futurising
DESCRIPTION
A presentation I gave today (30/6/10) at the Futurising Conference in London on using social media for 'self promotion' or more specifically how you can use social tools to further your career. Note, most of the images click through to web pages.TRANSCRIPT
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
• 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
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
• 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