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Why Our Agency Loves Partnering with Internal Marketers

Does this situation sound familiar? The owner of your company comes to you and says he is talking to a digital marketing agency. As an internal marketer, your gut reaction is probably one of the following:  

Oh no! They’re probably going to fire me!  

Aren’t I doing my job well enough? 

Why would they need a digital agency when they have me?  


Related Post: Why Recruiting Firms Should Hire a Digital Marketing Agency that Specializes in the Recruiting Industry ➢


Wide-Ranging Industry Expertise 

No one is an expert at everything. Its impossible. If youre the sole marketer or have a limited marketing team there is no way youre an expert in design, paid advertising, writing content, and email marketing. There is too much to know, especially when the market is always evolving. By partnering with an agency, you can maximize your team’s time and play to your strengths. 

First, you can offload tasks that aren’t in your wheelhouse so you can focus on your strengths. You get job satisfaction in focusing on your core competencies, and your superiors see you excelling and getting real results.  

Also, as a generalist, you probably want to learn more about each area of marketing over time so that you can continue to develop your career. Use the partnership to continue to learn how to do specific things from people that have chosen to be experts in their field 

Cutting-Edge Strategy 

The goal of our digital agency is to take the accumulation of what we know about staffing, what we know about marketing, and what we know about digital strategy to create the best solution for your business.  

We have access to opportunities that many internal marketers in your shoes may not. We collaborate with staffing firms across the country every day, listening to their pain points and working with them to solve them. You may not have time to regularly research best practices in the market. Your team might not work with every marketing medium daily, you can’t be an expert at every medium. And that’s ok. 

Even as an awesome marketer you cant be everything to everyone. Our value is in the fact that we know strategy. Trying a lot of things will get you some results but tying intention and purpose to your efforts yield the best results. By partnering with a digital marketing agency, you take the weight off your shoulders; collaborating on a master plan and focusing on executing pieces of the plan. 



Related Post: 5 Content Marketing Mistakes – That Give Competitors the Edge ➢


Driving Progress and Projects 

Our agency is great for helping internal marketing teams in a pinch. You know your company best, and you can see when a project may be backed up. We’re here to support you and your company’s efforts and get results. 

Maybe you have a great plan for the year but a couple of months in youre already behind because of “other duties as assigned.” Let us help you get back on track with your original plan with a one-time project or take some other tasks off your plate on an ongoing basis. 

If youre already maxed out every week but more projects keep coming, give us a call. Starting our partnership with an emergency project helps us understand how we can serve you and build a trusting partnership. 

Like I said before, we love working with internal marketers. We don’t want your job. Our sole purpose is to help other staffing firms learn and grow through digital marketing. Contact Parqa today to learn how we can drive your digital marketing efforts. 

Content Marketing Webinar

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I Need to “Do” Digital Marketing – But What Does That Mean?

There are three core categories for digital marketing: brand credibility, online visibility, and lead generation. The first step in digital marketing is to determine the objective, then which type of digital marketing services will result in that objective being met. 


Related Post: Why Recruiting Firms Should Hire a Digital Marketing Agency that Specializes in the Recruiting Industry ➢


Brand Credibility 

“I’ve been in business for 15+ years. How is my brand not credible?”  

Your brand is credible to those in your immediate circle. Walk into a networking event or look in your address book, there are people who know your name when they hear it.  

The question isn’t how is your brand not credible, rather it’s, “Is it credible to people that don’t know you?” 

People who look for the types of services that you offer or are randomly referred to your company by someone else start by opening a browser window prior to making a phone call. They will start with Google search to find your website.  

What does your site say about you? Does it address their pain points immediately?  

Ensuring that your website looks clean, updated, easy-to-navigate, and encompasses the right content to show all the amazing working you’ve done in the last year is imperative. These are the minimum pieces needed to justify this potential client to the next step in their research: LinkedIn. 

LinkedIn is a platform that recruiters live on day and night. Recruiters are constantly scouring the site to find the right candidate by reviewing their credentials. When was the last time you looked at your personal as well as your company’s LinkedIn profile? Do they each tell the proper story about your brand and highlight your successes 

Your profile should have an up-to-date headshot, cover photo, overview of specialty areas, and testimonials from former candidates placed, clients, and associates. Each of these pieces will build your online brand and credibility.   


Related Post: Why Our Agency Loves Partnering with Internal Marketers ➢


 

Online Visibility 

Once credible online, it’s time to work on your brand’s visibility 

Start with your website and social profiles by utilizing search engine optimization (SEO) tacticsImplementing SEO tactics on your site, when done correctly, will help your brand be discovered when people begin their research on Google or other search engines 

A large part of all digital marketing efforts revolves around content marketing. Once your site is set up for success with SEO, you need to ensure you have the right content created, and available, on your site to show up on the search engine results page (SERP).  

It’s important to continue creating original content and publishing it to your site on a consistent basis. This helps keep Google seeing new content on your sitewhich helps your overall rankingsas well as assists with additional outbound sales engagement. New content can be shared on social media and with prospective clients and candidates.  

Social media accounts need to have a person behind them, it’s a digital marketing tactic that is important to ensure your brand is visible online. Social profiles are an easy way to share out content that you find important and show people the culture behind your organization. 


Related Post: 5 Content Marketing Mistakes – That Give Competitors the Edge ➢


Lead Generation 

Once you’ve established credibility and can be found online, it’s time to start generating leads for your business.  

Leads come in all forms, and this is no different in the digital space. Creating different types of offers such as free consultations or downloadable content (such as a salary guide) is the first step to capturing a lead via online efforts. Once these offers are created, it’s time to utilize paid advertising on Google, LinkedIn, or Facebook to drive people to the offers and speed up the lead generation. 

Email marketing also assists in generating more leads for your business. The best example is to think back to the Most Placeable Candidate emails. These emails are one of the easiest ways to start conversations. Previous connections can be re-engaged with email marketing by utilizing blog posts you’ve written.  Older conversations can be rekindled with content offers you’ve created. 

The utilization of marketing automation is one of the largest driving factors to higher conversation rates. It allows for ongoing nurturing to those in your system. Once someone downloads one of the content offers you’ve created, your marketing automation platform kicks in and sends them emails to automatically move them down the buyer’s journey to be ready for your services once they pick up the phone and reach out.  

If you’re interested in starting a digital marketing campaign, or you want to expand your existing efforts, our team can help. Get in touch and learn more about our services today. 

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How Recruiters Can Build Trust Through Content Marketing

As I mentioned in part one, building trust is your number one job; everything else is noise. You can be the smartest person in the world or the world’s greatest athlete, but if you don’t have trust, you don’t have anything.

It’s no different when it comes to marketing. Part of marketing’s role is to make noise and attract people’s attention. But that’s where most people’s understanding of marketing ends. This blog is about the other side of marketing, the side that builds goodwill and trust with your customers. It’s about marketing that will enable you to build long-term enduring relationships with your customers.


Related Post: Rank on Google and Bank with Content Marketing ➢


How To Win Friends and Influence People (with Content)

I remember the first time I read Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” it was such an eye-opening experience for me. I was in the middle of my undergrad degree in business and decided to work on my people skills. It wasn’t long before I found myself volunteering, teaching classes, and dedicating myself to a life of servitude.

In many ways, the best way to understand content marketing is to understand the concepts of Dale Carnegie’s book. Even though it was first published in 1936, its message is as relevant as ever. What Carnegie understood about business wasn’t a secret recipe that you can implement in 5 easy steps–he didn’t have a checklist for building lasting relationships, he simply understood that business was about relationships, and relationships were about trust.

As I said in part one of this feature, establishing trust is arguably the most important objective of any business. One of the most cost-effective and scalable ways to establish trust with your audience is to create quality content. Not only does quality content help businesses establish trust through branding, but it also helps with positioning, thought leadership, and converting leads into sales.


Related Post: Content Marketing: Your 3-Step Recipe for Lead Generation ➢


Content Influences People and Their Purchasing Decisions

According to a recent survey, 47% of buyers viewed 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep. (Demand Gen Report, 2016) This means that businesses who aren’t providing the right content are losing out on half of their sales. Due to the ubiquity of the internet, buyers are more informed than ever, and the buyer’s journey has completely transformed—which means that businesses are investing more than ever in creating quality content.

Winning friends and influencing people is all about trust, and by creating content for every stage of the buyer‘s journey, businesses can establish trust, build credibility, and forge lasting partnerships with their customers. Using the methods we’ve covered in both parts of this blog, you can not only build trust with your customers but also spur them into action with your content.

Parqa provides full-ranging content marketing services that allow you to communicate your brand and expertise without adding unreasonable responsibility to your staff. If you want to discuss how you can pivot your marketing efforts to maintain and grow within your industry, reach out to Parqa today!

Content Marketing Webinar

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How to Cover All Your Sales Communication Bases

As a digital marketer, 99% of my thoughts and recommendations usually focus on digital platforms. That said, it is essential to think through who your audience is and how they prefer receiving communication.  

As recruiters, you’re an expert on outbound sales communication. What can you do to get in front of HR professionals that now spend 80% of their day online or your C-Suite network that spends 70% of their day away from their desk in meetings? 

A while back, Parqa sponsored two different conferences. I went through this exercise first hand and wanted to share with you the importance of putting together an overall sales and marketing plan that encompasses both online and offline initiatives. 

Let’s take a moment to set the stage before a typical conference or trade show. Many times, as a sponsor at an industry-related show, you can get the attendee list in advance. Along with this, you usually receive a post-show list of attendees. These lists are the key to preparing a successful communication plan. 


Related Post: Why Recruiting Firms Should Hire a Digital Marketing Agency that Specializes in the Recruiting Industry ➢


Traditional, Offline, Sales 

The offline sales process looks like this: Use the attendee list to determine if there’s anyone that you know attending. From there, you can look at the companies to see if you recognize any of them. Lastly, take a mental note of the companies that you need to get in front of. These companies may have been on your Tier 1 list to get into for years. 

Once you have your mental lists and plan of attack, it’s show time! While at the show, have as many meaningful conversations as possible and determine the handful of conversations that are hot leads. 

Post-show, back at your office, look at your stack of business cards one by one, adding everyone into your ATS/CRM, connect with everyone on LinkedIn, and start calling people to schedule consultations. 

Digital, Online, Marketing 

The digital marketing method is slightly different. After removing any competitors from the pre-show attendee list, use that list to create a beautifully designed email template.  

Send the message to the entire conference list that you will be there and that they should come and see you at your booth. From there, develop a sequence of emails to send one week prior, the day before, and the day of the conference to ensure you are staying top of mind. 

The show floor is the same as before, except this time, focus on sending emails to new contacts within 24 hours of meeting them. 

Postshow there is a slight change. This time, using your business cards, put those people into specific email nurturing campaigns to continue working through the marketing funnel, as they have yet to “opt into” the sales funnel. From there, you connect with everyone on LinkedIn, and you continue to wait until someone fills out the form on your site asking for a free consultation. 


Related Post: 3 Ways to Succeed with Candidate-Focused Marketing ➢


Bringing Offline and Online Together with Sales and Marketing 

Now it’s time to combine the two. As a marketer, it was difficult for me to get into the sales mindset at first, so I can understand the challenge as a recruiter to adopt a marketing mindset. 

Before the show, think back to your exact buyer. Start going through the attendee list and pull out all the attendees that you believe would be your ideal client. These people should get all your upfront marketing efforts.  

Think about what will help break through the noise in their typical day. Send them a product or a postcard in the mail two weeks before the show – I assure you, snail mail is not dead! From there, pick up the phone and give them a call to personally invite them to the show. 

Finally, make sure to send out an email to let them know, in writing, where you will be and when. Can they set up a time with you to meet at the booth? Are you going to be running a contest or special promotion while at the show? Share this information in that email to allow them to engage before the show. 

While at the show, set up a page that allows people to give you their information digitally. Automate the step of inputting them into your ATS/CRM when you get back into the office and automatically opts them into getting future marketing communication from you.  

Are you hosting a roundtable or speaking at a session? Have an email go out to your targeted list a couple of hours before your sessionRemind them while they are making their session decisions to add you to the mix. From a sales perspective, don’t forget to take notes. Whether on their card or in a notebook after each conversation. You’ll want to personalize your post-show approach as much as possible. 

Once you get back from the show, categorize your conversations by action item. Send more information, ask if they are ready for discussion, or reach out and set up a meeting ASAP. Create a communication plan that allows these people to see your name a minimum of seven additional times over the coming months.  

Use a mix of calls, LinkedIn, email, and snail mail. Send them blogs you’ve written via LinkedIn Messenger, send them an email with a link to a case study of a recent search you completed, send them one of your promotional products for their desk.  

Your leads need to see your brand 10-14 times for them to act. The important part is to bust through the noise to get to them. Remember, you weren’t the only sponsor/speaker/vendor at the conference. It is essential to come up with ways to hit those touchpoints but in the most meaningful way possible. 

At Parqa, we are currently in the middle of our post-show communication plan from our latest two conferences, and we can already tell that the upfront effort in mixing our online, offline, sales and marketing initiatives are paying off. We’d love to help you do the same! 

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Is Organic Social Media Dead? 6 Things You Need to Know

There’re two sides to every story, and we’ve heard about every angle when it comes to the value of social media marketing. Some believe organic social media is dead, that there is absolutely no value in it at all, others think you should only do organic if you’re invested in paid, and some think organic social media effort still adds significant value for B2B businesses.

So, who is right?

The truth is it all depends on your overall marketing goals. Every business, company, industry is different, so to say one way or the other is right or wrong, simply doesn’t make sense.


30 Minute How-To Guide: Check out this webinar to learn how you can build your brand on LinkedIn ➢


Here are 6 things that you must know about organic social media before you make that decision for your company:

1. Organic is Still FREE

Regardless of your opinion on the importance of organic social media, there’s one thing that can’t be argued – it’s still free publicity for your company. Being active on the right social media channels isn’t going to hurt your brand, it can only amplify it.

2. Brand Validation

Potential employees, clients, candidates, they are all on social media, especially LinkedIn. Many people will look at your social profiles before they visit your website. These users look at social channels to validate their decisions to engage with a brand. That engagement could be a call, a signup, or merely a follow, but it’s a way that they start to build a relationship with a company. That decision will be influenced by what information, reviews or content they find on your social profile.

3. Engagement: Organic Content Resonates with Engaged Communities

Some brands can post and without effort, get a ton of engagement, which is great, but it’s not reality for every brand or industry.

The days of scheduling out posts and crossing your fingers are gone. To have success, you need to invest in creating engagement. This means engaging with others and most importantly, making employee advocacy a priority. This is vital in today’s landscape for building an online presence and making your organic postings worthwhile.

In general, organic content just won’t break through the social networks’ algorithms, but with support from your employees and a community, the reach potential can increase tremendously.

 4. Listening: It’s Not Just About Posting – Social Platforms Allow for Companies to Listen Too

Did someone have a bad or excellent experience with your company? Chances are if they did, they might want to talk about it. It’s important to monitor social media to know what others are saying about you and your brand. This is something that regardless of how active or not active you are, it’s not going to stop others from not being active.

Have a nasty Google review? Here’s what you can and cannot do to get rid of them.

5. Paid Social Media: Organic Social Media Can Only Compliment Your Paid Efforts

Realistically, paid social isn’t much of an option when it comes to effective social media marketing anymore. Your paid and social media efforts should complement each other, working together as a strategy compared to individual tactics. One mistake I see with companies is that they don’t realize there are multiple different ways you can utilize paid social media, it all depends on your overall goals.

Bottom line, if you want to maximize your social media marketing efforts and prove true ROI, you’re going to need to use paid and organic together in a strategy.

6. Authenticity: Social Provides a Different Level of Authenticity for Brands

Organic social provides you a chance to show others who you are as a company and not just the services you offer or what you sell. It allows you to showcase what defines your organization, who is a part of building it and what’s important to you. It’s great to have authenticity on your website or show a culture page, but you should be telling your story, not just waiting for people to land on the right page to find it.


Related Post: Why It’s Vital to Keep Your Recruiting Company’s LinkedIn Profile Up-To-Date ➢


As you can see, organic social media isn’t completely dead. I think it’s safe to say that paid social media plays a huge role more now than ever before in implementing a successful strategy, but organic is still just as relevant today as it was in the past. Just because it may have become more challenging, doesn’t mean you should throw it out completely.

The most important thing to remember is that social media marketing is a potent marketing method that can help your business reach its overall goals. But for that to happen, there needs to be a valid strategy behind your efforts, flying blindingly or just winging it, isn’t going to cut it anymore.


Related Post: 10 Tips For Optimizing Your Linkedin Profile ➢


Watch Parqa’s Free 30-Minute Webinar: Growing Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn For Recruiters. LinkedIn is the go-to social network for recruiters, it’s never been more important to make sure your personal brand stands out online. Learn how to grow your business, and gain traction on LinkedIn, in this 30-Minute How-To Guide for Recruiters.

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Introduction to Social Media: Understanding Your Platforms

Social Media is a term that has become synonymous with modern day marketing tactics. The days of E-Blasts, conference brochures, and mailing lists aren’t over, but it’s clear there are more channels than ever to communicate to clients and candidates alike.

According to the Demand Gen Report, 47% of buyers viewed 3-5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep.

This stat rings true with our approach to talent attraction on social platforms and is a focus in our introduction to social media. Social media is an integral component of our strategy to increase attention to our brand. Social platforms allow for ease of distribution, for various types of content, and when used correctly, can prime clients and candidates for your sales team.


30 Minute How-To Guide: Check out this webinar to learn how you can build your brand on LinkedIn ➢


Twitter

  • 336 million monthly active users
  • 280 Characters, Previously 140 Characters
  • Ideal length is 120-130 characters
  • Content options: Short form. Blogs. eBooks. GIFs. Company Posts.

Short and sweet. Twitter is not your platform for long posts or an avenue to hard sell your services. This is a platform for sharing information quickly with the goal to lead clients and candidates to your content. Some examples of content that can be incorporated with a Twitter post include:

  • Company Events
  • News or Blogs
  • eBooks
  • Salary Guides
  • Community Involvement

Related Post: Why It’s Vital to Keep Your Recruiting Company’s LinkedIn Profile Up-To-Date ➢


Click-through-rate (CTR) will be the main parameter for success on Twitter. We don’t post to post, we want targeted engagement. Sharing relevant information quickly, and lead people specifically to the landing pages, gated content or blogs you’ve selected. Buffer ran a study focusing on CTR, and how clicks correlate to length of posts. As you’ll see below in their data, you’re going to want to stick to staying short with around 120-130 characters.

(Photo Credit Via Buffer)

#Hashtags. It is not a necessity but with specific posts #Hashtags can increase potential for engagement. Hashtags work very similarly to SEO optimized keywords on your website. Not there yet? Catch up on keywords, and loop back here when you finish up.

Here’s an example. When you attend your next conference, check to see the hashtag they are using. The hashtag will help attendees clearly interpret that the post is running with the conference, and when the user clicks the hashtag they will view all posts with that hashtag.

For that very reason, hashtags can be a great way to curate all posts associated with your event. Just don’t forget, short and sweet on Twitter. Buffer ran a study on the ideal hashtag limit, finding a negative response when multiple hashtags are used.

(Photo Credit Via Buffer)


Related Post: 10 Tips For Optimizing Your Linkedin Profile ➢


LinkedIn

  • 540 million users, with 256 million monthly active users.
  • Professional headline: 100-120 characters
  • Content options: Industry news. Gated Content. Event promotion. Thought leadership.
  • Shine some light on your company culture and industry expertise. Empower your employees to share and comment on company posts. Post company offers, promotions or short videos from your Execs.

LinkedIn is the primary social media outlet for staffing and recruiting alike. Having an up-to-date account is crucial, but your interactions and the types of posts you’re sharing can be the difference between successful posts and a missed opportunity.

Company posts can be a great first step towards finding consistency of posts. Coordinate with other employees on your team, reposting their shared posts, commenting on posts and beginning the dialogue. It’s a tough expectation to assume interaction and comments on each of your posts. Establishing a cadence where your fellow employees can engage within your comments is a quick way to portray your posts as relevant and lead to connections interacting with you.

Improve Your Social Game with Parqa Marketing

Utilizing the power of Twitter and LinkedIn can give your recruiting firm a big boost in brand awareness. Want to learn more about how your can grow both your personal brand and the brand of your recruiting firm? Check out our latest webinar, where Parqa CEO Tony Sorensen shared how he grew his recruiting company’s LinkedIn followers from 0 to 20,000+ in just five years.


[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Watch Parqa’s Free 30-Minute Webinar: Growing Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn For Recruiters. LinkedIn is the go-to social network for recruiters, it’s never been more important to make sure your personal brand stands out online. Learn how to grow your business, and gain traction on LinkedIn, in this 30-Minute How-To Guide for Recruiters.

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5 Ways to Ramp Up Personal Branding Using LinkedIn

Your personal brand is not just what you do or where you work, it’s the way people perceive you as an individual from the brand you build around yourself.

Like it or not, social media is here to stay. It also happens to be the best place to build your personal brand and the single most important way you can set yourself apart in your industry. The greatest part? You are in control of your own personal brand and how you present yourself and engage online with potential clients and customers.

There are a lot of social media channels out there, and it’s important you choose which is the best for your profession. For most industries, the best social media channel for building your personal brand is LinkedIn.


30 Minute How-To Guide: Check out this webinar to learn how you can build your brand on LinkedIn ➢


If you’re looking to get serious about improving your personal brand and are ready to ramp up your efforts, these 5 tips will be critical for seeing results.

1. Complete Your Profile

Set yourself up for success by taking the time to fully complete your profile on LinkedIn. Your profile is the foundation of your personal brand and represents who you are, what you’ve accomplished, and the skills and expertise you possess. The content on your profile dictates how you’re seen professionally.

Update all your information, fill out every relevant section and use keywords in your summary and work experience. Use your LinkedIn profile to add the personality that is hard to convey on a resume.

Pro Tip: When completing your profile, keep your target audience in mind and include examples of your work that position you as a thought leader in your industry.

2. Share Relevant Content

You want to become a known resource for information by sharing what LinkedIn refers to as conversation-worthy updates with your audience. Meaning, when you’re looking for relevant articles, news, and data to share with your network, you’re going to want to make sure that it’s content your audience will find interesting and valuable.

On top of sharing those updates, take advantage of LinkedIn Publisher. When you write and publish an article on this platform, it will be tied to your professional profile. By sharing your knowledge and expertise on this LinkedIn Publisher, it will help to develop and strengthen your personal brand.

Pro Tip: Diversify your content. Make sure you are switching it up by sharing a mix of images, videos, articles, questions, and curating content written by others. Don’t be scared to throw a little personal insight into the mix too, after all, part of building your personal brand is showcasing who you are as a person, not just what you do.


Related Post: Why It’s Vital to Keep Your Recruiting Company’s LinkedIn Profile Up-To-Date ➢


3. Engage – The Right Way.

Improving your personal brand goes beyond optimizing your profile. You must also focus on truly engaging with your audience, and no, that doesn’t mean just clicking the thumbs up on every update you see. It’s communicating back and forth through updates you share and participating in discussions with other individuals to strengthen personal connections. By engaging with your connections through shared content and discussion you can become a trusted source to your audience.

Pro Tip: When engaging through commenting, leave insightful and thoughtful comments. Don’t comment simply for the sake of commenting.

4. Utilize Groups

LinkedIn provides individuals the opportunity to join groups that are specific to their industry and area of expertise. In these groups, people share industry insights, seek advice, and provide feedback for other professionals. Participating in groups allows you to showcase your knowledge around a subject and start to grow relationships with like-minded people. Think outside the box when joining groups.

Ask yourself the following questions when determining which groups to join:

  • Where are your prospects at?
  • What are their pain points?
  • What is your industry expertise?
  • What are the areas you can use some a little extra knowledge in?

By answering these questions, you will be able to utilize groups to their fullest potential.

Pro Tip: Be aware, there are many groups that aren’t managed or that the community in them are not active. So, when searching for the right groups, explore ones you think will be beneficial then narrow down to a few top key groups to spend your time in.


Related Post: 10 Tips For Optimizing Your Linkedin Profile ➢


5. Be Consistent

One of the key components of improving your personal brand is consistency. The more you stick to a plan and make it a priority, the sooner you’ll see connections happening, conversations starting and business increasing. It’s recommended to share content at least 3-4 times a week, engage daily, and utilize publisher at least once a month.

Pro Tip: Make a daily, weekly, and monthly checklist for yourself and set calendar reminders to keep you on track.

Like any goal, improving your personal brand won’t happen overnight, but by using social media to share your expertise, participate in conversations, and become a reliable source of information, you’ll have the opportunity to build valuable relationships, generate more business, and become a thought leader in your industry.


Watch Parqa’s Free 30-Minute Webinar: Growing Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn For Recruiters. LinkedIn is the go-to social network for recruiters, it’s never been more important to make sure your personal brand stands out online. Learn how to grow your business, and gain traction on LinkedIn, in this 30-Minute How-To Guide for Recruiters.

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10 Tips for Optimizing Your LinkedIn Profile for Recruiters

There are over 562 million profiles on LinkedIn, which means there is a lot of competition for eyeballs. There is a vast amount of digital business happening 24-7, and it’s your job to stand out and grab your audience’s attention. Your LinkedIn profile page can be one of the most important assets in your personal brand toolbox—especially in the recruiting world.

Your profile not only represents who you are and what you do but it is also your firm’s brand. To stand out in this always-on professional business network, follow these 10 tips to optimize your LinkedIn profile.


30 Minute How-To Guide: Check out this webinar to learn how you can build your brand on LinkedIn ➢


1. Start with a Solid Value Proposition

Arguably the most important part of telling your story on LinkedIn is to have a strong value proposition. What problems do you solve? What value do you add? How do you make a difference in the lives of your clients and candidates? These questions will help you determine your unique value proposition.

Your unique value proposition is a key differentiator. It’s the key benefit that your personal brand offers. This is “the thing” that will help your audience determine whether you are the most qualified person for the job.

2. Be Authentic

Make sure that your bio is authentic to you and not a cookie-cutter description of what you do. Infuse some emotion into your story by being authentic. An authentic bio speaks to your audience and tells them why you do what you do.

Here is a great example of an authentic and unique LinkedIn summary for a recruiter.

3. Build Out Your Recruiter Summary

Spending time on your recruiter summary will help your profile jump off the page and will help inform your audience what your specific area of expertise is.

Here are some things to think about when writing your summary:

  • Does your summary communicate to clients that you could be the solution to the problem they’re facing?
  • Does your summary provide credibility about your abilities?
  • What differentiates you from other recruiters?

When structuring your summary, try to be concise and only spend 1-2 sentences on each point. You want to convey your story and what makes you unique, but at the same time you don’t want to write a memoir. Try to summarize what you do, your accomplishments, your values and passions, and the differentiators that make you great.

What led you here? (Personable) (Experience)

  • What you do
  • Accomplishments
  • Values / Passions
  • Differentiators

Related Post: Why It’s Vital to Keep Your Recruiting Company’s LinkedIn Profile Up-To-Date ➢


4. Profile Photo

Your profile photo should be professional and show off your personality. Getting professional headshots is always worth it, but if you can’t make the time, then here are some tips to try at home.

5. Design a Customized LinkedIn Cover Photo

Your cover photo should be unique to your brand. People who view your profile are there to check out you and your firm. The recommended size for your cover photo is 1584px by 396px, if you find that your cover photo is blurry when you upload it, try to make it the maximum size.

Looking for some inspiration, here’s an example of an excellent cover photo:

6. Customize Your URL

Customize your LinkedIn URL to make it easy for people to find you. Find your unique URL in the light-grey box below your name. Click the edit button and revise. For example, an ideal LinkedIn custom URL would be www.linkedin.com/in/yourname

7. Align Your Industry and Location to Your Target Candidates

Be sure you set your location and your industry so that your profile will show up in searches in your area and field of expertise. Include your location and industry in your bio naturally so that anyone who reads your bio can get a sense of your focus and where you offer your services.

8. Include Your Previous Experience

Your previous positions tell your audience that you have experience and that you can deliver on your promises. It tells a story of who you were and who you’ve become. Be sure there aren’t too many major gaps in your history and that it tells a consistent story. These descriptions should be high-level, more than 2,000 characters, and not read like a CV. You should include your accomplishments in this section.


Related Post: 6 Signs You Need a Content Marketing Strategy ➢


9. Add Your Current Position

If you haven’t already, be sure to end your previous job and add your current firm. If you don’t want to broadcast to everyone that you’ve just started a new position right now, be sure to go into your settings and change your “Account & Settings” options. Select “Privacy & Settings”. You will now see a further set of privacy options to check. The important one is to “Turn Off Your Activity Broadcasts.”

Your position title should be no more than 100 characters. Once you’ve filled in your current position, update it with current responsibilities, and be sure to think about how those responsibilities help your clients and candidates. Once you’ve finished adding in your responsibilities, add in a description about your firm and how you play a role within the firm.

Here’s an example of how you articulate your current position:

10. Update Your Skills & Endorsements

Professional skills tell a lot about a person, they describe what a person’s unique value is to any employer or candidate. Add skills that define your professional role, experiences, and contributions. Make sure that your skills are up-to-date and relevant to your job roles.


[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Watch Parqa’s Free 30-Minute Webinar: Growing Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn For Recruiters. LinkedIn is the go-to social network for recruiters, it’s never been more important to make sure your personal brand stands out online. Learn how to grow your business, and gain traction on LinkedIn, in this 30-Minute How-To Guide for Recruiters.Parqa_Personal Branding_Post-Webinar Bottom Blog CTA

desk with paperclips pencil and coffee

Black Hat vs. White Hat SEO: What’s the Difference?

The difference between Black Hat & White Hat SEO refers to the techniques used when trying to improve a website’s search engine ranking.


Black Hat SEO:

Focuses on utilizing techniques and strategies to deceive search engines into ranking their particular websites higher on search results.  It’s typically used by those looking to see immediate & quick results, rather than a long-term investment.  Often times Black hat SEO focuses on only search engines and not so much a human audience. Black Hat techniques that are seen as deceptive and violate Google’s Webmaster Guidelines include:

  • Keyword Stuffing: “Keyword stuffing” refers to the practice of loading a webpage with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate a site’s ranking in Google search results.
  • Hidden Text: i.e. using white text on a white background, setting font size to 0, hiding a link by only linking one small character—for example, a hyphen in the middle of a paragraph, etc.
  • Link Farming: Links intended to manipulate PageRank1  or a site’s ranking in search results (i.e. buying or selling links that pass PageRank, excessive link exchanges (“Link to me & I’ll link to you”)
  • And More

While these techniques can provide quick and immediate SEO results – and may seem appealing in the short run -consequences can result in your site being banned from a search engine (most likely Google) and or ranking penalties.  This means people won’t be able to find your site organically, defeating any short lasted traffic/sales/leads you may have gained from Black Hat techniques.


“Black hat SEO focuses on search engines and not so much a human audience.”2


White Hat SEO:

White Hat techniques target human audiences rather than simply search engines.

Techniques and strategies typically utilized in White Hat SEO include: conducting keyword analysis and keyword research, rewriting meta/page titles and meta descriptions to speak more specifically about what the page is about, writing and creating quality content for HUMAN READERS, internal backlinking and natural link building, just to name a few.  However, probably the most important White Hat SEO technique is creating quality content.

White Hat SEO is a long-term investment and takes time to build and see ROI, however the pro is that the results last a long time.


Related Post: How Long Does it Take for SEO to Produce Results? ➢


“Creating quality content may be time consuming, but it will be well worth it in the long run. […] The more content-rich your site is, the more valuable it will appear to the search engines and human visitors/ customers/ clients.”

Related Posts:


1 PageRank – (PR) is an algorithm used by Google Search to rank websites in their search engine results, and is a way of measuring the importance of website pages. IT IS NOT THE ONLY ALGORITHM USED BY GOOGLE to order search results

2 & 3 Quoted from Unamo University – online marketing resource center

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