'What is the relevance of podcasting to Human Resources Directors and Talent Managers' is a question I often get asked.
Having been an SVP Human Resources in a global corporation, I often wished I had had the facility to create and distribute podcasts to support employee engagement and expressing the employer brand.
Internal communications teams and human resources departments have a fantastic opportunity to lead the way in adopting new media to connect and engage with their employees inside the organisation and that's often a place it's easier to start to engage in social media if you are not ready to launch a corporate blog or podcast to the world.
So I was delighted when Marie Boran contacted me as she was writing an article about podcasting in recruitment. The article was published in this weeks business section of the Independent and you can read a copy of the article online as it has been cross posted to Silicon Republic.
Developing a podcast to support you in your recruitment and talent management strategy not only brings to life the roles you are recruiting for in a meaningful way, it's also inexpensive which is an important consideration in these challenging economic times.
Having read the article, if you want to take the next step with a podcast to support your recruitment process here are five tips to get you started:
1. Research - Take the time to research and understand your target market so you understand what might be of interest to them - for example, tips about the recruitment process or insights from current employees about some of the projects they work on. Take the time to explore other recruitment and employee engagement podcasts
2. Plan - Identify the content matter for your podcast, your podcast production timetable and decide if you want to produce it yourself or prefer to engage an external consultancy for podcast production
3. Produce - If the content of your podcast is 'king' so that it engages and inspires your listeners, then production values are 'queen'. Make sure that your podcast sounds great to listen to. A conversation between people versus a single monotone talking head is more likely to have more energy and is going to be easier on the ear
4. Publicise - Now your podcast is ready for publication, decide where you will make it available from - for example as a link from the main navigation of your corporate website and your career website. Make it easy to find, accessible to download and listen to and encourage people 'pass it on' and refer your podcasts to a friend. Then promote your podcasts integrating it into your other employment marketing materials from your business cards, to email footers and brochures
5. Seek Feedback - Ask for feedback from your listeners and discover what they value and continue to enhance the content of your podcasts in future episodes. Take the time to evaluate and measure the success of your podcast for example which were the most popular episodes - that will provide insights into how to continue to develop and improve your recruitment podcast series in the future.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
If you want to learn more about podcasting in the context of marketing, communications or human resources, here are some events you will find me talking about podcasting and other social media platforms to support your marketing and communications strategy in the next few months:
- Building buzz through blogging, microblogging and podcasting, a workshop I am delivering on behalf of the Irish Internet Association, ICAN and the Marketing Institute of Ireland on the 18 September 2008
- Podcamp Ireland - the no cost unconference that takes place on the 27 September in Kilkenny
- Word of mouse marketing, a free workshop I am delivering on behalf of the Limerick County Enterprise Board on the 7 October 2008
- Talent Management Strategies In a Turbulent Economy, a workshop I am delivering and specifically speaking about web 2.0 and social media strategies in talent management on behalf of HR Ireland (watch out for a post soon with details of the 10% discount for my readers or contact me by email), on 27 November 2008, Dublin
- HR 2.0 - 7 Keys to Leveraging Social Media to Attract, Develop and Engage Talent in a Challenging Economy a workshop am delivering for the CIPD Southern Region, sponsored by RecruitIreland.com and taking place in Cork on the 8 January 2009.
And don't forget to check out my archived articles and podcasts where you will find more guidance and tips on the adoption of social media platforms to support your communication goals.
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