Social Media News For The Week Of 10/12/12

Social Media Myths Worth Debunking

As businesses have been coming to terms with understanding the impact of social media many myths have arisen. Dispelling these myths will help companies fully grasp the potential for growth available to them when using social networks for marketing purposes. Full Story Here: 

What's a Facebook Follower Worth?

Many businesses are questioning the value of Facebook followers in the wake of the network's Promoted Post program. Companies are being asked to pay a fee to have their posts promoted beyond the average 16% of users who see them. Some small business owners have complained their fans have been devalued, while others have clearly benefited from the program. Full Story Here: 

Using Google+ for Employment Search

While Google+  certainly has not knocked Facebook off its perch atop the social media world since launching in mid 2011, the network did grow to 150 million active users by the end of its first year. This is a significant audience job seekers should consider in their search. Google+ also offers several advantageous features over other social networks for job hunting users.

Ways to Use Google+ for Employment Search

1.  Circles -

This feature really sets Google+  apart from other social networks, particularly from the perspective of job seekers. Circles allows users to categorize their contacts into groups or "circles". This gives them the ability to tailor fit their postings and information sharing with specific audiences. Circles presents the user with a level of relevancy control only found on Google+ . Importantly, personal and professional information can be kept entirely separate, allowing the user to maintain a degree of privacy, while keeping friends and family from having to wade through irrelevant posts.

2.  Sparks -

Sparks empowers users to easily keep track of industry news, developments and topics of interest related to their job search. Keyword searches can be saved so new information will appear in the user's Sparks newsfeed on their profile page. Information received through Sparks can be easily targeted and shared with appropriate Circles.

Social Media For Employment And Recruiting - LinkedIn

LinkedIn, with its prominence as a social network for professionals, naturally leads all other networks for job recruiting and employment. LinkedIn, just like other social networks, should be part of an overall recruiting strategy that includes more traditional methods, such as job boards. LinkedIn can be a powerful tool for bringing talented, high quality candidates to your company.

Ways to Use LinkedIn for Recruiting

1.  Complete Your Company Profile

Make sure your company profile is complete in every way and loaded with industry-relevant keywords. Your keyword-rich company profile can entice candidates who are seeking employment and searching profiles for great places work.

2.  Use LinkedIn Search

Search for qualified potential employees from the pool of LinkedIn members who match your requirements. Using keywords in personal, as well as company profiles, is key for this reason. Be sure to share all of your contact information with prospects.

Social Media News For The Week Of 10/5/12

Facebook reaches one billion users

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the social network has passed the milestone of 1 billion users. This astounding figure reflects the number of people actively using the platform every month. This translates into this fact: 1 in every 7 people on Earth is on Facebook. Full Story Here: 

Facebook Now Lets US Users Pay $7 To Promote Posts To The News Feeds Of More Friends

Facebook has expanded its Promoted Posts feature into America. The social network is now offering U.S. users the opportunity to expand the visibility level of their posts for the fee of $7.00 per post. The feature has already been available in 20 other countries. The network is still testing the pricing of the feature and it may go up or down. Promoted Posts will be marked "Sponsored" and users will be able see how many times more views the post received by being promoted. Full Story Here: 

Social Media For Employment And Recruiting - Twitter

For job seeking and recruiting purposes, LinkedIn and Facebook receive most of the focus, but Twitter should be considered as well. Twitter should be seen in this context as providing a supplement to recruiting efforts across other social media networks. Twitter offers brands a high level of engagement and interaction, along with many opportunities to share information from their other networks. Twitter can be the platform of choice for sending short blasts of information regarding job posts and opportunities, advice for job hunters, or career information.

Ways to Use Twitter for Recruiting

1. Engage With Potential Candidates - Candidates can be reached by searching for the influential people, blogs and networks frequented by potential employees of your company. Engagement in these areas can help further intelligence gathering, thereby providing information regarding pools of talented candidates and their various areas of expertise.
2. Post to Twitter Job Boards - Various companies will post across their networks for a small fee. These companies gather postings and make them easily searchable for job seekers.
3. Post Directly to Twitter - Job listings with shortened URL's linking to more information may be posted directly for free. Using commonly used # hash tags can extend how far those listings reach outside your circle of followers.
4. Keyword Sourcing - This is the inverse of direct posting. Candidates seeking job positions can be searched using keywords. There are even free websites that offer advanced search functionality based on keywords, hash tags, or even zip code location. Highly targeted RSS feeds of Twitter profiles and streams can be set up with all this information for recruiting purposes.

How Social Media Makes Money For Your Business - Generating Referrals

The viral aspect of social media is one of the driving forces behind social media success for businesses. Each person who chooses to befriend your brand by liking or following your company has a list of friends who will be reached by any interaction between you and them. In this blog we will explore how social media helps your business make money by generating referrals.

How Social Media Generates Referrals

1. Top of Mind Advertising

One of the keys to successful advertising is keeping your brand foremost in the minds of customers and prospects. Social media accomplishes this marketing goal, but with unique methods. In part 1 of this series we saw how by sharing your company's expertise on social media, you will build up a collection of loyal followers who trust your brand. When one of your followers sees one of their friends ask about products / services related to your field, who do you think they are going to recommend? When they are in the market themselves, whom will they think of? If you have won their loyalty, your business will come to mind.

How Social Media Makes Money For Your Business - Sharing Expertise

Using social media has become nearly mandatory for businesses. Yet at the same time, social media can sometimes seem like a nebulous arena to some small business owners. The very nature of the medium can confuse businesses into thinking they don't receive any benefit from social media use. This blog post is the first part of a series that will point out the ways in which social media provides a return on your company's investments, in both time and resources. You will see how sharing your business's expertise will position the company for growth.

1. Share Your Company's Expertise

This is one of the more difficult benefits of social media to quantify. Your company, whether it is a new startup or a well-established firm, specializes in at least one thing. Sharing your knowledge and experience of that specialty with your company's clients, customers, and prospects is a way to establish your company as an expert within your niche market. One of the key aspects of social media that businesses often miss is the need to be helpful to their followers and not come across as an endless ad campaign. This will reap benefits for your company later on down the line, when people will remember your company as a trustful and helping friend rather than a sales pitch.

2. Expertise Sells

If your company provides a service, such as consulting or technical firms, sharing your knowledge is a valuable asset that will interest your clients in further information, after you have enticed them with your expertise first. If your company sells a product, you can offer product demonstrations or tips and advice to plant the seed in consumers' minds. Once again, by furnishing only useful information without a hard sales approach, your customers will think of your company as nothing less than an expert that they can count on.