Learn how sharing data and resources between recruiting and marketing increase content marketing success.

Part four of a series.

Transparency is not always the first thing that comes to mind when developing a content marketing campaign for recruiting.

However, when the talent acquisition and the marketing teams “open their nests up” to each other, by sharing data and resources, content marketing campaigns are much more successful.

Misty and I always try to be honest and open with each other. No secrets! Hoarding of information and tools is not allowed. My data and resources are hers and vice versa.

To facilitate this level of transparency, we share our recruiting and marketing metrics with each other. And, as mentioned in an earlier installment, we meet regularly to share successes, struggles, and strategy.

Transparency in Content Marketing for Recruiting: An Example

In fact, one simple sharing activity led to the biggest employer branding campaign we have ever had.

About eighteen months ago, Misty and I sat down together and analyzed traffic to our website. Typically website traffic data is owned by the marketing department and keep fairly secret. But because we had committed to transparency and information sharing, Misty (“Marketing”) was more than willing to share this information with me (“Talent Acquisition”).

As we dove into the data, I noticed that traffic from Glassdoor was underperforming. While Glassdoor is one of the top candidate sites out there, it barely registered on the list of top traffic sources for our careers page.

Right then, we set out – together – to improve our presence on Glassdoor, with the hopes of increasing traffic to our careers site.

Together with the talent management team, the marketing and talent acquisition teams collaborated on and launched a comprehensive Glassdoor campaign.

I will not go into the details of the campaign here as there is already an awesome case study over at HROS.com. That said, the results speak for themselves:

  • 700% increase in traffic from Glassdoor
  • Glassdoor is now a top source of overall website traffic (not just our careers site!)
  • Won Glassdoor Best Places to Work with approval rating of 4.5
  • Won the Best CEOs in America with our CEO, Dave Rosevelt, receiving a 100%  approval rating
  • Major influencer of both recruiting & marketing activity – not just candidates but business development prospects too

Transparency… “Open Your Nest Up”

If Misty had not shared her knowledge of website analytics, I would not have known that we were under-performing on Glassdoor. And if I had not have shared my recruiting knowledge, she would not have known how influential Glassdoor was to candidates.

And ultimately, we would have missed out on a major content marketing opportunity that accelerated both our talent acquisition and marketing functions.

Recruiting and marketing bring unique knowledge, data, and tools to content marketing. Welcome each other into your respective nests by being transparent, and you will likely find that both of you will be happy as a lark by the results.