9 Alternative Inbound Marketing Tactics for Job Boards

We’ve gone over the basics of social media management, how to generate inbound traffic to job boards, and how to optimize job board content on individual pages, so now you might be wondering – what else is there?

My answer may delight and/or frustrate you, but the truth is: lots!

Content, SEO, and social media are the foundations of inbound marketing, but there are seemingly endless ideas on ways to drive traffic to your website. In this post, we’ll take a look at some of the ideas and discuss how they might apply to job boards specifically.

1. Commenting

Backlinks on websites with good SEO, that also create pathways for visitors to arrive at your site, are always great. If only it were easy to create them! Well, these days, it kind of is with leaving comments blog posts and news articles.

However, if someone allows visitors to comment, they likely have rigorous spam filters, and may even moderate them or review and manually approve each one. So if you do choose to leave comments as a marketing tactic, please adhere to the following:

• Comment on articles and blog posts that are relevant to your target market
• Add to the conversation with unique content
• Do not leave the same message everywhere (that’s where you get a rep for spamming)
• Link to your website – most comment forms let you add a website that links from your name. Otherwise, if you have a relevant page from your website to share, you can include it in your comment.

2. Quora

Quora is a social media-ish platform where people ask and answer questions. Users can upvote answers they like, so the quality of what you contribute is a substantial factor. Active users whose contributions are liked by others can develop a reputation as an expert on a particular subject matter.

Look for questions related to your target market, on job search, and on hiring, and find opportunities to direct readers to your job board, its content, and resources.

3. Twitter Chats

Twitter Chats are basically public, group chats that make use of hashtags. It’s a great way to discover and connect with new people and businesses, and to get a qualitative sense of the challenges and problems they may be facing. (Which, in turn, is knowledge that helps you with your services and marketing.)

You can find popular chats focused on job search, hiring, and recruiting, and with some Googling you can probably find some industry-specific ones as well. Buffer has a step-by-step chat on how to join or start a Twitter chat that’s very useful.

4. LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups related to your job board’s niche or target market are great places to be an ambassador for your site. Respond to questions or add commentary when other members post, and use it as a venue for sharing your own relevant content that directs group members to your job board.

Again, the authenticity and quality of your contributions matters. This Forbes article has some good guidelines you get you started, and Content Marketing Institute has a more detailed guide for marketers here.

5. Make Friends

This is where the social part of social media marketing can come into play. But it’s not restricted to social media. The idea is to reach out to people in your job board’s focus industry, let them know what you’re doing, make friends, and see if you can help each other out. These relationships can potentially help you promote your job board through referrals, backlinks, guest posting or other content initiatives.

It’s also about customer service, going the extra mile for your customers, clients, and followers – whether it’s just sharing a helpful link, a “like”, or a “thanks for following!”, spreading a bit of goodwill and kindness can only help your job board’s brand.

6. Social Bookmarking

Social bookmarking is a kind of sub-species of social networking, but it’s widely used. Sites like Reddit, Digg, and StumbleUpon are examples of social bookmarking platforms, but each has their own quirks.

7. Segmenting Your Market

The candidates who search and apply for jobs on your board aren’t all alike. Your clients may typically hire for a few different types of roles, or your job seekers may fall into a few different demographics. From your research, and speaking to your clients and job seekers, you can start building personas or segmenting them into different groups.

If you focus on jobs in construction, for example, you may be able to split your job seeker market into a few segments: those interested in seasonal/summer jobs, low-skilled/entry-level workers seeking full-time employment, highly skilled and experienced candidates, engineers, managers, etc. Try creating campaigns, content, or landing pages that speak to those types of job seeker.

8. Videos

Got some creative talent at your disposal? Create a few videos promoting your job board or ones with advice and tips for your job seekers and recruiters. Post them on popular video hosting sites like YouTube and Vimeo, and share them on your site and social media.

9. Infographics

Infographics present facts and ideas in visually appealing and easy-to-digest designs. They’re also a form of content that’s easy for others to share and re-post. Some ideas for infographics for your job board could include: stats on the current job market (or candidate market!), job search tips, hiring advice, career paths, etc. Be sure to put your URL and branding in more than one place within the infographic, so your board is credited and readers can find their way to it.

The theme throughout all of these ideas is to avoid spammy behaviour, focus on contributing value to the community that your job board seeks to be a part of, and to keep trying things out to see what works for your target market and your job board.