Sarah Palin vs. CareerBuilder on Facebook TalentHQ.com

With hundreds of investments you can make with online advertising, the CareerBuilder ad deal with Facebook, hasn’t proven to be one on the top of my list. What was touted earlier this year as an innovative way to break into the social media and networking space hiring – and the next big thing for CareerBuilder clients – is proving otherwise on the surface.

From Super Bowl ads to the iPhone application, they deserve some credit for trying. But better placed ads on Facebook haven’t induced a high level of attention from job seekers on this popular social networking site.

When you break down the results, here are 5 reasons this might not make the top of your list:

8,613 fans to date. Given the amount of advertising, ads and visibility this was going to bring – 8,613 fans doesn’t cut it. Consider that in a few months, the “I have more Foreign Policy Experience than Sarah Palin” group grew to over 250,000. Even “My Pet Rock is more Qualified than Sarah Palin to be Vice President” has almost twice as many fans.

According to recent hitwise data for CareerBuilder, Facebook is #14 on the list, accounting for 0.66% of upstream traffic.

Why would you compete with other employers on the CareerBuilder page – and not just create your own page? This will allow you to engage with job seekers directly, via your own site, vs. sending candidates to CareerBuilder for a broader job search. Check out companies that have done this on their own including E&Y, Microsoft, and Best Buy.

The average employer viewed today on the CareerBuilder-Facebook page today has 330 fans.

You just need to check out the posts on the wall of the fan page… The wall, 53 posts in total, say it all.

If you are looking for ways to breaking into cost effective ways to attract and engage with talent online, there are alternatives. Check back next week to explore some other ideas. In the meantime, here are a few resources to jump-start your own career site: