified, CareerBuilder’s consulting arm, the webinar also covers such topics as: how companies are using social media to impact their business; how to begin creating a social networking strategy; and various policies and etiquette to follow. There’s even an informative Q&A at the end of the session.

Click here to watch the first half of the two-part webinar on demand.  Or for a quick sneak peek, check out the 10 steps to getting started with your social media strategy:

1. Set a Goal – Determine where you want to create a presence, and what the purpose of that presence is.
2. Master One Medium – There are a lot of social networking sites out there right now. So many in fact, that it can be overwhelming trying to decide where to start. Begin by simpling picking one site on which to create a profile and get comfortable using before you venture elsewhere.  Explore the site to see what others might be saying about your brand. See if they’re engaging and if what they’re saying is negative or positive. Figure out how others are using the site and engaging on it.
3. Manage Your Online Reputation – Once you’ve seen what people are saying, create a plan for responding to those comments.
4. Create a User Experience – Create a Facebook page, for example, and post videos, photos or content that gives insight into what it’s like to work at your organization – information users wouldn’t find anywhere else. By providing them an inside look at your organization, you’re creating an exclusive user experience, engaging them and compelling them to want to work for you.
5. Listen, Learn and Engage – This step denotes an ongoing process. Once you have a profile and are active on the site, you can start to listen to the conversations about your brand. Allow employees and job seekers to post questions about the company. You may find that they’re concerned about issues you never would have considered addressing before.  Don’t be afraid of criticism, either. This is an opportunity for you to respond and clarify misconceptions about your brand. (Because the truth is that people are going to talk about your brand – regardless of whether you’re there or not. At least now you have the opportunity to steer the conversation in your favor.)
6. Highlight Specific Jobs – Use the medium as a platform to give information beyond just a job description. You can post employee testimonials, for example, of others who hold that position and be advocates for both the company and the job.
7. Visually Stimulate - Sharing videos and photos of company events is a great way to give candidates snap shots into your organization – in ways they’ve never seen.  “Day-in-the-life” videos, for example, give would-be employees an idea of what it’s like to work for your company, and they resonate stronger than anything job seekers might read.
8. Boost Your Rankings – Having a presence on multiple social networks can improve your rankings in Google search results, making it easier for job seekers to find you when they perform organic searches for either your company or your industry.
9. Promote – Tapping into those passive talent streams and connecting with your ideal talent requires promotion – both internal and external. Use your social networks to market your open positions, company news, or other messages you want to get across to job seekers, and make sure to communicate internally, too, so your employees can further their efforts as brand advocates and push that information out, too.
10. Dedicate Time and Effort – Whatever you to, keep at it. It takes time to build a following and generate engagement - and even longer to see a return on your business, but in the long run, you will reap the rewards for your efforts.

Check back later for our recap of the second part of this webinar series, “Employment Brand Strategy for Social Media.”