Differentiating Your Recruitment Agency With Video Introductions

The use of video has developed way beyond the usual company videos and marketing strategies. Now that we’re able to easily implement video into basically any stage of our process, are you using video introductions for prospecting and engagement in your agency?

Cold-calling, emailing, and other long-standing prospecting methods are obviously still very valid, but the recent trend for recruiters is using personalized video introductions to reach out to candidates, clients, and prospects. But why? Adding video to your prospecting or engagement strategy is one of the easiest things you can do to start seeing quick ROI. The videos might not be as glamorous or polished as most of the company videos you’ll see online, but simply having a person talk on camera as opposed to a long text-based email will help to boost response rates.

Think about how many text-based emails land in our inboxes every day. We need to do something different to stand out from the crowd if we really want to be heard – especially if there are other agencies fighting to fill the same roles as you. All you have to do is connect with your prospects, show them who you are, and tell them why you’re there to help.

There are a few different ways that we can use video introductions in a recruitment agency:

1. For candidate prospecting:

A great approach, and definitely one of the most popular, is using video introductions to sell your roles to new candidates. Say you find a great potential candidate on LinkedIn. Rather than sending them a message, you can use video introductions to record a short snappy video of yourself explaining the role and why you think they’ve got the skills and experience to match. There are a number of platforms you can use (including ours here at Shine) that will allow you to present this video via a link that will take that candidate to a fully branded landing page, where you can include things like the job description or other text alongside your video. Much more effective than a lengthy InMail, right?

2. For business development:

Is there an organisation recruiting in your field and you know you’ll do a great job of filling any of their vacancies? A quick video introduction straight into their inbox will grab their attention! Organisations recruiting probably get a lot of different offers from recruitment agencies offering their services, so what makes you different from the rest? People do business with people, and being able to see you, your body language, and your personality, makes your message much harder to ignore, and certainly more eye-catching than a plain old email. If you already have a great candidate in mind, you could use your video to tell them about that candidate. Or, simply tell them that you specialize in the area they’re recruiting, and maybe even give a short success story to give them an extra push.

3. For client engagement:

So, let’s say that you manage to gain a retained client when you caught their attention with your video introduction. Why stop there? You can use the same video tools to pitch new candidates to existing clients, or to give them updates on any progression in your search. It’s not always easy catching someone on the phone between busy schedules, so leaving them an overview in a video is much more engaging that putting the information into an email.

4. For candidate engagement:

Similar rules apply here to what we’ve just discussed for client engagement. Reaching a candidate on the phone isn’t always a possibility when they’re at their current role during the day, so rather than putting information into an email, you can use the video messaging tool to leave them updates on the recruitment process and the role they have applied for. Again, this is much more engaging than an email! This can be particularly effective when trying to re-engage with candidates that you’ve worked with in the past.

—

It can sound daunting at first, sending out videos of yourself. But the videos you’re using are simple videos recorded by yourself on either your webcam or smartphone, recording a message that is often 1 minute or less. With a few practices, you’ll soon be recording like a pro and you’ll find it easier and easier to get your message across. It’s said that 55% of any message is conveyed through body language, so the more you practice, the more relaxed and confident you’ll seem. The more of your personality that shines through, the better!

It’s definitely time that we begin to adapt our usual outreach techniques and use the technology available to support our efforts. Did you know that people are 75% more likely to watch a video than they read text? Meaning someone is 75% more likely to watch your video introduction than they are to read your email. People process visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Let’s face it – people tend to have short attention spans. That’s not a bad thing, of course. We’re all just so used to being hit with different marketing and sales messages on a daily basis, that we’ve learned to tune a lot of it out. So, if you send a video less than a minute long, rather than writing it all in an email, you can grab someone’s attention before it wanders off elsewhere.

There are the stats to prove it too. Even just using the word ‘video’ in your subject lines can increase open rates by 20%, and click-through rates by 65%. The most impressive of all is that open rates increase by 80% when this method is used on LinkedIn! It’s no longer a secret that personalized video messages are effective, but implementing the strategy now will put you ahead of 90% of your competition. Check back in with us soon for a guide on how to make the most of your video introductions software – but in the meantime, you can check out our product page here for a better understanding of exactly how it works!