Using Social Media to Enhance Your Personal Brand, Improve

Your Networkingand Identify Opportunities

Kendra Wilburn and Kelly Harper

Cooperative Education Coordinators

Cincinnati State

Networking in a Social Media World

YOU

Branding

Research

SearchingConnecting

Engaging

And a person’s social media footprint gives employers (and others) the best insight into your passions, interests, communication styles, work habits, work/life balance and all sorts of other valuable information. Boris Epstein – Mashable “The Social Media

Guide”

Do You Pass the Social Media Recruitment Test?

LinkedIn – What It’s Not

“LinkedIn is not a replacement for your networking efforts, but a tool for facilitating your networking strategy.”

Jason Alba – I’m on LinkedIn – Now What???

http://www.happyabout.info/linkedinhelp.php

Why People Use LinkedIn

Professionals Develop professional brand Search for potential co-op employer/educators Determine job titles and positions of prospects

Job Seekers Find new leads and opportunities Network into a company To establish a presence and hopefully be found

by a recruiter.

Why People Use LinkedIn

Recruiters & Hiring Managers Find prospects for open positions Develop rich networks of prospective candidates.

Entrepreneurs Develop an online presence Establish a brand Meet other entrepreneurs or potential business

partners, investors, customers etc. Market research Publicity

Your LinkedIn Profile – The Foundation

Differentiate yourself with a descriptive Personal “Tag Line” Visible every place your name shows up on LinkedIn

Add links to your company website, personal website, blog, Twitter, etc.

Career Coach = meh

Benefits of LinkedIn Ability to be known

Participating in an email forum, commenting on blogs, participating in answers

The ways you participate – including netiquette – determine your personal brand.

Contribute in a positive way and you will develop a good reputation.

Ability to be found Recruiters spend a lot of time on LinkedIn

searching for potential candidates. Never hurts to advertise your own strengths and

skills.

Benefits of LinkedIn

Ability to find others Network big enough “around 60 contacts”

Sufficient reach to find what you are looking for. Opportunity to learn & share

LinkedIn Answers excellent tool!

http://www.linkedin.com/answers?trk=hb_tab_ayn Ability to connect with group members

http://www.linkedin.com/home?myGroups=&trk=hb_side_grps

Opportunity to show you are plugged in to current technology.

Limitations of LinkedIn Not a full-fledged social environment Does not represent your entire network Does not give you full control of your relationships Does not allow you to control or change any

information on your contacts Salesforce.com, GoldMine, and ACT!

Can not store relationship information about your contacts

Doesn’t provide much privacy Closed communication system

Making It Work - Get “Connected”

Determine the best connecting strategy for you Closed/know personally Open/connect with anyone

How to find/invite contacts Using their email address – invite someone to connect Upload contacts from Outlook using the Find Contacts Wizard Invite former colleagues

Keep in mind: ~ 3,000 invitation limit 5 IDK’s will restrict your account Always write personal invitations

Invite Open Networkers/Super Connectors to increase connections LION Top Linked (www.toplinked.com)

Making It Work - Get “Connected”

Contacting within LinkedIn InMail Introduction Request Invite to connect directly Contact via Group (more later)

Your LinkedIn Profile – The Foundation

Opportunity to communicate your Personal Brand!

Make a good first impression – spelling, grammar, appearance, etc.

Establish professional on-line identity Create a hub for your on-line presence

Take control of your on-line identity Enhance search engine results –

strengthen your brand

Add a Picture

Your LinkedIn Profile – The Foundation

Set Profile to “Public” Public Profiles are indexed by search engines such as Yahoo & Google

Create a “personalized URL” Add to email signature and business cards Include in comments on Blogs, discussion boards, online Forums

2nd Google result for “Jennifer McClure”

Your LinkedIn Profile – The Foundation

Summary section = your “elevator pitch”

Who you are/what you do Use a narrative style One to two short paragraphs MAX

Specialties Section Include areas of expertise Use keywords

Why

Searching for Connections

Search Results

Engage