Companies can do a lot of stuff on Facebook without spending a dime. Still, you might think about boosting your recruiting efforts with some optional (i.e. non-free) extras.

Mostly, I’m talking about ads that will drive traffic your page. As I wrote the previous posts, there are plenty of ways to reach users at no cost. But you can do more by buying ad space.

One good thing about Facebook ads is that you get decent control over who exactly you’re advertising to. Here are the options you get:

So for example, if you’re looking to hire a computer programmer, you can advertise to everyone who’s graduated college and has, say, the words “programming,” “computers,” and “technology” in their profiles (by putting those terms in the “Keywords” box).

Also, you have the option of advertising to people who belong to specific “Workplaces.” Basically, a Workplace is a network that people join through their employer - the company sets up the network and lets all its employees join.

What that means when you’re recruiting is that you can find out which of your competitors have Workplaces set up and make sure your ad is seen by their employees.

The jury’s still out on whether or not putting ads on Facebook is all that effective (you can read a blog posting about that here). But it can be option for getting more viewers for your Facebook page, or for linking Facebook users straight to your company’s recruiting page.

How about you? Have you paid for Facebook ads? Has it worked? Let us know in the comments section.