Top Tools For Digital Driver Recruitment

Digital driver recruitment campaigns have four main disciplines that need to be satisfied in order to have positive results. There is data analytics, paid media, interaction with drivers, and content creation. Here is a list of tools to help you in each category.

Data Analytics to Provide Key Insights

Capturing data and using a platform to visualize the data will help keep the campaign efficient. These tools will enable you to make the smartest decisions.

Google Analytics

Adding Google Analytics’ tracking code to your site will provide endless insites. You can see things like how people arrived at your site, what demographic visits your site the most, what people do once they get to your site, and much more. 

All of this data will show you what type of content you need to be producing, where you need to publish it, and what areas you need to ignore. For example, if Analytics shows that LinkedIn ads are driving little site traffic then it would be wise to stop paying for the ads. 

If you have never used Google Analytics before, read this article from Hubspot

MOZ 

Search engine optimization is one of the least understood forms of marketing. MOZ’ goal is to simplify SEO through their software, education, and community.

Without MOZ, or any tool like it, SEO would be nearly impossible. MOZ’ tools will provide data on how many times a keyphrase is looked up, who links back to you, and your competition’s SEO statistics.

Using MOZ will allow you to rank for highly searched keywords and develop organic traffic to your site. 

Paid Media For High Exposure 

Digital campaigns are not free. You are going to need to pay to get your advertisement in front of the eyes of potential drivers. Here are the best platforms to do so.                                                                                                       

Google Ads

Google Ads will place your site at the top of the page when people search specific phrases. You pay based on how many people click on the ad. 

Another great thing with Google Ads is that you can set a budget. Once the total cost nears the budget limit you set, Google will take down your ad to avoid over charging you.

Through Google Ads you will also be able to set up display remarketing campaigns. Any driver who visits your site will automatically see your display ads on other sites. 

Facebook Ads

Facebook is by far the most popular social media platform amongst drivers. You can reach the drivers by interacting in groups, but Facebook Ads exposes your company even more.

Paying for Facebook Ads will display your job advertisement on the driver’s screen when there is no other competition. 

Also, through Facebook Ads you can advertise on Instagram (a Facebook owned company). 

Job Store

Managing postings and job board purchases across multiple sites is a difficult task. That is where Job Store from Tenstreet comes into play. 

The Tenstreet Job Store aggregates all of their job board partners into one place for easy access. This makes it much easier to keep track of all your job board purchases and find which boards are the most effective. 

Using the Job Store is free!

Interact With Drivers and Sell Them on Your Company

Interacting with drivers online is a great way to share your company’s voice with potential hires. Show your personality through social media and direct messaging.

Job Board Scrubber

Tenstreet provides a virtual recruiter that nurtures every application when they are hot. Right after a driver submits an application they receive a personalized email.

After the driver receives the initial email, they will receive a series of timed messages over the next few days. The best part is that the messages are sent automatically. 

Drip Marketing

Drip Marketing is a great tool for email campaigns. You get to design your emails with your branding. 

This tool is different from the Job Board Scrubber because it sends emails to a list that you built, not just drivers who recently applied. With this tool you can stay in touch with drivers that showed interest a while ago, former drivers, and anyone else who gave their email. 

Hootsuite

Without a tool like Hootsuite, regularly posting on social media is challenging. Hootsuite allows you to plan posts out in advance, and then the app automatically posts for you. 

Take two hours of your day and you can have social media posts lined up for an entire campaign.

Drivers will look over your social media accounts when they consider working for you. It is important to post regularly to show off how great the company is. 

Professional Content Makes a Lasting Impression 

Canva

Creating content is time consuming and a challenge, especially if you are not a trained designer. Luckily, there is Canva.

Canva comes with thousands of templates to choose from. You can make anything from flyers, to business cards, to social media posts, etc. in minutes. They all look professional too!

In addition to making design easy, the site provides an abundance of learning resources. Use the site to take your design skills to the next level. 

Data analytics, paid media, driver interaction, and content creation are all necessary for a successful recruitment campaign. Without the right tools it is much harder to thrive in each of those areas. Use the tools above to succeed at digital driver recruitment.

5 Biggest Mistakes First Time Digital Recruiters Make

Digital driver recruitment is becoming more common in the transportation industry every year. Carriers that do it properly are keeping their trucks on the road and thriving. When one succeeds, others follow close behind. However, not every company succeeds at digital recruitment right away. Here are the 5 biggest mistakes from first time digital recruiters.

Not Designing for Mobile Users

It is easy to get lost in the design process and design for only desktops. You are designing on a desktop so it makes sense to think people will view it on a desktop. That is not the case.

Drivers do not have access to desktops while on the road so they do their web surfing from mobile devices. 61% of drivers would choose to own a smartphone if they were forced to pick between their phone and their computer.

Not designing for mobile users makes it incredibly difficult for drivers to interact with your content. Drivers will quickly move on from your company and interact with the carrier’s content that is easily accessible.

Relying Too Much on Social Media

Recruiting on social media can have huge ROIs for digital campaigns. Recruiting within the groups is free and advertisements are cheap.

The biggest problem with focusing on social media is that it is extraordinarily competitive. Carriers nationwide think they are being smart and saving money by doing all of their online recruitment in Facebook groups.

Placing all of your eggs into one basket is never a good strategy. Companies that focus on social media set themselves up to fail when social media is producing low results.

Insufficient Funding

Many companies are hesitant to jump right into digital recruitment. They often test the waters first by running a low budget campaign.

Low budget campaigns have little money for ad-spend and the carrier did not hire a professional to run the campaign.

Not spending the needed amount

of money on a digital leads companies to draw false conclusions about the effectiveness of digital recruiting.

Giving Up Too Soon

Companies embarking on their first digital recruitment campaign can have too high of expectations.

Carriers will stop their digital campaigns if all of their empty trucks are not filled after the first month or two.

Even working with professionals, the first campaign takes some time to get rolling. Digital Professionals will collect data on which platforms are producing the best results and modify the campaign to be as efficient as possible. However, they need time to collect enough data to make the best decisions.

Not Hiring a Professional to Run the Campaign

The biggest mistake carriers make is assuming that their recruiters can also digitally recruit. Carriers will force their recruiters to try and find drivers online. This does not produce results.

Recruiters are meant to be on the phones talking to potential drivers, running orientation, or working on retention efforts. Their plates are already full.

People standing at target where they missed the bulls-eye. Represents missing the mark on a digital campaign.

They do not have the time to learn how to digitally recruit and then implement a comprehensive digital campaign.

Digital recruitment agencies will be able to use the best strategies that fill your seats fast. They also know what it takes to work with a transportation company. Digital recruitment agencies are familiar with your pains and how to relieve them.

 

Do not make the same mistakes as other carriers. Learn from their errors. Avoid these five common mistakes and digital recruitment campaigns will be one of your company’s most valuable assets.

Essential Elements of a Digital Driver Recruitment Campaign

Word visual of all elements involved with digital recruitment. Words are sprawled out over work desk.Thanks to COVID-19 a large portion of the globe is working from home. Traditional driver recruitment methods, like job fairs, have been cancelled. However, the need for quality drivers has never been higher. Digital driver recruitment is your best option. Here are the essential elements of a digital driver recruitment campaign. Implement these into your digital campaigns for maximum results.

Interacting and Building a Presence on Social Media

Truckers are very active on all social media platforms, especially Facebook. Facebook’s group features enable drivers from across the country to connect with each other. Groups also enable recruiters to connect with drivers. Meet customers (in this case potential drivers) where they are. Be active in these groups and sell potential drivers on working for your company.

Social media is used by drivers to research potential employers. Drivers will look up your company on all social media platforms if they are considering working with you. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase how great your company is. Post photos of your company picnic, positive driver testimonials, and content from regular day-to-day interactions. These posts will make potential drivers want to work for you.

Make Your Content Driver Friendly With Mobile First Design

Every piece of content released by your company must be easily accessed on a mobile device. Drivers are not in front of a computer often. They do their web surfing from their smartphones or tablets.

Content that must be designed for mobile devices include: company website, landing pages, any ads your company runs, and all emails sent to drivers.

Pay-Per-Click Advertisements to Generate Awareness

For a fee, platforms like Google, Facebook, and Indeed will place your job advertisements right in front of the people you want to see them. Your company is only charged the fee every time a driver clicks on your ad.

Paid search ads have a click through rate of roughly 3.75% and display ads are around 0.77%. PPC advertising will not generate huge numbers of applicants. But, it is an excellent tool for generating awareness for your company.

Search Engine Optimization Generates Applicants

PPC advertising may have a low click through rate, Search engine optimization is the opposite. Ranking number one for a Google search result has an average click through rate of 31.7%. If your company ranks high for common trucker searches then you will generate a large number of site visits. Site visits turn into applicants.

Focus on the SEO Three and you will increase your ranking over time. The SEO Three consists of: content, technical, and links. Your company needs to create engaging content, have a technically sound site, and find ways to get other sites to link back to your site.

Website Design is Your Company’s First Impression

Drivers are going to research your company if they are considering applying for one of your available positions. They will visit your site. A poor quality site will give the first impression that your company is not professional. Professional quality sites will create a first impression that sells drivers on working for your company.

Landing pages are a critical part of your website. The page that drivers land on when they click on one of your ads or emails is the landing page. A well designed landing page will excite the driver and have a strong call to action. A call to action is going to be what gets drivers to apply.

Technical Strategies Provide Key Insights and Hyper-Focus

Digital driver recruitment campaigns need a technical strategy. Tools like Google Analytics will show you where your site traffic is coming from. Use this data to gain key insights that guide your digital recruitment strategy.

In addition to providing data driven insights, there are technical marketing strategies you need to be using. These strategies enable your campaigns to hyper focus on your desired niche market. Geofencing, for example, will allow you to only show your job advertisements to drivers in a specific area. Retargeting is another technical strategy that will show your ads to anyone who has visited your website.

Email Lists Connect Your Company to Interested Drivers

Starting building an email list of every driver that is ever shown any interest in your job postings. Include former drivers that you would like to rejoin your company. Platforms like MailChimp will help you organize your email list, design emails, and send them out to everyone.

Emails need to be eye catching and informative. Do not overwhelm the reader with too much text. Some great things to include in an email campaign are: pictures of happy employees, testimonials, company achievements, profiles on high performing drivers, and messages from upper management.

For the near future, in-person driver recruitment is not possible. However, drivers are in higher demand because of the pandemic. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to begin digital driver recruitment, and make sure to use the essential elements.

6 Tips For a Successful Digital Driver Recruitment Campaign

Digital recruitment campaign graphic

57% of the world’s population are active internet users. The internet has changed nearly every aspect of our lives. Because of this, it makes sense that recruitment campaigns are becoming more web based. Companies are shifting from print media and career fairs to digital driver recruitment campaigns. Digital driver recruitment campaigns are more efficient than the old methods and they provide a higher ROI. Here are 6 tips for a successful digital driver recruitment campaign.

1) Create Relevant and Engaging Content

Prior to publishing any recruitment content you need to decide who your ideal candidates are. Are you hiring for diversity? Are you in need of a driver with specific endorsements? Do you want to hire team drivers? Use these answers to guide what type of content you create. For example, if you are wanting to hire team drivers you must use images of team drivers in your ads.

2) Be Active in Trucking Social Media Groups

Facebook and Linkedin have hundreds of groups dedicated to connecting drivers with recruiters. Being active and establishing a presence within these groups is an excellent way to find new drivers. However, it is important to note that there is a lot of competition in these groups. Drivers are bombarded with job opportunities from recruiters. Standing out from all the other job postings in these groups can be a challenge. It is important to be active in these groups but do not put all of your eggs in this basket.

3) Build Your Reputation as a Company That Prioritizes Drivers

Drivers talk with each other constantly about the companies they work for. Your company will be discussed online between drivers. If your company prioritizes its drivers, word will spread. On the flip side, drivers will know if your company does not prioritize its drivers. By building a reputation as a company that prioritizes drivers, applicants will keep an eye out for your job postings. Build a reputation as a company that prioritizes its drivers by incorporating trust into the hiring process and using effective retention strategies.

4) Use Tools That Screen Out Unqualified Applicants

Implementing a digital recruitment campaign allows you to use digital tools that streamline the process. Programs like Zapier or ZipRecruiter filters make it so that you never have to see any applicants that do not meet your requirements. Recruiters do not need to waste their time with unqualified driver applicants when digital recruitment campaigns are used.

5) Geo-Target Drivers in Your Hiring Region

Geo-targeting  enables you to send ads to drivers in specific regions. Do not waste your time sorting through applicants from outside your hiring region. Digital recruitment campaigns will only be seen by potential drivers within your hiring region. Another advantage to geo-targeting is that you can send ads to areas that you know drivers will be. You can target truck stops, driver conventions, CDL schools, etc.

6) Design a Landing Page That Encourages Drivers to Apply

A well designed landing page is essential for any digital recruitment campaign. Even well crafted and placed ads will not generate applicants if the ad is not linked to a landing page. Drivers do not want to click on an ad that takes them to the homepage of your company’s website. An ad should link to a landing page that sells the driver on working for your company and allows the driver to apply on the page. According to Kelly Anderson, shortening the recruiting cycle will lead to more quality drivers applying for your positions.

Digital driver recruitment campaigns can be a daunting task. If you do not know what you are doing then you will see poor results and feel as if you wasted time and money. However, follow these tips to start seeing positive results. Digital driver recruitment campaigns will become your go to recruitment strategy.