16 Jun 2012
2
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Why Twitter, Not Facebook is the Best Network for Job Seekers

Why Twitter, Not Facebook is the Best Network for Job Seekers

Most people on the job hunt, especially those who have recently graduated, are aware of the need to incorporate social media into their job search and personal branding strategy. This is good. What isn’t as good is that many neglect to optimize their social profiles and often are weeded out of the selection process because of it. As a 2012 college grad myself, let me make the case for making Twitter your professional home base.

You’ve Had Facebook for Way Too Long

If you’re like me, you probably started using Facebook in high school. Those who graduated college this year probably remember when Facebook first became available to high school students and looking for a job was the furthest thing from our minds. And back then, looking at Facebook profiles was completely off the radar screens of most if not all recruiters and hiring managers.

Which pretty much means this: most of us haven’t been super careful about what we’ve been posting for the last 4-6 years. And even if you’ve managed to clean it up, chances are good that you don’t post a ton of professionally related content. That’s all well and good, but don’t invite your professional contacts to connect with you there.

You Haven’t Established Yourself on Twitter Yet

Many people have a Twitter but don’t use it because they don’t “get it”. This is a common sentiment and one I can sympathize with. However, this provides a perfect opportunity for you to create your brand on Twitter. It’s a fresh start in a lot of ways. Use Twitter to post relevant content and engage in conversation with industry experts and leading brands. Establish yourself as an expert and use it as your main professional network. You’ll be surprised by how quickly you’ll learn to love it and the kind of connections you’ll make.

Keep It Clean and Keep it Fresh

This goes for both Facebook and Twitter. Keep Facebook clean because hiring managers will find you, and unless you’ve done some work with your privacy settings, they will see what you have on your profile. Keep your Twitter clean because not only will hiring managers see what you’ve tweeted, so will all of your professional contacts.

Don’t let a hiring manager find this on your Facebook page.

Keep your profiles fresh, too. Use Facebook to be social with your friends like you always have, but make sure that you feed your Twitter regularly as well. Regularly posting great content and engaging with those in your network will establish a good rapport and lead to great opportunities.

What network are you using for your job search? Have you found Twitter more useful than Facebook? Let’s chat in the comments.

21 May 2012
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4 Things That Will Make Your Social Media Strategy Less Stressful

4 Things That Will Make Your Social Media Strategy Less Stressful

I’m addressing this issue because this alarming infographic made its way onto the UK’s Wallblog and has made the rounds on twitter.

"Social Landscape" by Gordon Macmillan

This is the sad and alarming reality of what digital marketers need to be aware of. And if you’re a do-it-yourself small business owner, this can be overwhelming.

This infographic by Gordon Macmillan illustrates the oft-frustrating and overwhelming number of social networks that we as digital marketers need to keep track of and understand how to use them. Which is fine. It’s our job and we love being able to keep these things on a mental Rolodex whenever a client needs a specific solution.

But what about the do-it-yourselfers who don’t really have time to manage 10 social accounts at a time? These aren’t just small business owners either. Many people are finally jumping onto the personal branding bandwagon and social media is a great place to promote your brand. But with so many options and so many “experts” pointing in every direction, it can be tough to cut through the noise.

Here’s a quick checklist of things to think about when you’re developing your social media strategy:

1. Have a strategy. It can (and should) continually evolve with trends in your industry, but

Is this what you look like when you realize that you neglected to check your Google+ page this week? Or perhaps you’ve already shared the same article in 5 places and have 10 more to go. Maybe it’s time to scale down you social media accounts…

you need to have one.

2. Find out who your target audience is and where they are. If they are mostly on Twitter, make sure you’re spending lots of time there. Same for Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

3. If there are any “niche” networks related to your field, join them! If you are a graphic designer, you probably can afford to skip over YouTube. However, you will probably want to build a presence on Behance. Industry-specific networks can help you fast-track your way to great connections.

4. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Know your limits and know how much time you can spend each day effectively using these networks. Don’t get Google+ if you only use it once a month (pot-kettle here. Learn from my experience…) and don’t feel pressured to get a Twitter if you can’t condense your thoughts into 140 characters or less.

For most people, my recommendation is to limit yourself to 5 networks. If you use them effectively you will steadily build influence and gain many useful contacts. Stay professional, stay positive, post often and good things are bound to happen!

Have you experienced social media overload? What is your advice to those just getting started? Let’s chat in the comments.

16 May 2012
9

Content Curation: Great Idea or Greatest Idea?

Stephen Colbert knows “great and greatest” ideas when he sees them.

According to my friends at Econsultancy, it’s tied for Greatest. Chris Lake published a fantastic article today outlining 17 steps to curating killer content.

I follow Econsultancy on Twitter and there have been very few posts that I haven’t clicked through. Interestingly, few of them have been linked to their own content.

Chris wrote about this very concept, commonly known as the 70/30 rule. It goes like this:

“70% of content [should be] curated, 30% branded. Why? Because the rest-of-the-world is at least 70% more interesting than your brand; and, promoting external content builds social capital, makes grateful fans of influencers.”

That quote is from Todd Defren and is a great rule to live by. Now I’m not going to get into the 17 steps Chris lays out in his post, but I do want to add a couple of ideas to it.

Chris mentions Google Reader, RSS feeds and Twitter lists as great ways of quickly finding good content. I would also add the Zite app to your list of tools. It’s available for iOS and Android. It lets you customize the content you read by keyword, author and blog.

Ecconsultancy, based in London, is a great resource for content about digital marketing and e-commerce

But you should think before you share, because some of these articles get shared hundreds of times as soon as they are published. Chris says that he doesn’t link to Mashable articles because so many people share them and he doesn’t want to “sound like a broken record”.

So how do you avoid sounding like a broken record? The article suggests that you find a niche and fill it. If you look at my Twitter feed you will see that most of the content I post or retweet deals with social media and digital marketing strategies. But you don’t have to be a nerd like Chris or me to do this.

Let’s say you own a bike shop. Try to find an hour out of your day to scan your preferred content curation platform (you have one now, right?). Then, jump on Buffer, load up your tweets, then set it and forget it.

There are two platforms to publish that content that I would recommend: paper.li and Springpad. I haven’t used paper.li but I just got an account today so I will be testing the waters soon. Springpad is like Pinterest for content. Springpad lets you post photos, videos, articles and even write notes to share with people. But here’s what I really like about Springpad (other than its killer mobile app): collaboration. You’re a business owner. You don’t have the time to curate a ton of content during the day. So why not collaborate with other people? Springpad allows you to open it up to other users to add content to your notebook. So not only will you share things quickly and easily, you can also see what other people are reading. And guess what? As a business owner, you will be able to see what your customers and other competitors are thinking about and reading about.

So content curation comes down to curating and sharing. That’s it. It can be time consuming but if you use some of the tools listed above and the ones that Chris talked about, you should be in good shape. So good luck and happy curating!

Did I miss something? Did you love Chris’ article as much as I did? Let’s chat in the comments.