Recruitment advertising campaigns on Facebook and LinkedIn: What level of personalization is preferable?

• Published in: Décisions marketing Vol. No 99; no. 3; pp. 17 - 36
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: EMS Éditions 2020
• Subjects: connoisseurship; authenticity; commodification process; gastronomic and Bacchic brotherhoods
• ISSN: 0779-7389; 2269-8469
• DOI: 10.7193/DM.099.17.36

Recruitment ads are becoming more sophisticated on social media and allow recruiters to include users’ first names and photographs. This article seeks to determine the most effective level of ad personalization for organizations. A between-subjects experiment was used to test among 240 potential employees the effect of the level of ad personalization (non-personalized vs. integrating the first name vs. integrating the first name and photograph) on Facebook or LinkedIn. The results show that personalization influences perceived entertainment in a differentiated way according to the level of personalization and the social media used to deliver the ad. Moreover, personalization does not trigger perceived intrusiveness. Generally speaking, personalization contributes to the formation of a positive attitude toward the ad, which increases job-pursuit intention, click intention, and organizational attractiveness.