Updated for 2026 - refreshed with the latest benchmarks from Wiser.
What’s covered in this blog
Our 2026 Recruitment Marketing Benchmarks are here, packed with insights to show how your organic social media and recruitment marketing campaigns stack up against the industry.
Want to know where your recruitment marketing stands?
These benchmarks are your go-to guide to help you confidently answer the questions you get asked by your stakeholders:
Do we need to refine our strategy?
Are we doing enough on social media?
How are we doing in comparison to others?
Start the year strong with data-backed insights to stay ahead in attracting the right talent.
Why benchmarks matter:
Candidates have never had higher expectations for where they want to work. They research companies thoroughly on social channels before they even click apply, to give them an idea of the culture and credibility of a business.
In this environment, benchmarks do three things:
Set realistic expectations
Benchmarks give you standards to measure against, not just your past performance, but what top performers in the market are consistently achieving.Guide investment decisions
Where your metrics sit relative to these norms tells you whether you need more budget, better creative, or sharper targeting.Shape strategy, not just reporting
Benchmarks reveal opportunities: channels where momentum is building, formats that outperform, and audiences that are converting.
Where the best recruitment marketing strategies stand apart
Across campaigns and social media activations, we see three common success levers that consistently correlate with above‑benchmark performance:
Campaigns anchored in strategic narrative
Recruitment marketing campaigns shouldn’t be an afterthought. Exceptional campaigns start with clear objectives across the candidate application funnel, followed by audience segmentation to make sure you are getting your message to the right people, and messaging designed to provoke action.
Social media as a performance channel not just visibility
Social channels are critical pathways in the candidate journey. In 2026, LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok and other social platforms are where talent discovers, evaluates and engages with employer stories.
Strategic social audits to diagnose performance and identify quick wins
Pillar‑based content frameworks aligned to EVP and audience needs
Creative storytelling that reflects the real, authentic experience
Measurement tied to outcomes in engagement quality, conversion pathways, and sentiment shifts
A strong presence on social is about relevance at every stage of the funnel, not just reaching the most people.
Employee advocacy as credibility currency
When your people share their experiences authentically, you tap into trust networks far beyond what paid or owned channels alone can deliver.
Teams with structured, supported employee advocacy outperform those that rely on ad‑hoc sharing.
How strategy aligns with performance
Below are two examples of how strategy, storytelling, and consistency across social and campaigns can drive meaningful results.
Our work with NESO
After recently becoming an independent, publicly owned organisation, with a rapid shift toward renewable energy and ambitious decarbonisation targets, NESO faced an urgent need to expand its team.
We built a recruitment marketing campaign from the ground up.
As a result, we saw:
10 Million Impressions, driving a 62,000 increase in website visitors
266 Hires
£715 cost per hire (industry average £4,500)
Our work with the BBC
The BBC found itself in a battle for talent with new competitors: Amazon Prime, Netflix and Spotify. In order to invigorate their employer brand and attract the changemakers who would drive the BBC forward over the next 100 years, they required a fresh injection of energy.
We embarked on a mission to create an Employer Brand Strategy for the BBC. We needed to bring to life their values, highlight their commitment to their people and inspire talent with the quality of their content.
From our integrated campaign across outreach, organic social and paid media we saw:
899k Impressions
6.4k traffic to the site
512 community sign-ups
FAQs
How should I interpret engagement benchmarks?
Engagement should always be viewed in the context of quality, not volume. A benchmark is not a target in isolation; it’s a frame of reference. Getting 100 likes might feel/look good, but if that's only 1% of people who saw the post, that's less than ideal, vs if that's 10% of your audience, then thats pretty good.
What role should social media play in my recruitment mix?
Social should be a core part of your strategy, not an afterthought. It’s often one of the first places candidates encounter your brand and form opinions about culture and opportunities. A robust social strategy, complete with tailored content, measurement and performance tracking, underpins both employer brand campaigns and ongoing talent attraction efforts.
Is paid social essential?
Organic reach is rarely sufficient on its own. Paid social complements organic content by ensuring visibility where it matters most — among defined talent segments at the right moment. The smartest strategies blend both, using paid to scale what’s already working.
If we’re below the benchmark, what’s the first thing to fix?
Start with narrative clarity. If your content has high visibility but low engagement or weak conversion, the core issue is unlikely to be distribution; it’s messaging. Align creative and social content back to a clear story about who you are, who you’re talking to and why it matters.
Here are a few resources to help:
