Give to Get Jobs CEO/Co-Founder Stacy McCoy
Launching a startup in undoubtedly an uphill battle, with our increasingly entrepreneurial society vying for their latest ideas to be heard above all others. Social media has allowed these companies to have more creativity and get the most out of their often nonexistant marketing budgets. We recently spoke with Give to Get Jobs CEO and Co-Founder Stacy McCoy to find out how the strategic use of social media has affected the growth of her startup.
Can you tell us a little bit about your business and how it got started?
Give To Get Jobs is a job board and information hub for jobs in the for-profit sector with a social and/or environmental mission, mainly social enterprise and corporate social responsibility/sustainability. As a social enterprise ourselves, we donate a portion of the proceeds to fund job creation programs via our non-profit partner, See Your Impact. It was born out of frustration. I had spent time in the non-profit sector and the corporate sector, but came increasingly interested in the gray area in between. Because the sectors of social enterprise and corporate social responsibility are not streamlined, it was a long and arduous task searching for jobs via traditional methods. Instead of continuing to complain about it, I decided to fix it. Give To Get Jobs officially launched on May 2nd.
Did you know you wanted to implement social media from the beginning?
Yes. We are 100% self-funded at the moment. Having a limited marketing budget, social media was an obvious must.
How involved were you in social media before you began your business?
My freshman year of college was the year Facebook launched. I was a Facebook user from the very beginning, but only for personal reasons. I also used LinkedIn for its basic services. I had very limited knowledge of how to use social media for business.
What social media platforms do you use for your business?
Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Google Plus are the main social media platforms I use for business purposes. I also try and blog an average of twice per week.
Which social media platform do you use the most? Which is most effective?
I use Twitter the most. What is most effective probably depends on how you define effective. We get the most traffic from LinkedIn and Facebook. But, Twitter has been the best relationship-building tool.
Do you use any third party agents (Tweetdeck, etc.)?
I use Tweetdeck. It changed my life when I started using it. I’ve used ManageTwitter to manage who I follow and get rid of inactive users. I also use Klout to keep track of my business and personal brands and make sure they’re targeted and focused.
Do you have any plans to expand your company’s social media presence?
I am planning on starting a separate blog that is more interactive and indirectly tied to the business. I am also hoping to incorporate video through either YouTube or Vimeo.
Do you find that your social media reaches mostly those seeking jobs? Do you feel you are effectively reaching those who are supplying and potentially listing the jobs?
My social media outreach via LinkedIn definitely reaches job seekers. Facebook has been another great tool to reach mainly job seekers. Being a B2B and a B2C company, we also use social media to connect with other companies, recruiters, and professionals in the space. It’s a hard balance to strike at times, figuring out which audience to gear social media content towards. But I think we have done it well so far and have been able to reach people on both sides of the job search process.
What has the ROI been like? Have you been able to see your social media strategy translate into financial gains for your company?
Social media is a big part of creating visibility for the jobs that are listed on our board. LinkedIn is one of the tools that have helped us find job applicants. Providing employers with a quality group of job applicants is the main reason our clients keep coming back. On the employer front, social media has enabled us to build relationships with people we would otherwise not have been able to reach. Twitter has been particularly important in this way. However, the biggest financial gain on the employer side has come from direct outreach via email and in person not social media.
Has your opinion on social media changed at all since you’ve begun using it more to engage for business?
Yes! I have a much better understanding of branding and how important social media is in creating a brand. I’ve also come to understand that everything you put on the Internet becomes part of your brand; it is your online resume. And it’s important to keep that in mind every step of the way. You have to use social media appropriately and with caution in some ways. Because it all factors into how people see you and your brand. Social media must be used strategically.
What is the most inspiring incident that has occurred for your business as a result of social media?
The most inspiring thing has been taking online relationships offline. I have met numerous business contacts online via Twitter that have become friends and real life business contacts offline. Social media isn’t just a fluffy tool to feign engagement with your customers and clients. It really is a relationship-building platform. And those relationships are real. The people that support you online sign off and support you offline. The number of people in your corner multiplies. That is what is most inspiring about social media.
Where do you think your business would be today without such an emphasis on social media?
We certainly would not have been able to build the traction we have had in just a short handful of months. The growth we have experienced would have been slower. It would have been a lot harder and more expensive to create a following and an engaged audience. Social media has leveled the playing field in a lot of ways. It has been a big part of our success thus far.
