A Penny's Worth » social media

Social Media vs Resume

pjleisch — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:04:11 +0000

In today’s job market, social media is an integral part of your resume. It’s not a matter of whether you like it or not, whether you are in a tech profession or not, or whether you “have time” to keep up with it. It’s the new reality.

The attached article and information offers great pointers about what to do to make your profiles stand out, especially on LinkedIn. While the technical jobs get a lot of play, don’t make the mistake of thinking these tips don’t apply to other fields. It’s just a matter of time until the impact is felt in all industries. Be first and show what you can do.

http://www.businessinsider.com/get-hired-what-6-hot-tech-companies-want-to-see-in-your-linkedin-profile-2012-1#

If you don’t have time or aren’t sure what to do, ask for help from a professional. I offer this type of service, and there are many other services that handle social media development and strategies for professionals and job seekers. My words of advice on this are simply not to let anyone get overly exuberant. If you don’t feel it’s an honest representation and facts are being changed in ways that make you uncomfortable, listen to your gut. It’s probably not the right match for you.

You and Your Business Need Twitter

pjleisch — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 16:10:15 +0000

If you don’t have a Twitter account, you are missing a lot of exposure. Here are the statistics Twitter shared at their recent developers’ conference, aptly named “Chirp.”

105,779,710 registered users of Twitter
Approximately 55 million Tweets being sent daily
180 million unique visitors monthly
Signing up 300,000 new users daily
Twitter’s search engine getting 600 million searches daily

That’s a lot of potential exposure. Will everyone get tons of new traffic, a new contract, or a new job? No. Do you increase your possibilities? Yes. Just the sheer numbers say you have to cross in front of at least a few more people who can help you, hire you, or buy from you.

There’s a growing amount of research that also says people don’t support businesses that aren’t current, and that means being present on Twitter and Facebook and having a website that looks like you update it regularly.

By the way, updating your website means more than just adding content. It has to have a current look, feel, and behavior. If you don’t have the time, money, or skill to do a major update, choose simple and modern over out-of-date and huge. Then, get you Twitter and Facebook badges on it too. Let the world know you are available.

Read more and link to additional studies from the article, The Truth About Twitters Promoted Tweets. There’s a lot more info in this article than just what Twitter has planned for the future.

My current project is to help a small business build their presence and connect their website with social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter), as well as to set up their tweets and a simple, easy maintenance plan because they don’t have time or dedicated resources. It can be done.

Link back to PennyLeisch.com for more information.

Bad Writing and Bad Marketing

pjleisch — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 05:12:43 +0000

Most small business people and freelancers do their own marketing, especially in the present economy. Many work hard to keep up with new venues in advertising and the new technology that goes with it. I sympathize. I struggle with these things too. However, it never ceases to amaze me the number of postings I see that are poorly written. You may hurt your image, and your credibility, when you take on too much or try to reach beyond your abilities in these areas.

Some postings are obviously written by people for whom English is a second language. Even so, if a person isn’t fluent in the language they are using–especially if that is the language used in the media and audience they are addressing, they need to get help. In other cases, I can’t decide whether what I see is carelessness or poor skills or both. Spelling and typing errors run rampant. Posting for discussions in professional groups on Facebook or LinkedIn isn’t the same as throwing together a quick email to your friends. You won’t make points with the agent who happens to read your post if your work looks like it was written by a first grade student.

Another issue is blatant disregard for the group rules and the annoyance of the group members. There are new marketing “gurus” that teach people how to use the groups to market themselves. The problem is that most of what they are teaching can get you banned. It may work for a while. On the other hand, it may annoy the members so badly that the only responses you get are a lot of angry comments. I’ve seen it happen. Some groups are very proactive.

These groups are set up to discuss professional issues and offer helpful information. Admittedly, some of them are not well monitored. In those cases, people tend to drop out or just turn them off. Obviously, you can’t sell something to a group that isn’t reading your posts. All members need to take responsibility for abiding by the guidelines.

One other issue I see a lot is misdirection. If you want to sell your skills in investment writing or your expertise in restoring antique cars, you need to belong to groups where you will find customers. For example, peer groups of other writers are for learning the trade or asking for advice about resources. They are not your target audience. In fact, some of them are likely to be your competition.

The wide variety of media that’s growing daily is confusing. It’s also widely misused. If you misuse it, you waste time that can be used to grow your business. Slow down and read some tutorials. Take it one step at a time and don’t go overboard initially. A presence is good. However, all visibility is not equal. Poor choices can hurt your image and take a long time to overcome. Move cautiously.