Social media has undergone a meteoric rise over the past 20 years. From the early days of relatively simple platforms like Myspace, Bebo, and Facebook, which offered positive opportunities to connect with friends and share photos, to the more complex and politically charged multi-tentacled vampire squids of Meta, X and TikTok that are now deeply embedded in modern social and cultural life. Despite the challenges they pose, all social media platforms also present significant opportunities for organisations, particularly recruiting specialists who benefit from easy access to established ecosystems where their target candidates can be found and filtered.
But knowing how to find and engage these people, and what to post and what not to, when, and how can be challenging, particularly with regular algorithmic changes taking place. This uncertainty has led to the proliferation of several social media myths that too many wrongly take heed of, but that all recruitment teams should ditch in 2025 and beyond. We have picked out some of our favourites that need to be ignored.
Top social media myths for recruitment agencies
Myth 1: You have to post every day to be visible
This one simply isn’t true, and where in the past – when algorithms were far simpler to understand - frequency played a big role, now, several other factors feed into which posts are visible and which aren’t, and these also vary by platform too. LinkedIn, for example, places no value whatsoever on recency, which is why users will regularly see posts from three to four weeks ago on their feeds. Instagram is the same; however, both this and X value engagement as a much more valuable determining factor, which is why if you like a post about toast, for example, your feed on both platforms will be inundated by anything and everything related to toast for the next few days. Appreciating and understanding these variations is a core part of the role of any recruitment marketer.
One element that’s consistent across all platforms is time spent. The ‘big five’ – TikTok, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and X – all increasingly measure how long people engage with content and whether a post starts a genuine conversation. Put simply, if a post attracts thoughtful comments, saves or causes people to linger, the platform is more likely to give it reach. That means that a handful of well-crafted posts that invite conversation will often outperform dozens of short, repetitive updates.
Myth 2: High follower numbers = success
A second big myth is that follower counts matter and somehow equal influence and commercial success. In fact, this is a purely vanity metric, and while large follower counts might add a degree of accreditation to some, they’re largely irrelevant. There have been countless examples of accounts with seemingly enormous follower bases which are a fraction of the size once bots have been removed, that still thrive and enjoy significant success across multiple platforms.
With the increasingly ‘scroll-led’ approach to social engagement, driven by TikTok and subsequently adopted by others, individual follower counts matter even less. Followers also play little role in how content is weighed and valued by these platforms, with other metrics such as relevancy, recency, and more holding far greater importance. A key and relevant indicator of efficacy and success is the follower-to-engagement ratio; equally, referral traffic and conversions can tell a more detailed story. Ultimately, a tight, sector-specific following that applies to jobs and enquires about retained roles is far more valuable than a large general audience that spends little time with your posts. Practically speaking, there are several ways to measure activity effectively and to avoid being seduced by vanity numbers. GA4 allows teams to set up conversion goals and to attribute value to different touch points, including social media channels, and using these gauges will give your reports an evidence base that a follower number cannot provide
Myth 3: All of your accounts must be connected
The logic here is clear; integrating and connecting all social media accounts means there is one, coherent voice across all brand touchpoints, which ensures consistency in tone and subject. However, that fails to take into account that different audiences exist on different platforms, each of which has varying preferences and motivators.
While it might feel efficient to cross-post the same update simultaneously to LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky, this approach only diminishes engagement. Each platform has its own culture, format expectations and tone; Instagram audiences respond to visual storytelling and emotive captions, while LinkedIn users expect data-driven insights, professional analysis and seemingly lots of pictures of people looking wistful and thoughtful for no clear reason. Equally, TikTok thrives on brevity, trends and sound-on experiences, whereas niche networks such as Bluesky demand more thoughtful tech commentary. When the same message appears in multiple feeds without adaptation, it looks lazy and inauthentic, leading followers to scroll past, mute or unfollow the account. Rather than handfuls of generic posts, investing just a few extra minutes to tailor messaging for each channel pays dividends in meaningful interactions and long-term loyalty.
There is a natural and perhaps understandable scepticism about these platforms, often because of the controversial headlines and behaviour of their owners. However, there is a clear role for social media and by being disciplined, favouring quality over quantity, and not falling into the traps that so many do, agency marketers can overcome the challenges and begin to reap the rewards. Before posting, ask three simple questions: who is this for, what action should the reader take, and how will we know it worked. If all three can be answered, there is a defensible reason to publish.
Ignore the myths – and noise - and focus solely on business outcomes, and marketers will once again be able to drive high levels of engagement and justify the time and effort spent managing their organisational social media accounts.
If your agency is looking for guidance on navigating modern social media, get in touch with our team today.
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