What is programmatic? Can it really help you recruit? What benefits does it really bring to employers?
Programmatic isn’t new. The consumer world has been using it since the early 90’s – so why should the recruitment world be any different? I thought I’d share some home truths about why this particular leg of digital is so valuable in the recruitment space. And how we can bring recruitment advertising into 2020!
What is programmatic media?
Programmatic media has a bit of a technical ring to it, but it’s actually incredibly straightforward. And despite its name, you don’t need any programming knowledge whatsoever to use it.
Ever seen those banners pop up when you’re shopping online?
Or seen an ad on Facebook redirecting you to the website you visited an hour ago?
Or even heard a great Spotify ad in between your feel-good Friday tunes?
All of that is programmatic media: highly personalised digital advertising, ensuring the right people are seeing the ads you put out.
The ‘programmatic’ element just means companies can bid in real-time to show their ads. As a web page is loading, companies and agencies are bidding money to show their ads. The highest bidder wins. Simple as that.
If you’re an engineering firm, and you want to advertise your engineering jobs – then you will want to bid more to show those ads to people who are interested in those types of roles.
As part of your digital strategy, programmatic media is vital in complementing employer brand efforts and getting the right role applications flooding in. Apart from increasing brand awareness of you as an employer, it just makes good recruitment sense to harness candidates’ digital journeys and show them the roles they want to see.
Programmatic media is personalised
Unlike static digital or print advertising, programmatic media offers the unique benefit of true personalisation. All the content displayed is tailored to the viewer’s interests, online behaviours and previous searches – so they’re only receiving ads that are completely relevant to them.
So, for example, if someone has been looking up web or social content around dog shelters or animal welfare, would be able to identify an interest in pets and then tailor ads around employment opportunities in pet-friendly workplaces.
Or say someone has performed a few Google searches around their favourite beauty brands, and then heads to Indeed to search for a graphic designer position. We’d be able to display design jobs available in the beauty industry ahead of others.
Given that each hypothetical candidate has shown an interest in a field or area, it’s more likely that they’d click on these opportunities.
Our Media Cloud platform can do all of this in a few clicks. Because it pulls jobs from your ATS on the fly – we can create campaigns in seconds and start reaching a relevant audience.
Programmatic media is cost-effective
Where traditional ad models would be costed on a pay-per-print model, or you’d pay a flat rate to get your web advert out on a popular website, programmatic media instead works on a cost-per-impression or cost-per-click model.
Where traditional ad models are usually duration based, you pay for a set duration with no guarantee of success (like job postings). With programmatic, you literally only pay for the ad when it’s been seen or clicked on – which massively cuts down on recruitment overheads and creates greater visibility and accountability around ROI.
And given you can track the whole candidate journey on platforms such as Media Cloud, the process is also much more agile: you can keep reviewing your technique and tweaking your budget until you find an approach that really works for you.
Programmatic media is incredibly creative
It’s not just about banners either. Videos and even audio on Spotify and SoundCloud, as well as Out Of Home (OOH), are available now. This means that you have greater creative opportunity and control on the output; coupled with making content super-personalised, the sky’s the limit with what you can do.
If you’re looking for a more hands-off approach, you can set Media Cloud to be incredibly automated – setting your budget and roles you need to fill – Media Cloud will do the rest. It will find the best channels for applications and hires, sponsor the jobs that need boosting the most and push out Google and social ads – all whilst tracking through to hire.
Usually, “less admin, more creative” is music to our clients’ ears. Or actually “more quality applicants, for less money” usually wins out too.
Media Cloud lets you set up campaigns in a few clicks – run job postings, banners, social and search ads through the platform.
Symphony Talent is a global leader in Employer Brand and Candidate Experience solutions for some of the world’s leading brands. Combining award-winning creative and marketing technology, Symphony Talent transforms employer brands to deliver world-class experiences for candidates, employees and recruiters.
