Having recently launched our new social/community platform, Tribepad, I was excited to spread the word of the benefits of a white labeled in house community zone that allowed employees to engage with each other and collaborate on projects, news and views or what ever tickled their fancy.  With social media being the craze at the moment, I figured this conversation would be one that almost every large corporation at least utilizing social media would be interested in having.

Well I was a little surprised last week to get feedback from one prospect that they are happy with their current social media strategy of using Facebook and Twitter and didn’t wish to do anything further at this stage.  This didn’t shock me entirely as I was expecting a 100%  strike rate and knew that the product wasn’t going to be for everyone right now.  What did shock me though was that the company that provided these retort was thinking from one angle, that of attraction of candidates, and not the most important aspect from a business perspective/asset, their own employees.

There is no doubting the power that Twitter and the like, have of attracting and reaching a broad audience but that is exactly where usefulness ends.  140 characters will not be a meaningful conversation or provide you with the traction that you are seeking.  Twitter and Facebook are great for “seeking” out an audience and having them directed to your site, but what then?  Is your site compatible with these social media, engagement, information hungry candidates, who want nothing more then to speak to someone directly about what it is they want and then move on.

What though, I felt was the bigger issue, is that of this companies own backyard.  Their employees.  Whilst HR and recruitment teams are making every effort to not only understand and use social media sites to attract candidates, their most important asset is being forgotten about.  If I was an employee in a company pushing forward with social media strategies I would be wondering what is so important about all of these people who don’t even work here yet, what about me?

Whilst retention rates right now are relatively flat (redundancy aside and who is game to leave their job with the market still how it is) engaging your employees and allowing them to be more involved within the business is crucial.  Any company with a large employee base that is separated by time, distance or many other factors can interact efficiently and easily via an in-house community platform.

Knowledge is power, and if there are other people within a business that can assist me with what it is I am doing, without the need of leaving my desk, then fantastic.  Knowledge sharing, learning, engaging and collaboration all from your desk. An employee who also feel that they contribute to a positive outcome is also more likely to feel inspired and seek more of this type of input.  I just read about a company who utilizes a similar platform launching a new product and needed a tag line.  Instead of employing an ad agency, they requested the input of their 12,000 strong global workforce.  Result, an enormous amount of responses, and a new tag line, free of charge.  People power, and the want to be involved proved are such powerful things.

So when thinking about your next social media strategy for recruitment, take a second and think internally first.  Not of yourself, but of your own company.  After all, having lots of people coming through the front door, doesn’t mean just as many won’t leave through the back.