JOHN SIMMS
Vice President, HNI

In a previous blog regarding driver recruiting and the Zero Moment of Truth, we defined ZMOT as the moment when a driver grabs their mobile phone, laptop or iPad and starts to research your company on the web.  Potential hires learn and make decisions today based on reviews about your company, your buzz on social media, text ads, image ads, news headlines, company websites, trucking chat rooms and now more than ever, videos about your company. 

YouTube: A Powerful Tool for Driver Recruiting

Do you know what the second most used search engine on the internet is? It’s the bar across the top of the video player on YouTube.  A huge portion of ZMOT is visual now.  Smart phones (estimates claim close to 75% of drivers will have one by the end of 2012) can now not only show videos but can also take videos.  You will be surprised how many people reach for their phones and watch videos every day. 

Drivers today research companies through YouTube.  They look for videos that showcase the trucking company as well as driver testimonials.  These videos can be big budget productions or they can be simple one-on-one affairs where a team member using their smart phone camera interviews another team member about their experience with that company.  Videos are usually no more than 2 to 3 minutes in length.  One current company who uses this media channel did a video interviewing their Independent Contractor of the Year and to date it has in excess of over 9,000 views!

Advantages of Video in Driver Recruiting

Video has one other big advantage for driver recruiting: the “look at this” factor!  Video is wonderfully easy to share through e-mail, post to social networks, or embedded on blogs and web pages.  It is just a great way to draw a driver’s attention to your company.  It is also important to make sure the videos are easy for drivers to pass it along to other drivers.  

I challenge you to grab your smart phone, record a video about your company and post it on YouTube and other free media outlets.  Share via your company's social media pages and your own personal pages, and see how many views or phone calls you receive on your video.  You may be surprised with the results!  And the cost of all of this….well you get the picture!