Social Media for Your Brand – Part Two

Following on from my previous post on the variety of Social Media, I’ve come across this brilliant infographic from Likeable Media.

It gives an excellent rundown of some of the plus points of the different networks available.

The Myth of Opportunity

Many people seem to be of the belief that opportunities are something that you have to wait around for, hoping that something will fall in your lap to improve your life.

This thinking is dead wrong and dangerous in the sense that it can stifle ambition and progress, and lead to stagnation in your career and in your personal life.

The truth of the matter is very different. Yes, there are people that land great opportunities with little effort but these people are few. The majority of people have to work for an opportunity.

 

Preparation

There are two elements to working for an opportunity. Firstly you must put the effort in so that you are ready to take advantage of an opportunity when one arises. In a working environment this means working hard, doing a great job, excelling at what you do and bringing a positive attitude. When that vacancy arrives in the position you want, you need to be the first name on the list.

This kind of groundwork is something that a lot of people understand, even if they do not put it into practice. A mistake seen far too often is that people will start putting their all into earning a promotion only when it is available. It is easy to coast between these times but putting the effort in when their is no immediate reward puts you first in line to be put forward later.

 

Making the Opportunity

There are those people will sit around and bemoan their misfortune at never being given the chance to show their innate and indisputable talents.

There are those that will tell you to be grateful for the opportunities you have been given, that others haven’t had the chance at greatness that you have.

They’re both right to some degree, but they are both missing the point. Opportunities are not given, they are made.

If you decide that there is something you want to do, perhaps a career change or a promotion, then it can be done but not without effort. The foremost barrier to achieving what you want is yourself. The route of creating opportunities requires something that is both difficult and liberating, being truthful with yourself.

Once you have decided on your goal then look at the obstacles in the way, and be honest about why you haven’t overcome them.

The example of wanting a new job is an easy (and common) one to work with. For the sake of this article, it’s a job in the field that you’re in but it’s a big promotion.

 

Process Example

The process to follow is simple. Look at the root cause of a problem and there is, almost, always something that you can do something about.

What stands in the way of your promotion? You’re under qualified.

Now it’s time to be honest. Why are you under qualified? Many places of employment will support employee training, have you asked? If you have and got turned down then it’s far from time to give up. It’s time for a new question.

What stands in the way of your qualification? Your employer won’t put you forward.

Now you need to start looking for solutions. Can the training only be through your employer? Look into home study. Look into online learning. Find a way forward.

 

All of these obstacles can be overcome if you really have the motivation to chase your goals. Each step will be a challenge but once you have a solution then you will make faster progress than you would have imagined.

 

 

 

Social Media – Which to Use for Your Professional Brand?

Many people are struggling to get to grasp with the advancing new world of social media. Do you know your LinkedIn from your Twitter?

This post will summarise some of the key players in Social Media and how appropriate they are for professional purposes.

 

Facebook

Facebook is the site that people think of the moment that social media is mentioned in any context and with good reason. At the time of writing this article, Facebook has somewhere in the region of 1.55 billion active users. For some context that works out as around 20% of the population of the entire world.

Since taking over as the social network of choice from MySpace it has driven the social media craze like nothing else. It has of course spawned many copycats but only those that have brought their own spin and aspect to social media have had any measure of success.

So, considering the wide user base this is surely the best place to market yourself, right? Wrong.

Facebook is excellent for some things and while every company should certainly have a Facebook page for interaction with their customers, it is far from the ideal place to advance your career at a personal level.

Facebook’s success comes from it being very personal, you will share family holiday photos, birthday parties and even drunken nights out with your friends on Facebook. Are these all things that you want your professional network to see? Does the CEO of your company need to see a picture of you in a slumped over a table in a beer garden or engaging in some enthusiastic, but wobbly, karaoke?

Facebook is a great space for your personal life, but not your personal brand.

 

Twitter

With a user base of around 300 million, Twitter is a minnow to Facebook’s shark and yet it has taken to the mainstream like few other social networks.

The premise of Twitter is, very simply, that each message that you broadcast to the world can’t be longer than their 140 character limit.

This restriction created a whole new way of using social media, Twitter is network on which staples of social media originated, such as using @ to refer to another user and # to refer to a trend.

Twitter’s main selling point, the 140 character limit, prevents you from using it in the way you may other media outlets but it can still be harnessed to work for you on a professional level. Rather than posting an article you’ve written to Twitter, after all it would have to be a short one, instead use Twitter to link to your work elsewhere.

 

LinkedIn

LinkedIn may have a mere 97 million active users but, in the way that Facebook revolutionised social media, LinkedIn has changed the way that we look at networking.

LinkedIn advertises itself as the professional network and it doesn’t disappoint. Your LinkedIn profile reads more like a resume than a Facebook profile and it can be leveraged to full effect.

The endorsements system is one that is unique to LinkedIn. Each user lists their skills on their profile and their connections can choose to endorse a skill, the equivalent of a like. This can tell you at a glance the skills that a user has and is recognised for, what they could bring to a position and what experience they have across industries.

In addition to this, LinkedIn has an inbuilt article posting system that can get your knowledge, expertise and views out to the userbase.

More and more frequently recruiters are using their network on LinkedIn to contact candidates, rather than taking traditional recruitment routes and I fully expect this trend to grow.

Without a doubt, LinkedIn is the undisputed leader for professional networking and this is where your efforts should be focused. Build a professional profile, build up your network and you’d be surprised where this could lead you.

 

Blogging

Blogging is a general term rather than a particular site to use but it is worth mentioning.

Keeping a blog allows you to post what you want and, most importantly, begin to think about branding. Stylising your posts can create a recognisable look that people will begin to associate with your online persona.

Even if you’re not into content creation, posting links to other posts and interesting sites around the web can still build up a following.

There are many sites that make the creation of a blog trivial, blogspot, blogger and wordpress are among the big players. All you need to do is sign up and pick a template to get started. For that final professional touch, consider looking at investing in a domain name. Rather than a default address you can give your blog it’s own registered address. Some websites will even give out domains for free!

 

Now you know where to start, get out there and get social!

 

Edit 15/04/16: Check out a new chart that summarises some of the largest networks from Likeable Media.

 

Building Your Brand – Social Media as a Career Tool

Social Media is a form of communication that is only gaining traction, especially within the business world, and there are many ways that you can use this to promote yourself and your brand but there are also a few pitfalls that you need to avoid in order to maximise your return.

 

Promoting Yourself

Don’t be afraid of social media, it can have an incredibly positive impact on you and your career. The first thing you need to do is to put yourself out there. Sign up to the social media sites, if nothing else then the big three Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, and start posting.

Make sure that you interact with people. People using social media are often very insular with the habits that they keep online and tend to only post about themselves on their own feed. It is vital that you connect with people and the best way to do this is to include them. Comment on their posts, tag them in your own, talk about things that you have done as a team. The important thing is engagement, the majority of clicks to your profile will be from comments you have made on other people’s posts.

If you’re not naturally given to writing essays on topics then don’t try but make sure that your content can generate a discussion. The easiest way to attract people’s attention and engage them with your topic is by discussion. If your post has 200 “likes” but no comments then the next reader is much more likely o just press the “like” button and move on. If there’s a discussion going on in the comments then they are provided with an opportunity to have their say.

Staying with the subject of commenting, if you comment regularly on a person’s posts then they are more likely to pay attention to your posts in order to keep the dialogue going.

 

Content

The appropriateness of your content is crucial to any social media promotion. Ensure that the subject matter is suitable for the audience that you are broadcasting to.

It is important to remember the principle that anything that you post online is in the public domain and can be tracked back to you. However, this should not prevent you from targeting a specific audience with your posts. Consider who is likely to see your post. If your Facebook page only consists of old school friends then they may not be interested in the exciting new software package that you have been able to implement to increase the efficiency of your workplace. Then again, depending on your friends, they might be interested.

There is never a reason to be short of content to post. If you don’t have anything specific to post yourself then re-post or link to other content from around the web, an interesting article will often spark conversation in the comments.

 

Internal Social Networks

This is a relatively new idea in businesses across the world but it is being picked up everywhere. Whether using an in house software package or a readily available template, such as Yammer, more companies are driving their employees to make use of social media to communicate within their company.

If you work within such a company then you should be jumping at the chance to use this. Far too many employees dismiss such things as a fanciful management idea, why would they need “Facebook at work”?

The advantages to using this should be obvious, if the company is implementing such an idea then it will be driven by someone high up the ladder. This person is responsible for ensuring that it is a success and to increase the active user base. By interacting on the format you have the chance to have your name recognised by the people in upper management that may not have otherwise known of your existence.

Provided you keep the content suitable this will only ever benefit you. If your name then comes up in another context, internal discussions, then they will recognise your name. In the context of internal promotions this brand recognition can be invaluable.

In addition to this extra recognition, it demonstrates several key points about yourself without you having to say a word. You are shown to be eager and keen to embrace company ideas, you are comfortable with new technologies and know how to use them, you demonstrate your commitment to the company by reading other peoples posts. All of this can be demonstrated by the simple act of pressing “like” on enough posts.

 

Conclusion

As long as you’re sensible with it, there are no disadvantages to the use of social media. Put yourself out there, promote your self and interact with others. Networking has just got a whole lot easier for everyone!