Case Study

How Social Media Ads Built a Steady Pipeline of Clinical Talent

Nurse cares for resident at an assisted living community

The Challenge

Navigating a Shifting Talent Landscape and Stalled Recruitment

In the wake of rising turnover and growing wage competition across the senior living sector, a multi-state provider found itself facing unprecedented clinical staffing pressure. Traditionally reliant on job boards and organic social media, the HR team struggled to maintain visibility and relevance in the feeds of qualified candidates, especially in smaller markets with limited talent pools.

What once was a stable, near-lifetime employment environment had shifted. Nurses and aides were leaving faster and applying slower. Competitors could offer higher wages, but not the same community, benefits, or sense of purpose.

Senior couple walks at an independent living community

The HR team needed a modern, scalable way to:

Keep their brand top-of-mind in crowded social channels.

Drive awareness and applications for priority openings across more than 30 locations.

Make the case for employment beyond salary, highlighting perks, purpose, and long-term growth.

Our Solution

Hyper-Targeted Social Campaigns for Continuous Talent Attraction

Whittington Consulting designed a social advertising strategy that paired broad visibility with hyper-local targeting. This approach ensured the client’s brand was seen by the right people, at the right time, in the right places.

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Here’s how it worked:

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Evergreen Meta Ads

We created and ran always-on campaigns across Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram targeted candidates within 20 miles of each location. Using dynamic creative, the ads automatically featured location names, open roles, and compelling invitations to apply.
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Retargeting with Purpose

Visitors to career pages on their website were added to a 30-day retargeting pool and served reminder ads that spotlighted key benefits like tuition assistance, flexible scheduling, and career development without feeling intrusive.
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Smart Organic Boosting

Authentic employee video spotlights, benefit snapshots, and “hot job” alerts were boosted for just $25 per post. These lightweight promotions dramatically expanded reach and helped fill urgent roles faster.
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Creative Efficiency

Design templates and modular copy allowed the team to launch fresh creative in minutes, keeping content relevant while minimizing production time.

The Result

Sustained Applicant Flow and Enhanced Recruitment Efficiency

Within the first 90 days, this low-budget but high-impact strategy generated significant traction, turning sporadic visibility into a steady pipeline of clinical applicants.

The evergreen campaigns focused on roles such as RN, LPN, CNA, and Nursing Aides to drive applications, while also including nursing leadership positions (DON/ADON) for brand awareness. For those leadership roles, we recommended directing active recruitment to external vendors and supplementing with LinkedIn campaigns. This approach ensured immediate hiring needs were met without sacrificing long-term employer brand visibility at every level.

Nurse serving assisted living resident

Key results included:

  • 606% increase in paid link clicks (from 3,400 to 24,000)
  • 131% increase in job page views (from 7,800 to 18,000)
  • 233% increase in completed applications (from 450 to 1,500)
  • 66% decrease in cost-per-application (from $71 to $24)
  • 206% increase in reach for boosted posts (from 3,200 to 9,800 per post on average)

These numbers translated into real hiring wins.

Assisted clients can typically expect to see results within 60-90 days and in this case, those results were significant. Clinical roles that previously struggled for visibility, especially at smaller or rural locations, received a surge in interest. The cost efficiency meant that the HR team could stretch limited budgets further while supporting every location equally. And perhaps most importantly, the organization gained a repeatable model to power recruitment without burning out internal marketing teams.

By meeting clinicians where they scroll and speaking to purpose as much as paycheck, the client took a meaningful step toward building a sustainable talent pipeline and a differentiated HR brand in a highly competitive field.