This is the third part in the series Social Media Optimization Fundamentals. Find below links to the other parts.
Social media is huge. If you search on Google for the term “social media”, you will get more than 200 million hits in less than a second. You can find thousands of blogs full of topics regarding social media and hundreds of services measuring it. There is more than 300 million users of online social media tools and the number is accelerating.
Social Media Recruitment
These days if you are looking for a job, most employers will check the obvious social media spaces for more information about you. The same happens in every day when people are searching for more information about you, your brand and your organization. People want to see who they are dealing with and they can make quick judgements on your ability to effectively represent yourself online.
Usually it takes time and dedication to build your reputation with social media so that it is impressive enough to get the job or business lead that you want. Sometimes when people are interested enough to search (Google) about you, it might be too late to update your social media profiles or open a Facebook account. Your social media presence must already be in place and optimized.
Find below a couple of tips you can use to make yourself known in social media circles.
Photo
Get a good photo of yourself and replace it with the current one you are using. No one wants to see an old photo of you in a suit when “mullets” where the in thing. Most of the times your social media photo will be the new handshake and first impressions last.
LinkedIn Profile
LinkedIn is a professional social networking service. Find below a couple of tips you can use to bring your LinkedIn profile up to date.
- Add your new photo to your profile.
- Complete your employment history. This can also be seen as your “work experience”.
- Add previous employers to your network.
- Find a good group to join. I’ve created a group “Social Media South Africa”.
- Get people to write a recommendation for you and do the same for them.
Google Alerts
Create Google Alerts on the topics that are most important to you. Choose the keywords to follow that describes the best what you are looking for. This can lead you to the most active and relevant on-line communities to join. You can also use the alerts to check your own brand, product or service in blogs and on the web.
Bookmarking
Bookmark the top blogs and communities in your space and actively participate on them. Resellers and customers regularly read important blogs by industry. Subscribe to the RSS feed of those blogs so you will be notified of any changes as it happens.
Blogging
Try to create a new blog post at least every second day. If you read a blog by a reseller, post a positive message at the bottom. If you visit a Forum discussing an interesting question, weigh in with your opinion. If you are in a partner community, be as visible as possible.
Social media is not going away and in some countries it is only starting to surface now. Become active using social media before it’s too late. Leave a comment below if you require more information regarding social media optimization.