Thanks for reading the Marketing 'For Cops' Newsletter. Want this newsletter delivered straight to your email every week so you don't have to remember to check for it? Join my Police Marketing Squad and I'll send it to you every Thursday morning! Always free, always delivering knowledge, and never spam!
Whether it’s a high-tech, slow-motion recruiting video, extraordinary shots from a professional photo shoot session, stunning graphics and effects, a catchy slogan package, or if you’re simply doing things yourself with the tools that you have (I highly recommend that route)...if you’re not delivering your product on social media in the right way, regardless of how much time or money you spent on it, you’re going to fail. ❌❌❌
Here are my five keys for making an effective police related job post that converts...keep reading! 👀
Hey everyone, it’s Tom Sye your Police Marketing FTO, and this week, let’s talk about job postings on social media and in particular all those police related ones that I see you all trying to get better with. 👍
You know, a little over a year ago now I started this police marketing revolution, and I see so many positive changes out there in the way agencies are starting to handle recruiting. Back then I thought my biggest hurdle would be convincing people they needed to use social media to recruit, but it turns out, most of you were ready to jump on that track with the quickness and took off running with it...which is awesome. 🙌
What I didn’t realize was that so many of you out there are running without shoes, so to speak, and are just following what any other agency is doing when it comes to making a job post on social media and are finding out...it’s not working. 😫
Let’s fix that. 😎
Here are my five keys to an effective social media job posting that will get you applicants...
1. If you want better police recruiting job posts... the visual has to be sharp
No...this does not mean you need to hire a professional photographer or run out and buy the latest and greatest camera equipment to pull this off...most cell phones in 2024 can do the job quite effectively and despite what the recruiting companies who want your money will tell you...that’s all you really need. 🤷♂️
What I mean by sharp is, the first thing your potential applicant sees on your post when scrolling social media better catch their attention. 💯
If your post is going to feature a photo, make sure it is in focus and that it has a person or people looking at the camera and smiling. Lose the mean mugging, super serious faces...it signals misery, and no one wants to work somewhere where people are miserable. 🙅♂️🙅♀️
For videos...use a title screen at the very front of your video so you don’t get that blank black box on your feed after posting it. ⬛
You can simply create a title screen like the one you saw on this video or screen grab a shot from the video and use that at the beginning. Set the timing for a half of second to make sure the photo shows up and not the black screen of death. 🖼️
2. Get the details out of the pictures
I know, I know...everyone is posting the details in their photos...but that isn’t working! You wanna know why? It’s too busy... 😵
Remember, you have no more than three seconds to grab someone’s attention when they’re scrolling on social media...if someone sees a bunch of text, numbers, and QR codes jamming up the photo they’re going to keep scrolling right on by every single time. 💨
Get the details out of the photos and put them into the captions...that’s where they belong. When your photo or video is sharp enough to get your potential applicant to stop, they’ll naturally come to the caption to see if what’s written there is just as appealing. 🤩
3. Break up your text
Speaking of captions...while you’re there loading them up with all the details you’ve just taken out of your photos...having better police recruiting job posts means make sure you’re using the three P’s to break things up a bit and keep people reading. 🧐
👉 Paragraphs – Limit your text to a couple of sentences max and start a new paragraph. It will look way more inviting and be a ton easier for your applicants to read.
👉 Punctuation - Just like 9th grade English class...punctuation matters. Make sure your sentences aren’t running on and on and on and drop those commas, periods, exclamation points, and ellipsis to help get your points across.
👉 Pizzaz – Want to spice things up a little bit and really draw your reader in? Throw some emojis in your post to help accent things or replace words. Careful though...don’t overdo it!
4. Provide a link
I can’t believe how many police related job posts I come across that don’t include an easy way for someone to apply. 🤯
If people have to call you for more information or stop by your office to chat with a recruiter, guess what? They’re not calling and they’re not showing up. 👋
Keep it simple and include a link to your job opening in the caption itself or in the comment section if you’re on a site like LinkedIn who penalizes your reach if you include a link in the post itself. If you are using a site like Instagram or TikTok where links don’t link in the caption or comment section, instruct the user to send you a message so you can send them the link. 💬
5. Use hashtags
Hashtags help sort social media posts into categories and allow your posts to be shown to people who are searching for exactly what you are offering. #️⃣
Make sure your hashtags are keeping relevant key words in mind like police, police officer, police jobs, law enforcement jobs, and police recruiting so you can target those seeking out a career in law enforcement. 👮♂️👮♀️
Don’t get crazy with them though...hashtags usage isn’t the wild west anymore and a lot of platforms are increasingly penalizing posts for stuffing too many of them in their captions. Keep them very specific to exactly what your post is about and limit them to no more than thirty. I would use a minimum of five. 👌
There you have it...my five keys to effective social media job postings that will help get you more applicants! Put these strategies into place and watch your conversion rate grow! 🚀
Need more direction in how to attract more applicants and start recruiting like it’s 2024? My Road to Better Recruiting course is getting closer and closer to launch and is loaded with everything you need to get things turned around at your agency without dumping endless dollars on so-called solutions that don’t work. You can learn all about the program and what’s included by visiting my website: forcopstraining.com/rtbr.
Have a friend at another agency who is struggling to convert social media eyeballs into applications? Share this video with them, so they can learn too. Remember, you’re not in a competition with any other agency and it’s going to take all of us...working together to change the future of police recruiting. 🤝
Have more questions about police recruiting, marketing, or anything else you're struggling with? Don't hesitate to reach out...I’m always here to help. ⛑
Until next week my Police Marketing Squad, happy recruiting! 😃
Tom
Did you find this newsletter valuable? Make sure to like & comment below. 👇
I'd love to hear from you! 🤩
Also, if you know someone who needs to see this content, please share my newsletter with them! I would appreciate the help in spreading the knowledge that will benefit us all and make our profession stronger! 💪
Have a marketing or recruiting topic you would like more info on? Drop me a message 📩 and let me know what you would like to learn! It might just make its way into next week's newsletter! 🤞
👋 I’m Tom Sye, your Police Marketing FTO. I founded ‘For Cops’ Training to teach Police Departments how to attract more qualified candidates through the same tried and tested methods I’ve used for the past ten years at my own department to keep up with turnover and stay ahead of vacancies.
Want to learn more about police marketing and recruiting? 👇
🔔 Follow my profile
✅ Connect with me
🗞️ Subscribe to the Marketing ‘For Cops’ Newsletter
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, X, or visit my website at www.forcopstraining.com to learn more about my Police Marketing and Recruiting courses which will be enrolling soon!
Comments