What is an HR Social Moderator? Why Are Their Roles Important in 2020?
The importance of HR social moderators. Why their positions are critical to businesses in 2020.
Today, human resource (HR) departments can take advantage of social media and other online tools to help them attract and keep top talent. These resources have changed how they carry out internal communications for employees and external ones for applicants. Social media has become an opportunity for HR to strengthen their relationship with employees, while making it easier for candidates to find them.
An HR social moderator, then, is someone who manages and handles the activities done in a company’s social media community. They are responsible for monitoring the feedback and comments from the organization’s social media circle. They are also called upon to engage the community members in an engaging conversation that will ultimately portray the company in a positive light.
Engagement and recruitment
Social media moderation as an important HR function can help make the company remain competitive.
One reason is that an HR leader doing social media moderation can continuously give a voice to their employees, and make them feel heard. This alone can make the employees valued, and reinforce their confidence that they are contributing significantly to the development of their company.
HR social moderators can engage employees personally via the company’s online platforms. They also facilitate discussions so that these stay productive and within company guidelines. Their tasks include:
- Educating people about forum regulations
- Responding to community questions
- Modifying or deleting inappropriate comments
- Banning rude, discourteous users from interacting in the social media circle
- Keeping company online information updated and accurate
Social recruiting is becoming a key function of HR. When looking for candidates for a job, HR recruiters who are social media moderators can search for the following information in a candidate’s electronic public information:
- A professional online persona
- Information that supports job qualifications
- Reputation based on what other people say about them
At the same time, HR social moderators can start a conversation with potential candidates who want to apply in their company. According to a Glassdoor survey, 51% of job seekers said they prefer looking for job opportunities through online job sites.
Social media can be leveraged as a tool to find the most qualified candidate — a process that cannot be underestimated. According to Career Builder, making a bad hire cost each company an average of $14,900 a year.
Managing the greater community of users
One problem that can arise is when HR overlooks publicly available online content that can negatively influence other people’s impression about your company. Any frustrations found in your organization can make their way to social media. Negative news and reviews can taint your company image.
With social media moderation, your HR can take both positive and negative feedback into consideration. Positive ones can serve as an encouraging factor to attract good candidates and boost the morale of employees, while negative comments will be your guide for improvements. Instead of burying their head in the sand, HR can also respond to any online criticism, defuse the tension, and perhaps even win back their harshest critics.
Social media moderation is not a task that a single person can do. Training your HR staff to become moderators can help you maximize defenses against inappropriate content, as well as ensure the safety of community members online. You also create a devoted platoon of communicators who will enhance your company’s credibility online. If your HR manager has not yet considered social media moderation as a valuable HR skill, now is the time to educate them.
