Promoting yourself via social media

Dirk Singer, Twitter - dirktherabbit

Promoting yourself online? Here is one way of doing it

The results?

• $6 in Google Ad Words for five creative directors, resulted in:

• Four job interviews

• Two job offers

• 700k+ YouTube views

• Countless blog and online coverage

My Google search profile

I’ve got an extensive digital footprint, as you’d expect - I’m

also easily found due to an unusual name. But I could do better, over

half the links on here point to things from my previous job 6+

months ago

However, I’ve won at least one piece of business when someone

Googled me (and a colleague from Rabbit) to make sure we really

were active in social media

Where to find me

• Twitter - twitter.com/dirktherabbit

• Blog - liesdamnedliesstatistics.com

• LinkedIn

• Netvibes - netvibes.com/dirkthecow

• Slideshare - dirkthecow

• Flavors.me/dirktherabbit

• (Also Foursquare, Gowalla)

• I am on Facebook...but have enabled all the privacy settings, and encourage anyone using social media professionally to do the same!

From Rabbit - we generally hire via social media

Two people we hired via social media - @louisedoherty (account director and founder Rabbit), @zoewithdots (consultant, starts tomorrow and found when we were looking for a graduate - our starting point was to go through our existing Twitter lists). We took people we already

knew online - and will probably continue to go so going forward

And we’re not alone...

Challenger, Gray and Christmas did a survey on the most effective way of getting a job among HR managers. Bottom came the old school methods of classified ads - classifieds having once been the lifeblood of regional papers - and turning up at a job fair.

And we’re not alone...• A US survey from careerbuilder.com:

• 45% of employers will research a candidate via social media: 29% use Facebook, 26% use LinkedIn and 21% use MySpace, the survey found.  One-in-ten (11% ) search blogs, while 7% follow candidates on Twitter

• 53% of survey respondents rejected candidates because they posted provocative or inappropriate photographs or information.

• 44% passed on a candidate because they saw content related to the person drinking or using drugs.

• 35% rejected candidates because they bad-mouthed their previous employer, co-workers or clients.

• 24% rejected a candidate because that person lied about his/her qualifications.

• 20% did not hire a candidate because social media revealed that person had shared confidential information from a previous employer

Why is a good online footprint important?

• It gives an idea of your personality - much more than a CV (or printed document through the post) ever will

• It shows how you communicate and your interests

• It’s convenient - click through links to find out more

• If a job seeker - it shows you are proactive

• It protects your search engine reputation (which is your reputation)

But it’s important to get what you say absolutely right

(When looking at an online profile or website): “Customers make a decision within 50 milliseconds about whether or not they trust the firm, and want to do business with them...or not.”(Brandflakesforbreakfast)

A look at different tools to use

Social aggregators and individual networks

Examples of aggregators

Flavors.me Chi.mp Netvibes

Using Flavors.me

Using extendr

Using individual social tools

Blogging tools - good for expressing ideas, showcasing expertise...but update at least once a week

Tumblr - Online scrapbook

Posterous - Light, easy to use

blogging platform

Blogger and wordpress -

blogging tools

Using Twitter

Disproportionately used by so-called

‘influencers’

Unlike Facebook, acceptable and

normal to connect with strangers

Use of lists - a very powerful

networking tool

• Create a biog and profile that tells people a bit about yourself with link

• Select 50 people you’d like to follow - mix of industry influencers (use lists) and people you know

• Grow your follower / following list organically - don’t (e.g.) follow 500, and only have 50 following you back

• Listen but say something too - people won’t follow back a blank page

• Start by responding to what people are saying (means they will see you), then move onto to posting links / interesting news

Starting a Twitter profile

LinkedIn

• Bottom line - make sure you have a profile. It can serve as a substitute CV (send out the link)

• Fill in all the career information, find people from previous jobs / companies

• If a small business, claim it on LinkedIn

• Don’t be shy to ask for recommendations - what people say can be used in future job applications

• Link to blogs, presentations etc on LinkedIn

• Join the special interest groups

And what about Facebook?

In a word - don’t.By all means, like

Facebook fan pages, or create your own. But

when it comes to yourself, think about ticking all the

privacy settings

Go to http://www.reclaimprivacy.org/to check your Facebook

settings

Thank you for your time!

Contact me - email dirk at therabbitagency.com