At Haley Marketing, we luckily have access to a lot of data. We manage online advertising campaigns across Facebook and Google while also owning proprietary job board software.
Back at the start of April when the pandemic really made an impact on the United States, we looked at Facebook, Google and Job Boards trends in the staffing industry since the start of COVID-19.
Now, we have completed the second quarter in 2020, and we are doing to settle into a quarterly look at the data trends for the staffing industry in these areas. On top of looking at the data, we will suggest takeaways or an action plan on how to adjust your strategy quickly to take advantage of recent user behavior.
Let’s dig in to the second quarter data in the staffing industry.
JOB BOARDS
Where to begin!?
Let’s break them down one by one:
- Job Board Page Views: this had an enormous decrease of more than 38 percent Let’s not overthink the decrease – there are fewer jobs to fill. On top of that, there are fewer people looking for jobs for a couple of reasons: safety and increase in unemployment benefits.
- Applications: while this decreased by more than 18 percent, it didn’t have anywhere near as sharp of decline as the page views. The significant increase of people who are unemployed means that more people are looking for jobs. Yes, there are fewer jobs but there are a lot more people looking for jobs.
- Conversion Rate: this jumped up by nearly 15 percent. A lot of people need jobs. They are applying.
- Desktop vs. Mobile: desktop traffic increased by more than five percent in 2020 Q2 when compared to 2020 Q1. Thinking it through, people are spending more time at home. That naturally leads to the behavior of more time on your desktop/laptop and less time on your mobile device.
What’s the takeaway? What’s happening is what we should expect. There are fewer jobs (it is trending up in June but still 25-30 percent lower than February), and there are a lot of people looking for jobs.
With an increase in demand and decrease in supply, make sure to have a strong process in place for finding the right people for your jobs. Focusing on your recruitment marketing is really important to attract the right candidates. Showcase employer branding. Make the application simple to complete. Find the best talent because there is a lot of talent available that hasn’t been available for a number of years. Now isn’t the time to ignore the recruitment marketing and just think applications will flow. Yes, you’ll get applications but the quality won’t be what your recruiters want.
The top takeaway for Facebook Advertising – it costs less for building the awareness of your brand. In 2020 Q2, the cost per 1,000 impressions was $6.14 while in 2020 Q1, the cost was $7.99 – that’s a decrease of more than 30 percent!
On the flip side of that, conversion rate is decreasing, from 1.96 percent to 1.57 percent, which isn’t great. HOWEVER – the cost per click actually decreased by two cents.
So let’s summarize those trends – it costs significantly less for the awareness of your brand and slightly less for getting clicks. The perfect combination!
How did we get to that combination?
- People are spending more time online, so there is more real estate available for Facebook advertisements.
- People are clicking on fewer ads, so conversion rates are lower. Ideally, we wouldn’t want that, but it’s OK because of the decrease in cost per click and cost per 1,000 impressions.
- Fewer companies are advertising online, so the less competition in advertising results in lower costs for Facebook ads and overcomes the lower conversion rate.
Similar to April, there isn’t a better value right now in online advertising than on Facebook. Costs have dropped significantly, and if you don’t advertise, one of your competitors will.
GOOGLE SEARCH
This area had the least change in user behavior in the first six months of 2020. The biggest takeaway is that budgets haven’t decreased in this area.
Building off our trend that we know people are spending more time online, the data lines up:
- More impressions for advertisements – because people are conducting more searches on Google.
- Lower conversion rate because people are spending more time online (down by 6 percent) and appear to be browsing more.
- The cost per click bounced up by more than 9 percent.
Putting those last two points together shows budgets have stayed the same or even increased from companies targeting employment terms on Google. I wouldn’t say to avoid the area because people will always look to Google to answer their question, but there isn’t a great area of opportunity like there is on Facebook.
GOOGLE DISPLAY
Of the four areas analyzed, this area saw the biggest increase in competition and cost.
Google Display ads are banner ads that appear on the Google Display Networks (2 million-plus websites). The main goal for these ads is to increase awareness – think of it as an online billboard.
From our data, impressions decreased by 4 percent while the cost per 1,000 impressions increased by 5 percent. If we stay consistent that people are spending more time online, this means that advertisers are spending more money with this tactic.
The takeaway – it’s important to keep your branding in front of your customers, especially in an economic downturn. If you go away in advertising, they make think you closed the doors for good. Don’t ignore this awareness tactic but don’t expect a huge value. The cost increase but it was a small increase – 14 more cents per 1,000 impressions.
Use Data to Your Advantage
Data is great. But it also can be overwhelming. That’s where Haley Marketing Group is here to help.
Our team of experts analyzes data and trends in marketing, bringing the best strategies and tactics to the staffing industry to help companies meet their business goals.
If you’re looking to take advantage of these trends or looking for the best marketing strategy to help your company grow, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team!