Social Media Strategy

Great Western Railway - FirstGroup

Job boards simply don’t work for Great Western Railways (GWR). The solution? Social media. The business needed to reach new audiences to meet its recruitment needs, so a new Facebook profile seemed like a good idea.

The first target was qualified train drivers – a very small talent pool. What’s more, traditional train driver advertising tends to be male-orientated, meaning it bypasses female candidates. To attract this audience and encourage women to join the organisation, we needed to show stories that featured females on GWR’s social media.

The second target was cabin crew, whose skillset makes them natural guards and conductors. By showing how people have transferred their skills from aviation to rail, we planned to tap into relevant talent.

THE IDEA

The key was to find people in GWR’s team who would be great examples: female train drivers and former cabin crew.

Working closely with HR and Marketing, we identified individuals who were happy to share their stories. We then filmed and interviewed them to create fresh content and bring their stories to life. ‘Day in the Life of’- style videos really illustrated the realities of their roles as well as the rewards. Where possible, we also re-purposed existing content and footage quickly at low cost.

The result was compelling social media campaign that overcame long-standing recruitment barriers.

THE RESULTS

Transport is renowned for being ‘male, pale and stale’ – but this project reached beyond the usual suspects.

Now, GWR can make people think twice, get opportunities out there and convey authentic stories, all via social media. So far, the news is positive. Our campaign is proving to be a more flexible and successful method of recruitment for GWR.