At the beginning of the year, I outlined 15 social media concepts to help make you a more marketable social media professional in 2013. This month we will focus on Concept 2, the logic behind utilizing social media for business marketing. Review of Concept 1 can be found here. Concept 2: Do you know the logic behind utilizing social? Here’s a hint: Engagement. This is a broad answer, but if you have been following this blog, you should know that the common theme is “engagement” with external and internal stakeholders. The traditional MBA offers students courses in all aspect of …
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LinkedIn Endorsements. Nothing in the history of LinkedIn has created so much “buzz” in the online community as this newest feature. For those who know me, you’ll appreciate my perspective: 1) I don’t tend to waste time voicing a positive or negative opinion of the changes – they are what they are, and this is LinkedIn implementing their own vision that we will all have to adapt to, and 2) I usually like to have some historical perspective before I blog on anything new, similar to how I didn’t blog about the new LinkedIn profile user interface before I had a …
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Sometimes it seems like the consumer marketing folks have all the fun. They get the edgy campaigns, giant marketing budgets and freedom to bask in the social media spotlight while B2B marketers are stuck talking about features and ROI. But wait…there’s proof that B2C marketers aren’t the only ones enjoying the branding benefits of social media. In fact, there are some real winners in the B2B space this year, and they deserve a look. Rather than showcasing major social media businesses or app providers (we all expect them to be good), I’ve picked firms from industries you might not expect …
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If you haven’t noticed, Windmill Networking has become a community blogging platform with contributions from those that I consider true thought leaders in their fields. Take our Google Plus contributor, Mark Traphagen, for example. When Mark and I first “met” online, I was already impressed with his content and the early coverage he was receiving in the blogosphere for his G+ blog posts. Since then I have seen how Mark has almost singlehandedly leveraged Google Plus for his personal branding to become an established thought leader in the space. We’ve talked numerous times on this blog about the value that …
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Social media has brought the idea of personal branding for executives more into the forefront today than in years past. The TV show “Undercover Boss” is a perfect example of personal branding. For those who haven’t seen the show, here’s the gist: An executive, usually the CEO, works for a day or so in a variety of positions within his own company. The executive is disguised, so employees don’t know who he or she is until the end of the show when the big reveal takes place. During the first five minutes of the show, the executives are introduced to …
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Businesses come and go. But your personal name, that’s another matter altogether. In the social business world, your name can be leveraged as your personal identifier across myriad social media sites as well as your monetized business brand. In creating a new business or online presence, one of the toughest decisions you may make is whether to establish your social business brand by your personal name or a fictitious “DBA” identity, such as a catchy word, phrase or slogan. It’s hardly a trivial decision, especially considering your online identity eventually will sprout hundreds if not thousands of backlinks which will …
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In an online marketing world where SEO is critical, businesses and bloggers pay close attention to optimizing content for SEO and strategically choosing keywords to increase their chances of showing up high on Google search results. But what about the rest of us? You know, us professionals, who also want to put our best foot forward and make sure that content that best represents us shows up high in Google search results for whatever objective we might have such as personal branding, job search, or even just networking? A service has now emerged to bring the same SEO benefits that …
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Despite the fact that Twitter has apparently grown from 58 to 175 million users in less than a year, it is clear that some of those “users” are actually “bots” or even corporations who have several different accounts to serve their current and potential customers with. Case in point: Dell alone has more than 30 Twitter accounts. All it takes is an email address to register a new account, so it is not uncommon for even some individuals to have multiple usernames. This may explain why, outside the networking circles of those active in social media, there are many people …
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There is no doubt that the current recession continues to have an impact on the growth of social media. Job seekers are now looking for networking opportunities by embracing social media and joining and then becoming active on sites like LinkedIn as part of their job search strategy. This make sense because social media is also where recruiters may find you and where companies may perform background checks on you and your personality. Don’t you want to put your best food forward in your job search and show off your talents to the best of your ability since everybody’s watching? …
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Whenever I speak about social media and the job search to those that are unemployed, I always have a few attendees who “see the light” and get excited about blogging. They see the advantages of blogging to start sharing information through social media and establishing their personal brand as part of their job search strategy. The problem is that they don’t know what to blog about! If you are unemployed or soon to be in career transition, there are lots of things that you can be blogging about. I don’t mean blogging about your job search experience, either. I’m speaking …
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Have you heard of Business Exchange? It is an information-centric social networking site that is run by Bloomberg and sits on the same URL together with Business Week magazine. As you can already guess, it is a site that is extremely focused on business and the news. After reading a great blog post on Business Exchange by Larry Brauner, I have been experimenting with the site seeing how it fits into my daily social media routine. I am now at the point where the value of being on the site has become apparent, and now I want to share the …
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Today’s blog post is written by my guest Jennifer V. Miller. Jennifer is the founder and Managing Partner of SkillSource. She advises executives on how to improve workplace productivity via positive workplace dynamics. Jennifer blogs at The People Equation and considers her old-school professionalism a key to her personal brand. Follow her on Twitter: @JenniferVMiller . Where did our manners go? According to a Rasmussen poll taken last fall, 75% of adults polled said we’re getting less civilized as a population. In the workplace, the numbers are equally dismal: according to a Forbes.com article, author Christine Pearson cites research that says 96% of …
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Hey, it’s 2010, so it’s time to shake things up a bit. You’ve seen me blog a lot about LinkedIn and Twitter, but yesterday I let you know that I wanted to add more Facebook content to my blog. Today I continue to expand my horizons, and hopefully yours, by talking about YouTube. No, I don’t intend to talk about funny commercials or old TV shows that are popular on the video sharing website. I want to talk about YouTube as a Personal Branding tool. As a supplement to your blog. As a way to help you get found. I …
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As 2009 comes to a close, we start reflecting on our New Year’s Resolution(s) for 2010. In Social Media, which is all about sharing, the greatest contribution that you can make is to share your knowledge or opinions to the world through blogging. After all, as a professional, where is your “Home Base,” the hub that you share with people who want more information about you? Your LinkedIn Profile? It should be your blog, and if you are looking for reasons to start blogging, check out these 7 reasons to start blogging (in 2010 or ASAP!).
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LinkedIn continues to be flooded by the unemployed and executive job seekers. This is not a new phenomenon, as everyone knows that all of the headhunters and recruiters are active on LinkedIn: establishing an intelligent LinkedIn presence with a consistent brand is free and invaluable career insurance that you can never have enough of. I’d like to write today on the new tactics that I see being taken by some aggressive job seekers and comment on their effectiveness (or lack thereof).
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LinkedIn Profile Tips. A lot of people tell you what you should be doing, but what about what you shouldn’t be doing? LinkedIn is the place to not only find others but also to be found. And that is why you need a profile that not only helps you get found but also will entice people to contact you once they view your profile. I see many people making fundamental mistakes that actually work against them in this aspect. If you’re going to spend time putting together a profile, I assume you want to maximize your chances of being contacted …
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Today’s blog post is influenced by an article I read from the comments made by LinkedIn at the Social Recruiting Summit. Let me further expand the argument for the case of LinkedIn. Like many others who have learned to embrace LinkedIn, I did so when I was in transition. I realized that I had not been digging my well before I was thirsty, and I vowed to not only build up a larger network, but also to both stay in better touch with that network as well as provide more value to those in my network. As I mentioned in …
read moreLinkedIn Branding Tips: Should I Indicate on My LinkedIn Profile Status Update That I am Unemployed?
Before I event start answering this question, I will tell you that I am going out on a limb on this one. I am going against what a lot of people are actually doing. You may think that I am crazy or just wrong, but my intention is only to help those that are unemployed with the best advice possible. You can take my advice or leave it. I welcome all opinions, but I do hope you will continue reading to the very end of this blog post to better understand me. This question came recently from a LinkedIn/Twitter friend, …
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There has been some heated discussion this morning on a LinkedIn Group Discussion Forum that I belong to concerning this topic of displaying your profile picture (I hope you’ve also been maximizing your LinkedIn Group membership!). One of the Group members attended a LinkedIn seminar where the presenter said that those in transition should NOT include their picture as part of their profile, the reason being that it would be an Equal Opportunity violation if a recruiter selects you after seeing what you look like. Furthermore, the presenter went on to say that most recruiters actually restrict their search …
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