Spending Too Much on Indeed Ads, Then Do This

Jun 11, 2023 | Job Advertising, Recruitment Marketing

Read this. Focus. Put down the Starbucks for a sec. In case you’ve been living in a cave for the last 10 years, Indeed.com is the top job board today and they can be a serious budget buster if you don’t know what you’re doing, and chances are probably don’t.  If you want to avoid getting taken to the cleaners, then here’s how to get the most bang for your recruitment marketing buck.

 

 

USING INDEED APPLY, HUH?

I get it if candidates are dropping out of your application process because it’s (ahem) a thorough process and you just want to get some quick applicants, then by all means set up your Indeed Apply. But if you’re also running Sponsored Job campaigns, then you need two separate accounts. Why? Because Indeed Apply will skew your talent data and analytics giving you a higher apply-start-rate (ASR). Look don’t be lazy. You need to have two separate accounts with their own budget.

 

 

MANAGE YOUR ACCOUNT MANAGER

You’ve probably gotten to know your Indeed Account Manager by now, but just remember, they’re there for a reason, which is to keep you spending and to keep you as a client. Of course, they want you to achieve success and that’s why you need to know how to run reports. Meet with your Account Manager and go over past campaign performance. Important metrics everyone needs to track are cost-per-click, click-through rates, apply-start-rate and cost-per-apply-start-rate.

 

 

APPLY START RATE LOW?

As of right now, you’re still getting charged on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis when running Sponsored Job ads. Don’t get me wrong here. You must factor in CPC when you’re analyzing campaign reports but what you really need to track is the Apply Start Rate (ASR). This is a big deal. A low ASR could mean you have a crappy job description, or it could also mean you’re not spending enough on your monthly bid. In my experience, anything lower than 10% ASR needs improvement. If it’s a niche role, expect low ASR and you might want to consider running an Indeed Apply instead.

 

 

HIRING INSIGHTS

A lot has changed in twenty years. tech, music, and how people search for a job. Indeed’s Hiring Insights are often overlooked, which is a shame because it has the latest market data to help you get a leg up on the competition.  For example, are Nurses in Cincinnati searching for jobs using RN, Registered Nurse, or Nurse in the title search bar? Hiring Insights ranks the most popular job titles for that skill. More importantly, you’ll uncover trends and competitor activity. Hiring Insights is a feature to help improve future campaign performance.

Recruitment marketing is about measuring the performance of ads, and this includes Indeed.com. After all, they’re shifting their platform to be more candidate-centric these days, which means you’ll need to pay attention to your campaigns otherwise you might be spending more on ads.

 

 

 

Should Recruitment Marketing Fall Under Marketing or Recruiting?

Should Recruitment Marketing Fall Under Marketing or Recruiting?

Jun 10, 2023 | Recruitment Marketing

 Marketing managers would rather spend Friday nights in a church basement playing Bingo than deal with applicants and candidates.  On the other hand, recruitment marketing professionals are not recruiters. They’re not screening, interviewing, submitting and/or hiring candidates.

 

Here’s the deal. I’ve always thought that recruitment marketing should be within human resources and recruiting. But now, I’m starting to change my view and here’s why.

 

Look, employer brand professionals are in tough spots these days. They’re torn between recruiters wanting funny TikTok videos for campus hiring and the Communications team that want to avoid crazy TikTok videos. Truth is employment brand pros must walk a thin line between what’s trending on social media and what is acceptable in corporate marketing.

 

The job description of recruitment marketing and employer branding reads pretty much like a marketing role. Posting content on social media, placing Ads, writing copy, buying media and creating employer branded content, does this sound like a role that should be with recruiting?

 

However…

 

The very minute marketing must do a deep dive in job descriptions or having to deal with candidates complaining about their application experience, they want to run to the farthest corner of the building and hide.

 

So, where should Recruitment Marketing and Employer Brand Managers sit?

 

I am starting to see the benefits of this role within Marketing because they can have all the resources for social media, content creation, and storytelling that is necessary for employment branding teams to flourish.  Employment brand works best when it has all the support and expertise within marketing to promote the brand in the right way.

 

However, HR and recruiting teams prefer to use their marketing budget in ways that benefit them. For example, placing job ads, LinkedIn sponsored campaigns or using Indeed’s pay-per-click model.  This is a grey area for marketing managers because they’re not experts in the areas of job Ads nor is it something that interests them.  Therefore, you could argue that recruitment marketing would be beneficial to talent acquisition when it comes to placing job ads and tracking leads and applicants.

 

As it stands, recruiting and marketing teams are working together to attract talent, improve their reputation and promote the company culture and benefits.  Personally, I see mature recruitment marketing teams slowly being lifted and moved over to the marketing team these days. After all, they’re not recruiters anymore.