Social Recruiting Summit Presentation: Mobile Marketing (for Recruitment)
June 18, 2009 by Michael Marlatt · 1 Comment
I am back from the Social Recruiting Summit and must say that I had a great time. The best part for me was not only watching the presentations live, but also having the opportunity to interact with new and existing friends.
In case you missed the event, I co-presented on the topic of mobile recruiting with friend and fellow mobile enthusiast Chris Hoyt (AKA - RecruiterGuy). Oh, and while you are visiting his site, you might want to take a moment to read his most recent post, “What I learned (and taught) at Camp…”. Great stuff as usual. Finally, if you don’t already, I would highly encourage following Chris on Twitter. He’s definitely worth the follow…
Check out the Mobile Recruiting slideshow below. Alternatively, you can catch it on Prezi, or, view it on Slideshare. For the best viewing experience below, click on the expand screen icon near the bottom right corner of the presentation. Enjoy!
Also, for a quick round-up on what others have said on Twitter, check out #SRS09 + Mobile and #SocialRecruiting + Mobile.
Phonecasting, a rising trend in mobile communications?
June 6, 2009 by Michael Marlatt · 6 Comments
Ok, so I know what you’re thinking… another buzzword. So, what in the world is Phonecasting?
Phonecasting, also known as phlogging or phone-blogging, involves the ability to use your phone to broadcast directly to the internet, live. Phonecasting combines the popularity of podcasting with the ubiquity and ease of use of mobile devices.
How does Phonecasting differ from Podcasting?
Well, for starters, podcasters typically use a microphone and recording software to create their programming. In contrast, phonecasters use the phone as the microphone. In addition, unlike traditional podcasting, phonecasting does not require recording software but simply phonecasting service (or application) that allows users to dial a number and record.
Don’t like blogging? Try phonecasting to attract your target audience.
You have often heard me speak about the topic of mobile marketing as a recruitment channel. Mobile recruiting offers the ability to market specifically to a target audience anytime, anywhere, on their mobile device. Since mobile is the most widely used of all mass media channels, phonecasting offers yet another dimension to the idea of mobile recruiting. With phonecasting, recruiters/employers have the ability to share job opportunities in the form of audio podcasts or jobcasts. Chris Russell over at JobsinPods has built a formidable business providing jobcasting solutions for employers. Consumers (candidates) can easily subscribe to a phonecasts/jobcasts and listen while on-the-go, at the gym, during idle time in traffic, etc. You can follow Chris Russell on Twitter to get more on this topic.
In addition to jobcasting, industry voices such as Michael Kelemen from the Recruiting Animal Show, Asia-Pacific’s Most-Connected Recruiter Stan Relihan, and my good friend Jim Stroud at The Recruiter’s Lounge have helped to popularize the general use of podcasting as a form of infotainment in the recruiting industry.
Phonecasting’s self-service model…
In the true nature of Web 2.0, there are many self-services applications today that offer users the ability to begin phone-blogging, or phonecasting with minimal to no costs. To get started, all you need is a phone, a phonecasting service provider, and a message you wish to deliver. If you want to dive right into podcasting, then you will be pleased to know there are many available options to get you up and running in no time.
The following are 10 services that offer either phonecasting, podcasting, or voice broadcasting solutions:
1. www.phonecasting.com - Phonecasting.com is an online social network that brings you the best in podcasting, phonecasting, mobile and video content, plus simple tools for you to publish your own content to the nets podcasting community.
2. www.ipadio.com - ipadio allows you to broadcast from any phone to the internet, live. Phone blog, commentate, collect audio data, record and update the world or simply let your mates know what you’re doing - ipadio is integrated with Twitter & Facebook.
3. www.gcast.com - Gcast’s goal is to make personal broadcasting (podcasting) simple. Their focus is to allow users to create audio broadcasts, easily record voice messages, mix in your favorite music, and share it all for the world to hear.
4. www.jobsinpods.com - Jobs in Pods, the internet’s first ever audio recruitment platform built with social media. Unlike the traditional job boards you are used to visiting, Jobs in Pods is a place to actually hear from the employers themselves through audio interviews with their HR managers/employees.
5. www.yodio.com - Yodio offers an integrated, one-stop digital publishing service where anyone can go to self-record, produce, and share audio recordings (podcasts) and personal broadcasts (audio synchronized with digital photos).
6. www.gabcast.com - Gabcast.com is a podcasting and audioblogging platform that offers virtual communities, individuals and organizations an easy way to create and distribute audio content.
7. www.earfl.com - earfl was created to give your voice a voice. We’ve made it easy to tell your stories: just call 415.223.3802 from your mobile phone and start talking. Hang up, log on and start listening. It’s really that easy.
8. www.xmvoice.com - XMVoice offers voice broadcasting that allows you to instantly send hundreds or even thousands of interactive phone calls with ease while managing the entire process right from the Web.
9. labs.jaduka.com/dukaBuzz - dukaBUZZ enables site visitors to leave audio messages and testimonials that can be shared with others. Instead of typing and posting written comments, site visitors record audio comments using the dukaBUZZ widget and their standard phone (no software downloads or headsets required).
10. www.tweetmic.com - TweetMic is a Twitter fan’s must have iPhone app. It’s simple, intuitive, and allows you to make high-quality audio recordings or “Tweetcasts” then publish them directly to Twitter. There is no limit to how much you can record and you don’t need to sign up for any additional service to start using TweetMic. For more, check out the TweetMic review from goodBetaBest.com..
While the list above was not intended to be all-inclusive of the services available, if you feel I have left out any particularly useful sites, please be sure to leave a response and let us know. As always, thanks for stopping by!
Exploring the World of Mobile Recruiting: My Video Interview with Bill Vick
May 5, 2009 by Michael Marlatt · 1 Comment
I was recently interviewed by XtremeRecruiting.tv Founder, Bill Vick. We discussed the topic of mobile marketing, as well as the basics of mobile recruiting. This video only scratches the surface so more to follow on this topic. Enjoy!
See more videos from XtremeRecruiting.tv
Hewitt Associates Launches Mobile SMS Campaign!
April 23, 2009 by Michael Marlatt · 3 Comments
Today marks the official launch of Hewitt’s SMS Job Alert Campaign. The goal is to provide experienced-hire prospects (candidates) a non-intrusive communication channel for staying informed and connected with the latest career opportunities at Hewitt.
How does this mobile recruiting campaign work?
The current campaign is targeted towards attracting Executive-level prospects with program management experience. Subscribers “opt-in” to the SMS campaign by responding to the ad as noted in the image above. Curious about how it actually works? Try it: Send a text message with the keyword “HEWITT2″ to 88000. After opting into the campaign, subscribers receive an auto-response thanking them for their participation, along with a link to view Hewitt’s mobile-optimized job posting. The current SMS campaign is being powered by Recruit2Mobile.
I am very excited to be part of this ground-breaking project at Hewitt, particularly since I am partnering with fellow Sourcerer Mark Tindle, Think Tank Member Tim O’Connor, as well as with Mike Galyen from Recruit2Mobile. Stay tuned, more to follow…
About Hewitt Associates
Hewitt serves more than 3,000 clients who understand that people are their most important asset—and they count on us to maximize their human resources (HR) investment. Hewitt is the world’s largest provider of multi-service HR business process outsourcing (BPO), and the only firm fully integrating HR outsourcing and consulting.
Hewitt has been in business for more than 65 years and has approximately 23,000 employees in 33 countries. Nearly 95% of our largest clients have worked with Hewitt for at least five years. Hewitt’s leadership, reputation, capabilities, and relationships remain HR’s benchmark, giving clients real value in the face of increasingly complex human capital management challenges. Visit Hewitt to learn more.
About Recruit2Mobile
recruit2mobile’s management team fuses a history of innovation with extensive experience in recruiting, talent management, mobile marketing and software-as-a-service technologies. With more than five decades of combined technology-meets-recruiting knowhow, recruit2mobile’s management team has the knowledge and expertise to create a bold new world of mobile recruitment and communication.
270M U.S. Wireless Subscribers push out 1 Trillion Text-Messages
April 22, 2009 by Michael Marlatt · Leave a Comment
Mobile adoption in the U.S. has experienced phenomenal growth. According to CTIA’s President and CEO Steve Largent, the U.S. wireless industry reached 270 million total subscribers at the end of 2008. While that number alone is already quite impressive, what I find even more amazing is the fact that U.S. subscribers have sent 1 trillion text messages (yes, that’s TRILLION with a “T”) in 2008, which triples the previous year’s SMS traffic. Worldwide, SMS is being used by 3 billion wireless subscribers and is now the most widely used application on the planet. So, is it really any surprise that SMS (A.K.A. “text-messaging”) has become such a widely used tool within the U.S.?
Mobile Marketing & SMS
If you have followed my blog in the past, then you have likely seen my posts on why I believe mobile-marketing matters, as well as why SMS in recruiting can be key to engaging a target audience. Suffice to say, I’m a big fan of SMS but I also realize that there are still many within our industry that still don’t quite “get” mobile. It is often a confusing topic, which is why I wrote my earlier post on Mobile Recruiting 101.
In general, mobile marketing is a broad term that simply refers to the use marketing over a mobile device. Mobile campaigns may include contests, coupon-give away, info-alerts, job-alerts, mCommerce, movie promos, ringtone give-away, etc. We frequently see mobile and SMS linked because it’s medium by which many of the promos above are offered. SMS services run off a short code, which is typically a 5 or 6 digit number (either shared or dedicated). For example, last year BMW kicked-off a mobile campaign using a keyword and short code to encourage consumers to learn more about the BMW X6. Consumers were prompted to text the keyword “BMW” to 67463 (short code). The result? BMW fans were provided a link that (once clicked) redirected them to BMW’s mobile-optimized site showcasing the X6. Leveraging a mobile through SMS is becoming a common practice for many forward-thinking companies (e.g., Nike, Coke-Cola, Microsoft, etc.) all carry their own version of a short code. That said, SMS is not the only channel for connecting with a target audience. We see Multimedia Message Service (MMS) as another channel for engaging consumers. However, compared to the 3 billion global SMS users, there are only 1.35 billion global MMS users so we will table the MMS discussion for a later post.
Mobile Marketing Success Stories
Two key events have contributed to the popularity of mobile-SMS in the U.S.:
1. American Idol Voting for your favorite singer was made simple (and interactive) by simply placing your vote via text message. American Idol set an SMS record in 2008 when over 78 million viewers responded by “texting” in their votes.
2. Presidential Race in 2008 Most notably, President Obama set a world SMS record when he alerted approximately 2.9 million opt-in subscribers during the announcement of Joe Biden as his VP selection. Followers joined by texting “OBAMA” to 62262 and they were immediately provided real-time status updates. Obama was even named Mobile Marketer of the Year for running one of the most successful mobile campaigns in history.
With 270+ million U.S. subscribers, and 1 trillion text messages sent last year, SMS is clearly a communication channel that we cannot and should not overlook. Kim Dushinski, author of The Mobile Marketing Handbook, cited that companies should think about allocating 5-10% of their digital marketing budget towards mobile marketing efforts. Bottom-line, it’s time to get creative in how we engage prospective talent through this unique channel.
Upcoming Mobile Recruiting Webinar: April 23rd
If you are interested in learning more about how mobile integrates with recruiting, I will be delivering a webinar on Thursday, April 23rd. The event is being hosted by Shally Steckerl from Arbita ACES. You can get more details by visiting the registration link here.
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3-Ways to Subscribe
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