Branding a Province The Art of Facebook Recruiting and Social Media An in-depth look at the use of social media and Facebook for increasing brand awareness and talent acquisition. Interview by Samara Parker with Reg Hamilton - Interactive Director of Phoenix Group March 12, 2013

1. Client Case Studies
An in-depth look at the use of social media and Facebook for
increasing brand awareness and talent acquisition
Interview with
Reg Hamilton - Interactive Director
of Phoenix Group
March 12,2013
Interview by Samara Parker

2. Branding a Province
The Art of Facebook Recruiting and Social Media
Reg Hamilton is a specialist in Interactive Media. He has over 18
years of tech experience, is an accomplished artist and designer,
represents Phoenix Group on the Interactive Advertising Bureau
of Canada’s Mobile and Social Media Council, and his LinkedIn
profile was one of the most viewed in 2012.
We asked Reg to share some advice on social media branding and
Facebook recruiting. Here’s what he had to say.
Jobcast Hi Reg, would you mind explaining to our readers what Phoenix Group
is all about?
Reg Phoenix Group is a full-service advertising agency with nearly 40 staff. We
offer branding, creative, interactive and media services. Phoenix Group
is a place where ideas grow. We create outstanding creative campaigns
and build long-term value for our client’s brands. We’re about growth and
results. We’re about thinking. Good thinking. That means great creative that
grows business ideas and solutions. Our leadership team does a great job
providing a supportive atmosphere that encourages success.
Jobcast Phoenix Group has been very successful with Facebook to grow their clients
brands. The results of your “Riders Oath” campaign for the Saskatchewan
Roughriders were outstanding. Why did you decide to make Facebook a
priority for brand promotion?
Reg Rider Nation is a powerful force of
nature. Phoenix Group and the Riders
decided to focus on growing the
number of Facebook fans. Due to
the large number of existing fans—
around 76,000—there was a significant
opportunity to mine this group of
people to reach likeminded brand loyalists. A target was set to increase the
number of fans to 100,000: if reached, this number of Friends would lay the
foundation for a powerful customer database.

3. Reg In addition, the team wanted to continue to lead the league in merchandise
sales, fan avidity, and visitors’ game attendance figures. Because the Riders
are such an important part of their fans’ lives, social media is a great way to
reach them and to join the conversation.
The integrated campaign produced outstanding results, with the number
of Facebook fans increasing by more than 24,500 (for a total of 103,679 by
the end of the year). We feel Facebook influenced results, with ticket sales
virtually sold out for the year and over 67% of all CFL merchandise sales
were Riders products.
Jobcast Are there any key pointers you could give our readers about improving their
branding with Facebook?
Reg Content is king and context is God. The narrative
rules and social stories attract fans. Give the fans
10x more than you ask for. Facebook is a great
channel for content. Our Community Managers
encourage fan engagement with conversation
“
starters and questions posed to the community
to encourage conversation and participation
amongst users.
Tone is one of the most important aspects of any
Tone is one social media strategy. Users expect to engage
of the most with content they relate to on social media—
they don’t want to be told; they want to have
important
“
aspects of any
social media
strategy.
a conversation. Be honest; be real; give them
something they are interested in.
The use of social media is an opportunity for
the brand to develop a ‘human’ tone without
representing an individual person or employee.
It is important each post and interaction has the
appropriate message for each social channel and
uses a conversational, creative voice.
It is also important to note that there will be feedback, both positive and
negative. Both should be dealt with on a timely basis. Having an effective
and dedicated community manager, along with an appropriate strategy will
ensure the conversation thrives and moves forward—don’t get lazy.

4. Jobcast In your current campaign “Think Saskatchewan Jobs” you’re tasked with
branding an entire Province! Can you talk a bit about the project and the
types of social media strategies you’re employing?
Reg Saskatchewan is booming. We have what
the world wants and needs. Saskatchewan
has one of the strongest and most stable
economies in the world. With plentiful
resources in demand around the globe, the
“
Canadian province offers strong long-term
career prospects. In fact, Saskatchewan has
the lowest unemployment rate in Canada.
Saskatchewan offers a high quality of life,
with excellent education and health systems,
Our objective affordable cultural and recreational activities
is to grow and short commute times. It has everything
you need to raise a family and advance
a vibrant your career. That’s the Saskatchewan story. Our Government recognizes
Facebook the importance of social media and the benefits of using Facebook as an
community innovative channel for getting this message out.
to showcase
“
Saskatchewan
as a place of
opportunity.
Some brands tend to use Facebook fan acquisition strategies that are one
dimensional—Like us to win a pizza or hot tub, share your personal family
photos and your story to be entered to win an iPad. We are all used to seeing
that approach. It’s like an extension of old school newspaper enter to win
into social. Well, we wanted to do social differently.
Our objective is to grow a vibrant Facebook community to showcase
Saskatchewan as a place of opportunity. This is accomplished by promoting
job opportunities in the province on Facebook through the use of the
Jobcast API recruitment app, by offering tips and tools on re-locating to the
province and by creating conversation around quality of life and jobs. Having
actual people who live here—or better yet, who moved here—talking about
Saskatchewan is far more credible than the Government praising the
virtues of our province.
Jobcast We love what you’ve done with the Think Saskatchewan Jobs Facebook
Career Page. How effective have you found recruiting with Facebook to be?
Reg The rate of fan grow of this community is outstanding, with 2,400+ Likes in
the first couple of weeks of the campaign.

5. “
The right mix
of content is
very important
“
when it comes
to social media
strategy.
Reg What’s really amazing is the total weekly reach is averaging out around
1.7 Million people hearing about Saskatchewan jobs. The very nature of
social media enables the creation and maintenance of relationships. As a
result, job marketing fits in perfectly. We are really happy with CTR on job
applications at 10%
Jobcast The level of interaction that you maintain with your followers on the Think
Saskatchewan Jobs Facebook Page is impressive. In what ways do you feel
maintaining a dialogue with fans benefits social recruiting?
Reg The most effective strategy is to focus on building a strong, focused
community on Facebook to attract job seekers to the province. The most
effective approach was to use a combination of relevant content
and Facebook apps.
The right mix of content is very important when it comes to social media.
It is important to keep campaign goals in mind, but to also offer the
community content relevant to their needs. Social job seekers want to
engage with you and they also want interesting and helpful information
that’s not just from you. The best practice rule content ratio for
social recruiting is:
25% - Job postings
25% - How to get hired here
25% - Saskatchewan culture
25% - Fun/Lifestyle

6. Jobcast What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced in implementing social
recruiting strategy for Think Saskatchewan Jobs?
Reg This campaign represents the most recent social media marketing effort
for the Government of Saskatchewan. Much research and effort went into
developing the right strategy to ensure its success. There are many elements
involved in this campaign, so excellent teamwork is critical to achieve
success. Our creative team together with our client do an awesome job of
positioning this positive message in carefully crafted stories.
Jobcast Many employers are intimidated by the idea of of using Facebook for talent
acquisition. Do you have any advice for getting started with
Facebook recruiting?
Reg Fish where the fish are. Companies looking to make new hires are seeking
the most cost-effective, efficient ways to find new talent. Job boards
launched a revolution in recruiting more than 15 years ago. And now, social
networks are doing the same—but in a much more targeted way.
Through social recruiting, companies are learning they can find the best
talent efficiently and very quickly.

7. Jobcast Why did The Phoenix Group choose the Jobcast app for the Think
Saskatchewan Jobs campaign?
“
Reg Canada, we love Canadian
technology solutions. The Jobcast
app fit the requirements we
needed to a tee.
“
Jobcast fit the
requirements
we needed to
a tee.
The user flow to search the jobs and apply is excellent. The Jobcast technical
staff worked out a perfect solution to synchronize 10,000+ jobs in a tight
5-day turn around.
Jobcast is great to work with and are providing wonderful results. The
Jobcast app is really flexible so our creative team was able to ensure all
elements were on brand.
Jobcast Thank you, we’re glad to be a part of such a cool campaign!
You’re obviously a pro when it comes to social media. What do you think
have been the key factors to your success?
Reg That’s a nice compliment, but I think
it comes down to hard work. I’ve
always been an early adopter of new
technology. Social media isn’t a silver
bullet or an instant win for everyone,
it takes more than just starting a
Facebook page to be successful. It takes
a good strategy that defines who the
target audience is and what the goals
and objectives are, then diligence and
attention to keep things moving in the
right direction.
There’s no finish line, either. When you achieve your objectives, it’s time to
set new ones. Social media doesn’t stop; the conversation doesn’t end when
you achieve your goal, it keeps going.
Samara Parker
Social Community Manager
Blog writer, Jobcast promoter, secret ninja! I write blog articles and do social
media outreach for Jobcast. Connecting with great people, exploring new
technologies and writing my heart out. Best job a girl could ask for.