Step-by-Step: Setting Up Keap Tags and Segments for Talent Pooling

Keap’s robust CRM capabilities offer powerful tools for strategic talent acquisition, particularly through effective tag and segment management. Building a well-organized talent pool is essential for proactive recruitment, allowing HR and recruiting teams to quickly identify and engage with qualified candidates. This guide will walk you through the precise steps to configure Keap tags and segments, transforming your candidate database into a dynamic, searchable resource that supports your long-term hiring objectives. Mastering these techniques will empower you to always have a pipeline of potential talent ready when opportunities arise, significantly enhancing your recruitment efficiency and strategic foresight.

Step 1: Define Your Strategic Talent Pool Segments

Before you even log into Keap, the crucial first step is to clearly articulate the specific types of talent pools your organization requires. Consider not just immediate hiring needs but also future strategic roles and skill sets that will drive your company’s growth. Examples might include “Passive Candidates – Software Engineers,” “Past Applicants – Sales,” “High-Potential Leadership Prospects,” or “Referral Network – Key Connectors.” Each defined segment should represent a distinct group of individuals you intend to track, nurture, and potentially engage for specific purposes. This foundational strategic planning dictates the entire structure of your Keap tags and segments, ensuring they directly align with and effectively support your overarching recruitment strategy.

Step 2: Create Comprehensive Custom Tags in Keap

Once your strategic segments are clearly defined, navigate to Keap’s CRM settings to begin creating the corresponding custom tags. For optimal organization and ease of use, adopt a standardized, intuitive naming convention for your tags, such as “TP – [Segment Name]” (e.g., “TP – Cloud Architect,” “TP – Marketing Specialist,” “TP – Executive Leadership”). Ensure these tags are easily identifiable and searchable within your Keap system, making it simple for any team member to understand their purpose. This direct correlation between your strategic talent segments and their Keap tags is absolutely vital for system cleanliness, preventing duplication, and ensuring that your data entry and retrieval processes are seamless and efficient across your entire recruitment team.

Step 3: Implement Automated Tagging Workflows

Leverage Keap’s powerful automation features to apply tags dynamically and consistently, minimizing manual effort and human error. This can be achieved through various strategic mechanisms. For instance, automatically apply tags when candidates submit specific application forms or express interest via a dedicated web form. Integrate tag application as a step within a nurturing campaign sequence, triggered by specific candidate engagements like opening a job alert email or clicking a link to your career page. You can also set up internal automations, perhaps triggered by an internal form submission when a recruiter marks a candidate as “Interviewed – High Potential.” Automating the tagging process ensures data accuracy and maintains an always-current talent pool.

Step 4: Build Dynamic Keap Segments (Saved Searches)

With your tags properly established and contacts being consistently categorized, the next critical step is to construct dynamic segments within Keap, often referred to as “Saved Searches.” Access the contacts section in Keap and utilize the advanced search filters. Here, you will select the specific tags you’ve created (e.g., “TP – Data Scientist,” “TP – Senior Project Manager”) to isolate and identify all contacts associated with that particular talent pool. It is imperative to save these searches with clear, descriptive names that mirror your tag conventions. These saved segments function as live, self-updating lists; any new contact that receives the relevant tag will automatically populate within its corresponding segment, providing real-time visibility into your evolving talent pipelines.

Step 5: Leverage Segments for Precision Targeted Outreach

The true power of your organized talent pools comes to fruition through precision-targeted outreach. Utilize these dynamic segments to revolutionize your recruitment communications. Employ them to send highly relevant company news, industry insights, or future job opportunities exclusively to specific, pre-qualified segments, ensuring your messages resonate deeply. Develop sophisticated automated email sequences or “nurturing campaigns” designed to keep promising candidates engaged over extended periods, cultivating relationships before a specific need arises. Crucially, when a new requisition opens, you can rapidly pull a pre-qualified list of candidates directly from the relevant talent pool segment, dramatically reducing your time-to-hire and increasing the quality of your applicant pool.

Step 6: Regularly Review, Refine, and Maintain Your System

Establishing talent pools is not a one-time task; it’s an ongoing, iterative process. To ensure your Keap system remains an effective and powerful tool for strategic talent acquisition, commit to periodically reviewing and refining your tags and segments. Conduct regular audits of your existing tags to confirm their continued necessity and identify any new types of candidates or skills you might need to track. Verify that your saved segments accurately reflect your current talent pool definitions and recruitment priorities. Furthermore, implement routines for data hygiene, removing outdated contacts, merging duplicates, and correcting inaccuracies to maintain the integrity and usability of your talent data. This continuous refinement ensures your Keap system consistently supports your long-term hiring goals with accurate, actionable, and up-to-date information.

If you would like to read more, we recommend this article: 10 Keap Automation Mistakes HR & Recruiters Must Avoid for Strategic Talent Acquisition