1 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

Table of Contents

Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………………….…...……….……. 2

The Problem with Conventional Recruiting Strategies ……...……………...……………………………..……. 3

Social Media for Truck Driver Recruitment …………………………………………….…………………….…….….. 4

How StrataBlue Uses Facebook to Help Quality Companies Find & Recruit the Most Skilled

Candidates….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 5

Quality Companies’ Facebook Campaign Results ………………………………………………………………...…. 8

How Quality Companies Did It …………………………………………………………………………………………..……. 9

Final Recommendations …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 10

About StrataBlue …………………………………………………………………….……………………………………………….11

2 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

Introduction

There’s no denying that the trucking industry is a foundation of the US economy, transporting more

than 70 percent of the country’s freight tonnage.1 But despite its importance, the industry is seeing a

steadily increasing shortage of drivers. It’s estimated that there are more than 48,000 job openings in

the US. The American Trucking Associations (ATA) estimate that by 2024, there will be an alarming

driver shortage of roughly 175,000.

Image credit: American Trucking Associations

In addition to less available drivers in general, carriers are facing difficulty finding the right matches for

their available jobs. Traditional recruitment strategies are often based on large, recycled pools of

applicants – a strategy that falls short when it comes to ensuring that each job is filled by the best

possible candidate.

A vicious cycle ensues, where inadequate driver matches lead to poor performance, high turnover, and

skyrocketing costs for carriers. Truck driver recruitment has transformed into a war for talent, where

carriers are in steep competition to secure the most valuable employees and contractors.

1 American Trucking Associations, http://www.trucking.org/News_and_Information_Reports.aspx

3 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

Consider the launch of Uber Freight.2 Just like Uber disrupted and transformed the taxi industry, it’s now

setting its sights on the trucking industry. This is just a drop in the bucket to illustrate the drastic

technology shifts that are becoming commonplace in the 21st century.

It also acts as an urgent warning to carriers: move quickly or you’ll be left behind.

As this competition continues to deepen, more recruiters are recognizing that they can reach high-

quality candidates quicker and at a lower cost using social media instead of the antiquated strategies of

conventional recruitment systems and agencies.

Facebook can give trucking companies a competitive edge in finding and

engaging the right candidates.

This case study details how the leading US trucking company Quality Companies partnered with

Stratablue – a Facebook Certified Partner that specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), online

marketing, and social media – to build a customized Facebook campaign that allows them to reach and

hire their ideal truck driving candidates. We’ll explore how StrataBlue’s Facebook strategy has not only

helped Quality Companies put messages in front of the right talent, but also how it helped lower the

company’s recruitment spending and raise its profitability.

The Problem with Conventional Recruiting Strategies

The truck driver recruiting sector has historically been controlled by media and newspaper agencies that

sell advertising space. Once print publishers, many of these agencies branched out into web publishing

and began posting vacancies on their expanding list of domains, including a host of job boards that

attract trucking recruiters nationwide.

Because these job boards dominate the recruitment market, it’s easy to believe that they’re the most

efficient technique. However, these systems present some significant issues that are only exacerbated

by the growing shortage of drivers.

Lack of Lead Diversity

One of the biggest issues with conventional recruiting strategies is their inability to dig deep into the

market of available talent. With job boards and pools, each participating carrier has access to the same

database as all the others. The result is non-specific posts designed to recruit a stagnant supply of

drivers, which isn’t helpful for firms looking to reduce the average cost of turnover – which one study

cites as $8,234 per driver.3

2 TechCrunch, https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/18/uber-freight-launches-to-connect-truck-drivers-with-available-shipments/ 3 Upper Great Plains Transportation Institute, http://www.ugpti.org/pubs/pdf/SP146.pdf

4 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

In addition, today’s most common recruitment resources lack the enhanced targeting and optimization

capabilities that can be easily found in digital marketing strategies like social media. Without the ability

to hyper-target their user base, carriers are missing out on crucial opportunities to be connected with

specialized, robust demographics of job seekers.

For example, the ATA states that the average age of drivers in the over-the-road (OTR) truckload

industry is 49 years. On top of this, just 5.8 percent of drivers are women, 4 despite the fact that women

make up nearly 47 percent of the entire US workforce.5 This lack of diversity is a huge contributor to the

growing shortage of drivers.

It’s evident that when it comes to finding quality talent, one size doesn’t fit all. So how can carriers hire

outside the box and reach the candidates who aren’t signed up for these traditional job boards?

Social Media for Truck Driver Recruitment

According to Jobvite, 65 percent of surveyed recruiters said that their largest hiring obstacle was a lack

of skilled and available candidates. To counteract this, 57 percent said they’re working on growing their

talent pipelines, and 56 percent said they’re working to increase the quality of their hires.6

4 American Trucking Associations, http://www.trucking.org/ATA%20Docs/News%20and%20Information/Reports%20Trends%20and%20Statistics/10%206%2015%20ATAs%20Driver%20Shortage%20Report%202015.pdf 5 U.S. Department of Labor, https://blog.dol.gov/2017/03/01/12-stats-about-working-women 6 Jobvite, https://www.jobvite.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/RecruiterNation2016.pdf

5 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

As the world turns toward digital in virtually all areas of life, recruiting is no exception. Jobvite’s report

goes on to say that in order to solve these hiring issues, 29 percent of recruiters are investing in

recruiting via social media platforms, and the number continues to grow.

This has a significant payoff, because job seekers are turning to social media to find jobs too. According

to Recruitics, 79 percent of job seekers use social media to help with their search. Of these, 67 percent

use Facebook, 45 percent use Twitter, and 40 percent use Instagram.7

Quality Companies recognized that the industry’s traditional recruitment strategies are stale, and that

digital trends like social media are becoming a powerhouse for companies that are willing to embrace

the shift. So they dove in and never looked back.

How StrataBlue Uses Facebook to Help Quality Companies Find & Recruit the Most Skilled Candidates

As millions of brands are taking to social media to solve their hiring obstacles, Quality Companies is a

prime example of a brand that’s doing it the right way. Taking full advantage of the targeting capabilities

and ad settings offered through Facebook Business Ads, StrataBlue was able to develop and hone a

campaign that continues to bring Quality Companies high quality leads at significant cost savings.

From its Facebook recruitment campaign, Quality Companies has generated

more than 4,000 leads and saved 69 percent in spending for each acquired

lead.

7 Recruitics, http://www.recruitingbrief.com/2017/social-media/?open-article-id=6329883

6 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

Let’s examine some of the campaign elements and how they contributed to the campaign’s overall

performance.

Anatomy of a Successful Facebook Campaign

Ultimately, Quality Companies’ ads are designed to reach Facebook users who are interested in applying

for trucking positions online. StrataBlue utilized Facebook Lead Ads, where each ad leads users to a

gated form with basic qualifying questions, which they can fill out through their Facebook account.

Strategic Ad Design

StrataBlue’s campaign creative uses a combination of images, videos, text, and calls-to-action (CTAs) to

create engaging, informative, and visually appealing advertisements. These ads are carefully designed to

meet Facebook’s guidelines prior to launch. For example, the ads are careful to maintain the right

amount of text overlayed onto an image, as excess overlay will disqualify the ad before it even has the

opportunity to run.

Direct Tenstreet Integration

Once they’ve filled out this preliminary information, it’s sent directly into Quality Companies’

Tenstreet database. With the help of this seamless CRM integration, the Quality Companies recruitment

team can then review each form and reach out the user if they’d like to proceed with the full application

process. In the meantime, users are directed to the Quality Companies website if they’d like to learn

more about the organization.

7 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

Right Message, Right Person, Right Time

Facebook’s advanced targeting is part of the formula that makes this campaign so effective. With this

tool, StrataBlue was able to control exactly who saw the ads, based on a series of options such as:

• Demographics: Gender, age, education, job titles, workplace, relationship status, and the like. In

addition to the drivers themselves, Quality Companies is able to target their spouses and other

loved ones who could spread the word.

• Location: Based on countries, states, and cities, with the option to create a radius around

specific locations. For example, users within a 30 mile radius of the company’s headquarters.

• Interests: Based on hobbies, preferred entertainment, and other interests they’ve expressed on

their personal Facebook account. For example, users who “like” or follow Trucking Depot’s

Facebook page.

• Behaviors: Activities such as purchase behaviors and device usage. For example, users who

purchased steel toe work boots, or use Facebook on a smartphone versus a desktop.

In addition to these “core audiences,” StrataBlue was also able to upload Quality Companies’ private

contact list (the “custom audiences” feature), as well as generate lists of users who have similar

characteristics to the company’s contact list (the “lookalike audiences” feature). These powerful

Facebook Lead Ads features are how Quality Companies has the ability to target not only the candidates

themselves, but their friends and family members as well.

8 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

Image credit: Facebook

Quality Companies’ Facebook Campaign Results

Comparing Facebook vs. Google AdWords

Quality Companies also partnered with StrataBlue to implement a Google AdWords campaign in tandem

with its Facebook campaign. While Google AdWords helps to bring in qualified leads, Quality Companies

found that their Facebook campaign is ultimately more cost-effective and generates higher-quality

9 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

driver leads. However, AdWords remains a strong option for ads that target fleets to inform them of

Quality Companies’ recruitment services.

Here are the Google AdWords campaign results over the same time period:

• Impressions: 1,319,806

• Cost per click (CPC): $1.72

• Average lead cost: $35.80

• Conversion rate: 6.3%

• Clicks: 32,641

• CTR: 2.47%

How Quality Companies Did It

Quality Companies knew the complexity of an online advertising campaign, and that even the slightest

misstep can translate into thousands of dollars of lost revenue. They had to ensure that the campaigns

were optimized, carefully executed, and constantly monitored. That’s why they sought the expertise of

StrataBlue, a Facebook Certified Partner with the skills and resources to handle even the most detailed

and intricate ingredients of a successful strategy.

StrataBlue assisted throughout the entire process: from working with Quality Companies on their

campaign goals, to building the campaigns based on market research, to tweaking them for optimal

results.

Real Time Tracking, Analytics, and Reporting

StrataBlue used Facebook Ads Manager to monitor the campaign in real time, with the ability to adjust

budget, audiences, text, images and videos, and placement options. When analytics revealed that one

headline performed better than its variant, the variant could be immediately paused to ensure that ad

spend was allocated to only the top-performing ads.

10 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

Facebook’s powerful tracking and analytics tools provided a wealth of data about the campaign’s

performance and the users who interacted with it and converted through it. StrataBlue was able to mine

this data to see if the campaign was meeting its goals, identify key strengths and weaknesses, uncover

trends to make predictions, and collaborate with Quality Companies through monthly custom reporting.

Final Recommendations

In today’s cutthroat recruitment landscape, companies that fail to stay ahead of the competition will

simply be left behind. The industry has already seen a drastic shift to new digital marketing techniques,

and Facebook ads are providing undeniable results for recruiters that are tired of mismatched and

unqualified leads.

Are you interested in cutting costs, minimizing turnover, and finding the perfect truck drivers for your

business? StrataBlue might be able to help. To see if our services are right for you, visit

https://stratablue.com/recruiting/ and apply for a free audit.

11 How Quality Companies Found a Successful Recruiting Channel in Facebook

About StrataBlue

StrataBlue is a digital strategy management firm. Our mission is to help businesses of all sizes, take best advantage of today’s highly digital marketplace, whether it relates to marketing services, strategy, or business analytics. Because we take the burden of managing the digital workload off your shoulders; you can focus on driving your competitive advantage to delight your customers.

How is StrataBlue different from the others in the market? We still believe in the power of ‘word of mouth’ advertising and reputation, because nothing can take the place of your hard work and customer goodwill. StrataBlue uses our proven digital marketing expertise to extend and amplify your customer goodwill using online resources to identify, capture, and retain new customers, while mining the potential of current customers. If you count on referral business to drive your company’s numbers, adding the right mix of StrataBlue solutions can significantly impact your bottom line through customer segmentation, customer expansion, and customer longevity. We are all about measuring the customer journey, and making sure that they stay with you forever. Next, we bring a fresh approach to strategy, digital marketing, and technology for your growing businesses. StrataBlue understands that many companies are burdened with the challenge of staying competitive across the constantly evolving digital landscape. With new tactics and technologies being introduced daily, how are you supposed to keep up with all of these changes, on top of running your business and servicing your customers? We know you are busy providing your customers with the best experience possible, let us give you that same experience. Finally, what truly separates us from other companies, is our team, and the passion that we put into every thing we do. We treat your company with attention to detail, and a focus on results. It’s not good enough to just tell you we are going to help, we have to prove it.

Philosophy Business is about partnerships. StrataBlue is dedicated to creating lasting partnerships that cultivate growth personally and professionally. We strive to grow your business and in so doing we learn from one another. Generating business is our profession; Building leadership is our goal.