The Seven Be’s Of Social Media Success (Because Six Isn’t Enough and Eight Is Too Many)

There are as many experts on social media as there are people who participate and each is more than willing than the last to share their ‘expert, professional’ opinion if asked.

As a recruiting professional many of the outside world’s best practices apply but all it takes to be successful are seven key be’s.

Be involved. Get yourself on the big three at least (Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter) and a few that are niche for your area (IT, accounting, sales, etc).

Be smart. If your granny would be embarrassed by it stay away. If your granny has no shame then go with your most conservative great aunt.

Be engaging. If you are boring in real life will yourself to be interesting at least once or twice a week in 140 characters or less. Give people something to talk about in a good way.

Be consistent. In social media showing up on a regular basis is a huge factor in being successful. If you plan on showing up once a month and crashing the party you might as well forget about it.

Be well networked online. Build a big, strong network. It takes work – they are not going to come just because you built it ala Field of Dreams.

Be proactive. Connect to people and start building credibility / a relationship before you need them to be in a part of network.

Be like Mr. Rogers. Work hard to make your online (and offline)neighborhood a better place.

I hope you are ready to go out and rule the (social media) world! Are there any other ‘be’s’ that we should have included / left off of our list? I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

Karate Kid, Boogie Nights and Social Media for Recruiters

Two movies that I have always enjoyed are The Karate Kid and Boogie Nights and each features a song that plays well into recruiting when it comes to your social media presence.

“Your the Best” (one of the best songs off of any soundtrack in the 80s)

“You Got the Touch” (also featured in the 1986 Transformers movie)

When people look at your LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and other profiles do they think ‘your the best’ and ‘have the touch’ (I know, I know – corny right) OR do they think you are a complete loser?

Here are some things to think about when it comes to all three to make sure you don’t fall into the latter:

Twitter

• Actually have an account
• Say something more than once a month
• Have a profile picture
• Work to develop a following (5 followers is not enough)
• Join into a conversation DON’T JUST POST JOBS!!!!!!!!!

Facebook

• Again, actually have an account or a fan page or SOMETHING!
• Have good content on it that is interesting, funny, worthwhile, and thought provoking.
• Again, don’t just post jobs!

LinkedIn

• Make sure you have your profile 100% complete
• Make sure you create a vanity URL
• Work towards getting 500 connections so that your profile shows 500+  – recruiters are supposed to know people and if all you have is 100 connections it wouldn’t give me very much confidence in you
• Contribute to group discussions and answer questions (DON’T JUST POST JOBS!!)
• Have something interesting for visitors to look at and read (a blog, shared document, etc)

What say you – is looking important and like you have your stuff together important on the social media sites? Look forward to your thoughts and comments!

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

Twitter & LinkedIn Are For Shock & Awe As Much As Anything Else

Think about what happens when you come across someone new (or even someone you know from the past) on LinkedIn and Twitter.

What are the first things you check out? Outside of a job title or employer name its the number of connections and recommendations on LinkedIn and number of followers and their last couple of tweets on Twitter, right?

If someone has 500+ connections and 35 recommendations or 1,000+ followers is your perception of them different from if they do not? If you are being honest with yourself the answer to that question has got to be ‘yes’.

You are completely out of touch if you do not think that candidates, hiring managers, and even  your peers don’t check you out on social media sites and form a strong opinion of you based on your activity and ‘appearance’ on each. It still amazes me when I come across recruiters who have not adopted newer technologies and are not proactive in appearing proficient in their area on both sites.

If you want to boil this whole post to one thought its this – don’t do social media half-assed – it will bite you in the butt.

Until next time, good hunting and good luck!