Recruiting using Social Media Redux

I have just returned from attending the 2012 QRCA Conference in Montreal.   A good time had by all, lots of learning and sharing.

I attended a panel session which took us through work that QRCA had done on the issue of Social Media Recruiting.

I was heartened by the fact that others shared a similar vision – that using Social Media to connect with respondents was the wave of the future, and that we need to use it as another tool for connecting with our respondents.

After all, isn’t that the way more and more people are communicating with each other these days?  As Jim Bryson said, “We used to communicate using smoke signals…”.    Where are those today – I personally have never tried it.

The distinction comes not from actually utilizing social media, but in the ways which we use it.

If you use it as a method of connection, to talk in a very general sense about the type of project you are doing, yet still require that trained recruiter to properly screen the respondent by phone or in person, then how is it any different than placing an ad in the newspaper?

Why shouldn’t we use Social Media to encourage respondents to join our database for future projects?

Ben Smithee has inspired me to think of new and different ways we can connect with the larger community  – to build our profile and become a trusted brand.   Our organization is looking at ways to extend our reach using Social Media.     Thanks to this session, I have some new and different ideas….but as yet I’m still no further ahead!!!!

 

Should we recruit focus groups using social media?

This is a question that I have been asked, and have heard other people ask, many times in the past year or two.

Social worlds like Facebook and Twitter have become part of every day life, so why wouldn’t the qualitative research industry want to make use of them?

There are ups and downs to the argument, but for me one constant remains – how you approach ‘advertising’ or notifying potential respondents for a project has to be carefully managed whether you are using the telephone, online classified sites or now, social media.

As a qualitative researcher who wears many hats – moderator, recruiter, facility owner, I don’t see much difference between recruiting using social media, or the way we used to advertise or seek out new respondents 20 years ago (yes, I just dated myself there…).

This type of reaching out to potential respondents has been going on for a long time – be it by cold call, advertising in the classified section of a newspaper, then through online classifieds such as Craigslist.   However, in today’s connected world, moderators and clients are just more likely to see it, or be sent the notification.

It appears that some companies in our industry are trying to automate the recruiting process – using an online survey to ask all the questions.  I’m not sure what role the recruiter plays, or even human interaction…

What has changed?   In a word, standards.    With few exceptions for very low incidence projects where our client buys in, we try VERY hard not to provide hints or clues in any notices about projects we have going on.   That’s what a screening questionnaire and a properly trained recruiter  is for.

However, somewhere along the way, the system has changed for many in our business.    It is now almost commonplace to see advertising for projects that are very specific.   You can easily search out focus groups to attend on the Internet – where recruiters ask if you are 27-38 years old and like to drink lots of beer.

Have you not seen those types of notifications?   Check out aggregators that have popped up such as http://www.findfocusgroups.com, and you will see what I mean.

We should be better utilizing social media as a recruiting tool.   After all, that’s where potential respondents are.    As an industry, and as practitioners, we need to do a better job protecting the quality of our research projects by creating and abiding by better standards for this type of approach.

Are you a qualitative researcher?   What are your thoughts on this?