This article was originally published on ComeRecommended.com.

Social recruiting is now used by 94 percent of recruiters across all industries, according to the results of the 2013 Jobvite Social Recruiting Survey. Six years ago, this number was only 78 percent when the first survey was conducted.

In the past, there was always a question of the value of social media in recruiting, but based on this year’s report, it is clear hiring managers believe social recruiting is worthwhile. In fact, 60 percent of employers estimate the value of their social media hires as greater than $20,000 per year, and 20 percent estimate the value as greater than $90,000 per year.

With nine out of 10 companies using social media for recruiting, now the bigger question is how do employers use social media in their hiring methods?

What social media outlets are they using?

For starters, according to the survey, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter continue to be the social media outlets recruiters use most.

• They use LinkedIn 93 percent of the time to search, contact, and keep tabs on candidates in the hiring process.
• Facebook and Twitter are the main outlets used to showcase employer brands. In fact, 65 percent of recruiters use Facebook and 47 percent use Twitter to post about company culture.
• Even after contacting candidates, employers continue to use social media to dig further. After the interview process, 18 percent use Twitter and 25 percent use Facebook to look into candidates.

Social media attracts the best candidates.

Social media allows recruiters to find more job candidates than ever before. As a result, one in three employers say social media recruiting improved both the quantity and quality of candidates.

• Referrals represent the highest quality source of candidates (64 percent); social networks and corporate career sites have also jumped in significance (59 percent).
• These candidates also last longer. More than 40 percent of employees from referrals and company career pages stay longer than three years, while only 14 percent of job board hires stay this long.
• It’s so much easier to share jobs through social networks because employees can refer jobs to their own networks. Because of this, 73 percent of recruiters plan to increase their investment in social networks in 2013.

Social recruiting weeds out ill-fitting candidates.

Social media has been really influential for job candidates. In fact, since 93 percent of recruiters review candidates’ social profiles in the hiring process, the content on these profiles could make or break a candidate’s chances. According to the survey, 42 percent of employers have reconsidered a candidate based on content from social profiles.

• More than 80 percent of recruiters report a having a negative reaction to seeing illegal drug usage on a candidate’s social media profile.
• Additionally, 70 percent are turned off by sexual posts and 65 percent by profanity, a 5 percent jump from last year.
• References to guns trigger negative reactions among half of recruiters, but a most are neutral toward overtly political posts.

Social media is being taken seriously by the majority of recruiters, so it’s important for job candidates to pay attention to how they use it. As more employers begin to use these outlets, recruiting methods will continue to transform.

How do you use social media as a recruiter? How do you use it as a job seeker?