Targeting Talent

The Art of Targeting Talent: A Modern Approach

Targeting Talent

Targeting talent can be a multifaceted concept. It can mean precision, broad grouping, or envisioning an ideal end result. However, one thing is clear: without a well-defined target, especially when it comes to attracting talent, your efforts and resources may not yield the desired results.

In today’s digital age, where talent interacts with media, content, and other forms of engagement in unprecedented ways, it’s crucial to move beyond traditional guesswork. We now have more insights than ever into candidate behaviors, including what they consume, how they engage, and when they are online. This knowledge offers a powerful advantage in crafting meaningful outreach.

Gone are the days of vague targeting. While broad branding and general social content can still play a role, when you’re seeking a specific skill set or audience, it’s essential to do your homework. Understanding your target demographic opens up numerous opportunities to position your message, brand, and opportunities precisely where they will be most effective.

Instead of relying on assumptions about where your audience might be, flip the script. Identify your ideal candidate first, then find them online. Avoid the “post and pray” approach. When targeting talent utilize a variety of resources and targeting tactics to ensure your outreach is as effective as possible:

  • Contextual Targeting
  • Behavioral Targeting
  • Cross-Pollination Targeting
  • Interest, Title, Competitor Targeting
  • Lifestyle Targeting
  • Life Event Targeting
  • Lookalike Audience Targeting
  • In-Market / Out-of-Market Targeting
  • Search Activity
  • Demographic Targeting
  • Geographic Targeting (including Geofencing & Geofarming)
  • Retargeting/Remarketing (for those who have previously engaged)

The key is to leverage your knowledge about your ideal audience to precisely target across their digital footprint. Ensure that your efforts—whether they are ads, branding, messages, or social content—are hyper-focused and intentional.

Naturally, targeting is a crucial step in the process. However, it’s equally important to ensure that your messaging, candidate experience, and measurement efforts are up to par. Effective targeting alone isn’t enough; you must also focus on crafting a compelling message, optimizing the candidate’s experience, and rigorously tracking your results. This ensures that not only are you reaching the right talent, but you are also successfully engaging and attracting them.

In conclusion, while it might be tempting to rely on a single source or approach, the digital landscape can be overwhelming and complex. To attract the right talent and stay competitive, it’s essential to approach your strategy with effort, an open mind, and a willingness to adapt. If you lack the resources, support, or expertise to implement such strategies effectively, seek professional help—it will pay dividends in the long run.

Revolutionizing the World: How AI platforms are shaping the future

10 ways to utilize ChatGPT today

Artificial Intelligence (AI) isn’t new – and it’s been impacting our economy, society, and culture for years. Some of the most frequently utilized tech tools, including virtual assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Home and recommendation systems used on streaming services already integrate AI.

 

What’s new is the power, ease, accessibility, usability, flexibility, integrability, and approachability of open AI tools like ChatGPT (Generative Pretrained Transformer) from OpenAI and Bard from Google. Both are chatbots that take a more “human-like” approach and have a strikingly wide range of applications.  Thanks to these advances, more than 2000 new AI tools have been launched during the past 30 days.

 

Certainly, there are legitimate and serious economic, ethical, accuracy, and social concerns related to AI. That said, the reality is that AI won’t be going away, so we need to prepare ourselves for what’s to come.  As Darwin said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

 

Used properly and ethically, artificial intelligence has the potential to become an integral part of our problem-solving process.

 

My contribution to this discussion isn’t my AI expertise — quite the opposite, in fact. Rather, I can only offer my readiness to learn. And with that said, here are 10 ways I’ve attempted to integrate ChatGPT and Bard into my work and life:

 

  1. Research, ranging from simple questions to detailed data dumps. I’ve used it to help explain complex topics and make sense of data I’ve pulled from various sources.
  2. Validate work, asking it to review content to align messaging and information.
  3. Simulation role play, to identify different perspectives and outcomes
  4. Enhance engagement and outreach, to discover new influencers, partners, and collaborators.
  5. Plan, from developing checklists to travel plans.
  6. Generate ideas, helping to spark strategies and action.
  7. Create content, offering both updates and enhancements.
  8. Jump-start a project, offering tips for assignments or tasks.
  9. Broaden my perspective, through prompts enabling me to “dialogue” with defined characters.
  10. Train, test, and quiz with specific prompts

 

What can be accomplished with AI is limited primarily by our creativity in generating effective prompts, as well as by the accuracy of available information and by the ethical questions that have already begun to arise.

 

For those organizations that may wish to benefit from our initial experiments with AI, we’d be happy to discuss – just reach out to us at scgadv.com

Using Social Media for Recruitment: Is Your Next Hire One Meme Away?

Did you know?

  • 96% of employers use social media to hire talent
  • 86% of job seekers use social media to search and apply for jobs
  • 63% of job seekers look at social media for information about a company’s workplace diversity
  • 65% of job seekers read at least 5 reviews about an employer before applying
  • 75% of potential hires are not actively seeking jobs on job boards

Social Media Recruiting– an asset many companies know they should be using social media for, but are unsure where to begin. Some assume getting started would be as simple as creating a social media profile, but really, the first step should be determining your objectives and developing a strategy.

In order to use social media recruiting to effectively hire candidates and promote your employer brand, organizations need to develop a clearly defined strategy, build relevant and engaging content, and have the bandwidth to monitor interactions and track performance– all while ensuring an accurate and professional representation of your brand.

 

 

If you’re thinking about getting started, here are 10 tips to jumpstart your recruitment efforts on social.

  1. Tell your employer brand story

 

  1. Don’t say it, show it.

 

  1. Stay ahead of the curve

 

  1. Engage. Engage

 

  1. Be authentic

 

  1. Empower your team

 

  1. Plan ahead

 

  1. Understand your audience

 

  1. Get leadership buy-in

 

  1. Commit resources

 

 

Contact SCG today to learn more about how we help our clients use social media to reach job seekers and build a candidate pipeline.

SCG Trendwatch: MarCom Industry News – June 2022

Trendwatch Marketing

Welcome to your monthly round-up for busy MarCom professionals. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools and trends affecting the industry landscape. Check-in for the latest updates from all over the web.  

Google reimagines search beyond ’10 blue links’

At its Marketing Live event, the tech giant expressed a desire to steer digital advertising toward more interactive features, including AR shopping ads in search results. The digital boom of the pandemic is showing signs of slowing, but tech companies are still priming themselves for a future where habits adopted over the period stick around. At its annual Marketing Live event Tuesday, Google addressed the emergence of what it calls “omnibuyers”: consumers who more intensively research and browse on their shopping journeys both online and in-store. Read more…

NFTs are taking off on Instagram

Non-fungible tokens are finding their place on the social media network. But are marketers taking advantage?  With influencers and digital artists leading the way, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are taking Meta’s Instagram by storm.

Data from influencer marketing platform HypeAuditor shows:
  • Over 20,00 accounts with “NFT” in the bio, most (over 40%) U.S.-based.
  • Over 900 million followers for those accounts.
  • Over 100,000 posts monthly using the hashtag #NFT.   Read more…

Is Google Analytics going away? What marketers need to know

Universal Analytics will be retired on July 1, 2023. What does that mean for you? Here’s what you need to know about getting your website ready for the brave new world. Third-party cookies are going the way of the dodo. The looming cookieless world has many marketers more than a little nervous. With Universal Analytics sunsetting and the rise of what’s being called Google Analytics 4 in its place, digital marketing analytics can be a confusing place, so let’s make things clear… and know that I even got some input from Google digital marketing evangelist Avinash Kaushik too!  Read more…

2022: the year micro-influencer marketing meets big data

With companies looking to build meaningful relationships with longer-term customers before and after transaction, micro-influencers look set to become a permanent fixture of their communications strategies long into 2022 and beyond. Ryan Dean, head of PR strategy at Jaywing, is seeing big brands seek to work with micro-influencers in the name of effectiveness.
With a greater focus than ever on customer loyalty, effectiveness and ROI, how can brands leverage data to better plan, execute and – most importantly – measure the success of their micro-influencer campaigns?  Read more…

Creating New Audiences and Building Community With Creators

The importance and market momentum of creators is growing by the day. Their ability to engage and create moments with audiences can be used by marketers to leverage these masters of the social space and their unprecedented connections with their followers. Meta’s vp, Americas, global business group, Nada Stirratt, and Adore Me’s founder and CEO, Morgan Hermand, joined Adweek’s Social Media Week for a fireside chat about how brands can use creators to attract new audiences, break down barriers and engage with their communities in more personal ways.  Read more…

Marriott launches hospitality industry’s first media network

Marriott International launched the Marriott Media Network, an omnichannel cross-platform ad solution for marketers, according to a press release. The network will initially target travelers in the U.S. and Canada before expanding globally to encompass more than 164 million members of the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program. Once fully deployed, the network will carry inventory that spans Marriott’s owned channels, including display, mobile, video, email and digital out-of-home, the latter of which features in-room television and digital screens. The Marriott Media Network is a full-stack collaboration that leverages Yahoo’s sell-side platform (SSP) and demand-side platform (DSP). The launch, which Marriott claims is a first for the hospitality industry, follows explosive growth in the retail media space as advertisers look to better target and track consumers amid a tightening of data privacy rules on other digital platforms.  Read more…

SCG Trendwatch: MarCom Industry News – February 2020

Trendwatch Marketing

Welcome to your monthly round-up for busy MarCom professionals. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools and trends affecting the industry landscape. Check-in for the latest updates from all over the web.  

Despite Super Bowl LIV’s marketing deja vu, several ads break out

Multibrand spots, ads supporting women, “Groundhog Day” and yes, the resurrection of Mr. Peanut, caused some of the biggest stir this year.

Super Bowl LIV made for a tense showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and the victorious Kansas City Chiefs, but few marketing surprises turned up during a night that leaned heavily on humor, multibrand team-ups, and newcomers in areas like politics and women’s representation. Read more…

Google plans crackdown on ‘disruptive’ video ads

Google’s Chrome web browser on Aug. 5 will stop showing all ads on sites that repeatedly have “disruptive” video ads, as defined by new standards from the Coalition for Better Ads (CBA)  Read more…

How Coke, Reese’s turned Super Bowl ads into Amazon sales after the game

Market share for some products advertised in Super Bowl commercial spiked on Amazon during and after the game, according to a Profitero report shared with Marketing Dive. Coke Energy and its zero sugar version saw surges of 111% and 197%, respectively. Read more…

The death of the marketing campaign: Why brands should rethink the dynamics of customer relationship

The marketing sector can be a complicated place as new marketing tools and techniques are launched, almost on a weekly basis.  Ever-evolving marketing technology and the proliferation of communication channels means that ‘communicating,’ or getting your message out there, has never been easier. Read more...

SCG Trendwatch: MarCom Industry News – January 2020

Trendwatch Marketing

Welcome to your monthly round-up for busy MarCom professionals. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools and trends affecting the industry landscape. Check-in for the latest updates from all over the web.  

Why Design and Marketing Should Become Strategic Partners

Brands across the marketing spectrum are reaping the rewards of joining forces with design at the start of the strategic process.  Read more…

Ben & Jerry’s CEO On Why Too Much Marketing Research Can Cause ‘Mediocrity’

Ben and Jerry’s CEO discusses embracing different ways of doing business from side-stepping research to prioritising activism.  Ben & Jerry’s CEO Matthew McCarthy has been in his role for a little more than a year but, from side-stepping research to prioritising activism, he is fully embracing the different ways the ice cream maker does business.  Read more…

What’s the Worst That Could Happen With My Phone Data? Our Journalists Answer Your Questions

The New York Times Opinion desk published an investigation last week into the location data industry, showing how companies quietly collect and profit off the precise movements of smartphone users.  Read more…

8 Digital Marketing Trends for 2020

2019 was a busy year for marketers. With dozens of new marketing tech flooding the market, hundreds of courses on marketing mastery and thousands of sales funnel videos, predicting marketing trends for 2020 became as hard as cooking a perfect macaron. We wanted to share our perspective, as a pioneer in the MarTech space, a community with hundreds of successful digital marketing agencies around the world.   Read more…

Instagram User Growth in the US Will Drop to Single Digits For the First Time

In 2019, Instagram’s US user growth rate will have dropped to single digits for the first time to 6.7%, down from 10.1% in 2018. Starting in 2020, and through the end of our forecast period in 2023, we estimate that the social media platform will grow slower than previously expected.  Read more...

The Changing Role of Webinars

Who would have thought that webinars – the bleeding edge technology innovation when they were introduced in 1996 by Microsoft’s NetMeeting and Xerox PARC’s PlaceWare – would have such staying power? In the past 20 years in marketing have taught me anything, it’s been to never doubt the good ol’, tried and true webinar. They have proven ability to boost organizations’ training, marketing, sales and customer engagements.  Read more…

SCG Trendwatch: MarCom Industry News – September 2019

Trendwatch Marketing

Welcome to your monthly round-up for busy MarCom professionals. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools and trends affecting the industry landscape. Check-in for the latest updates from all over the web.  

YouTube masthead ads hit TV app

YouTube is rolling out masthead ads for TV screens, offering brands prominent placement within its TV app. Same as YouTube’s desktop and mobile feed masthead ads, the masthead ads for TV screens can be purchased on a cost-per-impression (CPM) basis and will be available via reserved placements.

The masthead ads will autoplay a few seconds after being served up, and brands will be able to target the ads to customized audiences.  Read more…

Facebook Publishes New Report on the Benefits of Combining Facebook and Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor ads – including bus shelter campaigns and billboards – might not be within the budget of most SMBs. But for those businesses that can afford it, there can be significant benefits to running outdoor campaigns in combination with Facebook promotions.  Read more…

Macy’s back-to-school push debuts with Snapchat shopping, TikTok challenge

Macy’s back-to-school promotion includes its first shoppable commercials on Snapchat and a video-sharing challenge on TikTok. The department store’s “All Brand New” campaign also includes digital and TV spots aimed at celebrating kids’ individuality and self-expression. Read more…

Fanta targets mobile-savvy teens with Snapchat-powered OOH campaign

Coca-Cola’s Fanta brand of fruit-flavored sodas paired its traditional out-of-home (OOH) advertising with Snap’s augmented reality (AR) technology for an immersive campaign. The “It’s a Thing” campaign lets Snapchat users point their smartphones at Fanta’s billboards and posters to unlock digital content including shareable AR filters and sticker packs, per an announcement shared with Mobile Marketer. Read more…

Engaging students in a post-email world

Too much email?

Each Texas A&M student has a dedicated email address. After years of using email as the primary way to communicate with students, we started to encounter some challenges: many students began to only monitor their personal email address, spending little to no time checking their university email address. It resulted in them not completing important administrative tasks such as signing up for direct deposit, and failing to meet important deadlines and requirements such as submitting a photograph for their identification (ID) cards or to complete financial agreements.  Read more...

Photorealistic CGI product placement ads could soon invade your favorite movies

We’re all used to personalized advertising in the age of the internet. Known as “identity marketing,” this brave new world of selling means we are shown only advertisements considered likely to appeal to us. Whether it’s Amazon recommending a new book, Netflix suggesting a particular movie, or Google selling us on a certain holiday after something we mentioned in an email, advertisers draw on information about individuals and use this to decide whether to bother targeting us with a particular ad.  Read more…

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SCG Trendwatch: Recruitment Industry News & Insights – July 2019

TrendwatchWelcome to your monthly round-up for busy HR professionals. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools and trends affecting the recruitment landscape. Check in each month for the latest updates from all over the web.  

Indeed announces acquisition of automated recruitment technology platform ClickIQ.

Indeed, the world’s #1 job site, announced today that it has signed an agreement to acquire ClickIQ, an automated job advertising technology platform, based in the UK.  Read more…

Tech startup Appcast sold for $79 million.

A 5½-year-old Upper Valley digital startup that has become a major player in helping national employers find job candidates has sold a majority stake in the company to a German media giant for $79 million.  Read more…

2019 Study reveals new trends in trucking recruitment.

The trucking and logistics industries are the backbone of the U.S. economy. Naturally, as the economy flourishes, the need for trucks, and drivers, skyrockets. However, the high-volume, high-turnover nature of the industry makes recruiting truck drivers difficult. Research from a 2017 study shows that driver turnover is exceptionally high, reaching as high as 98 percent in 2017 with 70 percent of that turnover occurring in the first year of employment; this rate of turnover places an added layer of difficulty on driver recruitment.  Read more…

iCIMS acquires Jibe to expand engagement, recruitment marketing capabilities.

iCIMS acquired recruiting technology platform Jibe with an eye toward strengthening its offerings in employer branding, candidate engagement and tracking the return on recruiting investments.

Jibe will power iCIMS’ new recruitment marketing solution, Attract, which is available as either part of its core platform or as the front end of other, integrated ATS or HCM solutions.  Read more…

Disability Equality Index shows steady growth of inclusion.

A total of 156 out of the 180 organizations included in the Disability Equality Index received top scores for their inclusion of people with disabilities. The index is a collaboration between the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) and Disability:IN, a nonprofit organization focused on disability inclusion in business.  Read more…

Oregon passes nation’s most generous paid family leave law.

Oregon lawmakers recently enacted the nation’s most generous paid leave program. Gov. Kate Brown signed a law into effect on July 1 that will provide 12 weeks of paid leave to just about every employee in the state (yes, even if you only have one employee), to be funded by a new payroll tax paid by both workers and employers with 25 or more employees. While the law doesn’t kick in until 2023, it’s never too early to learn about what’s around the corner and start to prepare.  Read more…

SCG Trendwatch: MarCom Industry News – May 2019

Trendwatch Marketing

Welcome to your monthly round-up for the marketing and communications world. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools, and marketing trends affecting the landscape. Check in each month for the latest updates from all over the web.

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Content Marketing Mistakes to Avoid

https://about.blogbeats.me/blogs/content-marketing-mistakes-to-avoid.html

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Digital Marketing in 2019: Here’s Where We’re Headed

https://marketingland.com/digital-marketing-in-2019-heres-where-were-headed-this-year-254597

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A Love Letter To Digital Advertising From a Direct Mail CEO

https://venturebeat.com/2019/04/21/a-love-letter-to-digital-advertising-from-a-direct-mail-ceo/

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Facebook Is Adding Messenger Lead Generation Templates to Ads Manager

https://wersm.com/facebook-is-adding-messenger-lead-generation-templates-to-ads-manager/

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Starbucks Got An Estimated 2.3 Billion In Free Advertising From ‘Game of Thrones’ Gaffe, And It Wasn’t Even Its Coffee Cup

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/07/starbucks-got-2point3-billion-in-free-advertising-from-game-of-thrones-gaffe.html

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SCG Trendwatch: Recruitment Industry News & Insights – Sept 2018

Welcome to your monthly round-up for busy HR professionals. Each month, we share the latest news, strategies, tools and trends affecting the recruitment landscape. Check in each month for the latest updates from all over the web.

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Yello, who recently hosted #HRTX Chicago 2018 on Sept 6, shares their top takeaways from the event. HRTX takes place in 8 cities across the U.S. each year, bringing Talent Acquisition and Recruitment leaders together in a half day open environment workshop.

https://recruitingdaily.com/yellos-observations-from-hrtx-chicago-2018/

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ZipRecruiter was announced as the presenting sponsor of Season 3 of Serial, the popular investigative journalism podcast. As part of the sponsorship, ZipRecruiter will launch a series called “Road to Hire”, which travels across America sharing stories of how business find and hire people.  

https://www.ere.net/ziprecruiter-serial-sponsor/

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Human Resource Executive announces their picks for the 2018 Top HR Products awards, spotlighting the most innovative new solutions on the market for HR leaders. This year’s winners include products in the areas of employee financial wellbeing to talent analysis to employee screening and AI technology.

http://hrexecutive.com/leading-the-pack/

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Merlin, a new jobs platform exclusively for connecting hourly workers with employers, launches in New York metro area.

https://www.alleywatch.com/2018/09/merlin-prioritizes-this-aspect-in-its-job-recruitment-app-for-hourly-workers/