This post was contributed by Bill Boorman better known as @BillBoorman

There’s a new a function within LinkedIn applications that I think has real potential to help grow and combine your social recruiting channels, particularly talent and potential client pools. The Twitter application within LinkedIn now allows you to identify and follow connections that you are not following.

Most recruiters have been building LinkedIn networks for longer and in a more targeted way than their follow lists. The nature of LinkedIn also makes it simple to search and build your connections in a focused way specific to recruiting. I see a great benefit to joining up all your social connections between channels. I already use http://www.twables.com/ to combine my facebook friends to follow me on twitter and for me to follow them in return.

My new facebook friends are automatically given the opportunity to subscribe to my YouTube channel. With this new functionality it is now much easier to build a joined up network.

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The way I see this working in practice is:

  1. Locate and connect target talent and clients through regular and filtered LinkedIn searches.
  2. Follow all LinkedIn connections on twitter by running a weekly update on the new LinkedIn application.
  3. Monitor new follows to identify targets and enter in to conversation. (http://www.twittercloud.com and http://www.twittersheep.com can help you identify areas of common interest to make the first approach.). Twitter allows you to begin the conversation and start the dialogue.
  4. The FB140 application in twables will automatically invite your new follow to friend you on facebook. This enables you to invite them to sign up for your fan page and subscribe to your YouTube channel. You also open up the opportunity for instant messaging for private conversation in much more than 140 characters.

Potentially that will give you 5 points of contact in 4 channels. Wherever they hang out most, you can regularly communicate and build stronger relationships quicker.

You can find the new function under the connections heading of the LinkedIn applications tab. I’ve been playing around with this today and I have already strengthened 700 connections.

Let me know how you find it, and keep being ambassadors for great social recruiting!

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By Noel Cocca

CEO/Founder RecruitingDaily and avid skier, coach and avid father of two trying to keep up with my altruistic wife. Producing at the sweet spot talent acquisition to create great content for the living breathing human beings in recruiting and hiring. I try to ease the biggest to smallest problems from start-ups to enterprise. Founder of RecruitingDaily and our merry band of rabble-rousers.