Now that we’ve taken a look at how we communicate and consume content, let’s focus on how it can be applied to specific areas of business. First, let’s take a look at recruitment…

As you probably know, you can often learn a lot about somebody by looking at their social media presence, and this doesn't just apply to your personal life. It’s a great tool for potential job candidates to learn more about a business, and for businesses to learn more about candidates.

Job seekers often follow companies that spark their interest on platforms like LinkedIn or Instagram, and they can seek out topics relevant to their job search via hashtags like #workingmom or #sustainability, so many companies create social content especially for these purposes. Particularly savvy job hunters also use independent third-party sites like Glassdoor, which give users a glimpse of what it's really like to work somewhere thanks to people with inside knowledge - current or previous employees.

Businesses don’t have to wait around for people to find them either. They can take matters into their own hands and use social media for outreach, writing posts, sharing videos and hosting live events that inform and entice job seekers with the roles and benefits they offer.

Spotify, for example, uses social media not only to announce job vacancies, but also to broadcast ‘behind the scenes’ material - showing off its office spaces and giving tips about how to get a job at the company. It even introduces different members of the team and gets them to shed light on Spotify’s most recent offerings and how they're made. All of these posts are shared across multiple platforms and concluded with a simple imperative, a hashtag that’s been going strong for years: #jointheband.

Once they’ve attracted applicants, businesses can then use social media to dig a little deeper. There’s much more to people than what’s covered in an interview, and that’s why many employers use social media to screen applicants, often exploring their presence on multiple platforms. For some roles, like in sales or business development, where networking is a big part of someone’s job, an active and relevant social media network might be part of the job spec and may even be reviewed during the interview process.

Here’s a word of warning though. It’s easy to scroll through profiles and make snap judgements, but there are laws in place to prevent discrimination and ensure that hiring decisions are based solely on a candidate's ability to perform the job in question.

Along with filling job vacancies, social media can help companies to communicate and get stuff done within the business too. Now that we have social media tools like Microsoft Teams, Workplace from Meta, and Slack, internal collaboration has been reimagined as much more than a monthly newsletter and a collection of email threads.

These kinds of platforms allow us to present pieces of work to each other in multiple formats with far greater ease, and track progress on shared projects. They even let us make comments and suggestions, and throw ideas back and forth in real-time. Essentially, they can make sure that everyone is more efficient, more involved, and more informed.

This is great for all businesses, but it’s especially invaluable to teams that are separated by geography, made up of freelancers or outsourced vendors, or spread across different areas of the business or supply chain, where they can't exactly wander over to each other’s desk for a quick catch up in person.

These platforms also help C-Suiters to build and maintain strong working relationships with their employees. Saying “my door’s always open” will only get them so far, so it’s important they use these platforms to proactively participate in conversations - sharing experiences and celebrating successes with their teams.

Finally, social media can also lend a helping hand with PR and crisis management. Unfortunately, bad things happen, and when they do, clear communication is vital to minimising the fallout. Social media has communication at its core, so it’s only natural that it should play a part in both managing the crisis internally on private channels like Slack, and externally on public-facing channels. If a defective product puts consumers in danger or puts a business at risk of legal action, for example, then consumers need to be made aware and the product needs to be recalled - and what better way to get the message out there than social media?

In 2021, after launching its ‘Cuthbert the Caterpillar' cake, retailer ALDI received backlash for allegedly infringing on competitor Marks and Spencer’s trademark ‘Colin the Caterpillar'. ALDI took to social media to post humorous content related to the disagreement, using the hashtag #FreeCuthbert. This took the internet by storm and people rallied behind ALDI and its social media team.

More philanthropic examples of crisis management can be seen from institutions like the Red Cross, which has pioneered the use of social media to identify and track emerging crises, and then communicate with victims and activate responders.

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