From Tweet-Ups to Meet-Ups

Marketing and public-relations giant Edelman wants to find digitally savvy PR professionals–and is using a combination of social networking and face-to-face meeetings to not only find them, but build relationships with them in the hopes that they’ll spread the word about the company to their digitally savvy friends and colleagues, as well as considering working for Edelman themselves.

We’ll be featuring Edelman in our “Best HR Ideas of 2011,” in our upcoming March print issue. Edelman was one of many companies that we thought were doing exciting and innovative HR stuff. In Edelman’s case, its “Meet-Ups” are recruiting events (featuring quirky snacks such as “bacon donuts”, cupcakes and sangria) and promoted solely through social media. The idea for the Meet-Ups, which began last February, sprang from informal “Tweet-Ups,” or meetings between Edelman officials and others arranged via Twitter. Julie Biber, Edelman’s executive vice president for U.S. recruitment and Natasha Avery, vice president for U.S. digital recruitment, encourage employees to tap into their own digital social networks to source attendees for the events. The company uses eventbrite.com to create and distribute invitations via social media outlets and share logistical updates with potential attendees.

At the events, typically held at trendy restaurants or at Edelman’s offices, Edelman executives mingle with attendees, getting to know them and offering brief presentations about a variety of industry-related toics. Edelman staff and invitees wear nametags emblazoned with their social media “handles” so guests can easily identify who’s who. In fact, the company relies heavily on Twitter to before and during the events, creating hashtags to “brand” each event and encouraging attendees to Tweet from the event using the hashtag.

Once the Meet-Up concludes, recruiters provide attendees with contact information for the recruiting team so they can keep in touch via LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Edelman has held seven Meet-Ups so far, with one in Austin, Texas, attracting more than 300 attendees, says Biber. All told, they’ve resulted in 25 digitally-savvy hires so far, including a senior vice president, she says. It’s also built a pipeline of candidates that its recruiters continue to interact with, she adds.

“So much of recruiting is about networking and building the network, and this is a great way to do it,” says Biber.

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