Employer Branding in the Digital Age: Using Ads to Attract Passive Candidates

Phone call recruitment is still a crucial part of the hiring market. However, it’s vital to understand the specifics of modern job hunting to encourage phone call leads to reach a business and get hired.

According to LinkedIn research, 75% of job seekers examine an employer’s brand before applying. To ensure that your business will attract passive candidates, build a strong employer brand by combining the efforts of the brand’s marketing team and affiliates.

Let’s examine how recruitment marketing can improve employer branding and what you should implement to achieve the best results.

Why Employer Branding Matters 

Employer branding shapes how potential candidates perceive the company. A strong brand improves talent acquisition by attracting experts, reducing hiring costs, and improving retention. Job seekers research the company culture, values, and employee experiences before applying or calling the numbers listed in pay-per-call advertising.

Positive branding through social media, paid search ads, testimonials, and workplace transparency builds trust and sets you apart from competitors. It can also attract passive candidates who aren’t job hunting but exploring the market for potential prospects.

How to Attract Candidates In Recruitment With Online Ads: 4 Useful Tips

You can attract passive candidates by using online ads. However, this HR trend requires a strategic approach beyond just posting job openings. Whether you are an employer or an affiliate, implement the next four tips to engage top talent:

• Craft compelling job descriptions
• Target the right audience
• Leverage visual content
• Offer a seamless application

Use these simple tips in your creative ways to attract candidates to see the payoff of your efforts. Make your promo catchy and encouraging to take the target action. It can be sharing the email, CV, or calling the HR department.

The Art of Compelling Job Descriptions

It’s one of the most crucial parts of targeting passive candidates, whether you leverage a Facebook advertising campaign, TikTok, YouTube, or LinkedIn promo. You need to understand the needs of potential employees and catch the essence of the chosen social media. After that, you need to create a job description that will match the brand, fit the platform rules, and be compelling enough to encourage the user to take action.

If you are an affiliate promoting the brand, keep in mind the distinctions between pay-per-call advertising and pay-per-click promotion. In both cases, you must mention perks and show how the company’s culture aligns with the candidate’s values. But with the first approach, you’ll need to focus on quick engagement.

You must encourage candidates to make the call immediately to bring in as many pay-per-call leads as possible. So, your CTA (Call to Action) must highlight urgency or exclusivity. For instance, your pay-per-call advertising CTA can look like “Call now to explore career opportunities!” or “Limited openings available. Call now!” 

Target the Right Audience

Reaching the right candidates is crucial while recruiting passive candidates. Whether you’re an employer looking to attract top talent or an affiliate promoting job opportunities for commission-based earnings, precise targeting for your digital advertising ensures better conversion rates and higher-quality applications.

First of all, define the perfect candidate profile. It is especially crucial for social media job promos. You need to determine not only candidates’ skills and experience level but also their industry background and cultural fit. That way, you can fit your pay-per-click or pay-per-call advertising to encourage candidates to take action. Let’s quickly recap the distinctions between the most popular platforms:

1. LinkedIn: Perfect for professionals and senior roles. Leverage your LinkedIn branding to promote the company to industry experts, and use the LinkedIn Ads platform to target by job title, industry, and skills.
2. Facebook & Instagram: Great for broad engagement. Your Facebook advertising strategy should implement interest-based and demographic targeting for the best results.
3. TikTok and YouTube: Best for younger candidates and creative industries. Your YouTube advertising campaign should include storytelling and interactive content to make your company more relatable to the audience of these platforms.
4. Indeed & Glassdoor: Best for direct job seekers. You should optimize job listings with SEO-friendly descriptions. Most likely, candidates will check the job boards to verify the legitimacy of the open position.

Don’t be afraid of retargeting your pay-per-click and pay-per-call advertising across different platforms. That way, you can encourage candidates to take action after the second or even the third time they see your ad.

Leverage Visual Content

Visuals are crucial in recruitment marketing and employer branding on social media. Whether you’re an employer promoting a job opening or an affiliate running pay-per-call advertising, catchy visuals can dramatically increase reach, engagement, and conversion rates.

You should use only high-quality images and videos not generated by AI tools. Despite the latest technological advancements, detecting whether the image is artificially created is still easy.

People prefer content that was made by other humans, especially if it’s for employer branding. If you use AI-generated content in your promotion, you should mark it. Otherwise, social media algorithms automatically determine that you violate their rules and restrict your profile.

While using visuals, keep in mind that your ultimate goal is to build a brand on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or other social media.

Offer a Seamless Application Process

A complicated application process can drive people away, especially if you try attracting passive candidates. Whether you’re an employer looking for the best talent or an affiliate marketer posting job ads under the pay-per-click or pay-per-call lead generation approach, make the process as smooth as possible to increase conversions.

If you are an employer, simplify the job application, whether by sending a form, sharing an email through social media, or making a call. Ask only for the essential information while engaging passive candidates. People don’t like to share too much information from the start.

If you are an affiliate that leverages the pay-per-click model, implement high-converting landing pages. Remove all unnecessary steps before the user reaches the application form. You should also set urgency-driven CTAs like “Apply in 60 seconds – Limited Openings!”. Offer progress bars if a form has multiple steps so users see how close they are to finishing.

If you are running pay-per-call advertising, implement click-to-call buttons right in the ad. Those who promote businesses with paid social media ads can launch photos or a carousel, as they currently have the highest level of engagement across business profile posts.

Offer immediate incentives for calls. In your pay-per-call advertising, you can highlight the possibility of same-day interviews or fast-track hiring options.

You must also ensure a quick response in your pay-per-call advertising, so run your ads only during your merchant’s working hours. Otherwise, they don’t answer those calls. So, some of your leads won’t be qualified, negatively affecting your income.

Importance Of Recruitment Ads When You Attract Passive Candidates

Incorporating social media like LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok into your recruitment advertising strategy can significantly enhance employer branding efforts. With almost 1.40 billion users, Instagram offers a vast audience to showcase your company’s culture and values. In 2024, TikTok was estimated to have an audience of around two billion users worldwide, making it another great platform to promote businesses online. 

By leveraging the visual storytelling capabilities of modern social media platforms, you can create compelling content that resonates with job seekers, ultimately attracting top talent to your organization. 

Guest writer