Social Media Recruitment Report Card for 2012

In 2012, social media was hot! Which network actually made the grade? Which one will you use for social media recruitment?

The past year gave us Pinterest, the marriage of Facebook-Instagram, even a hint that MySpace is making a comeback! (Who knows? Stranger things have happened!)

In an infographic from marketing software provider Pardot, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, and LinkedIn are graded on relative merits. Businesses can use these grades to determine which platform to use for recruitment, hiring and training.

“With so many social networks to manage and likely more on the way,” Pardot expressed in a blog post, “it is important to understand the growth rates, visitor counts, optimal uses, and strengths and weaknesses of the major social networks to determine where to exert your limited time and resources,”.

Using metrics based on each system’s success, monthly visitors, and estimated marketing ROI (Return on Investment); Twitter leads the pack with strong A’s.

Twitter’s micro-blogging platform scored a B-minus in growth, an A-minus in monthly users and a firm A for ROI.

With more than 37 million visitors monthly, Twitter is second only to Facebook. However, Twitter’s 13 percent increase bested Facebook’s 4 percent drop.

“With a steady increase in visitors,” Pardot said, “Twitter remains the go-to social channel for marketers looking to monitor conversations, learn about customers, distribute content, and built relationships,”

Negative growth is what dropped Facebook off the top spot, earning only a C-minus in the growth category. Facebook topped Twitter with an A-plus for the more than 1.5 billion monthly users.

Most companies embracing social media recruitment use a combination of Twitter and Facebook, with a little LinkedIn.

Google+, which averaged a B on the list, spent a majority of 2012 adding features, building a user base, and integrating with Google’s popular search engine. Registered users grew 80 percent in 2012, reaching a total 26 million monthly visitors, earning it a B-plus.

Pinterest was a shoo-in for the top spot in user growth. The popular site went full from beta in early August. Although it was the second-to-last place in total monthly visitors, Pinterest saw a tremendous 1,047 percent increase since the beginning of 2012. Pinterest’s 27.2 million users earned it a B-minus.

“With a focus on visual content and a massive mobile audience,” Pardot said, Pinterest could prove to be a huge marketing (and social media recruitment) asset in 2013.

Using business connections and professional recruitment over personal relationships, specialized network LinkedIn had zero growth, with a stagnant 28 million monthly visitors. This left LinkedIn with a weak C in growth and a B-minus in users.

However, a steady traffic flow keeps LinkedIn a preference of social media recruitment pros, marketers, advertisers and sales teams.

“After a needed face lift and added analytics for business,” Pardot said, “LinkedIn is not going away soon.”

Infographic after the jump…