Every week, NETSHARE hosts Ask the Coach, a phone-in coaching session with leading career management experts. Here is an excerpt from the most recent session with Nicola James, Managing Partner of Thomas Brooke International.
Nicola James was the host for this week’s coach call. Nicola is a retained recruiter and executive coach who recently added "social media specialist" to her list of credentials. She just completed a certification course through Social Media Magic University. Some of the callers were interested to hear more about how social media affects today’s hiring decision-making, and why she felt it necessary to get social media certification.
Nicola explained that she is a strong believer in networking via the net. The Web is everything today. It gives you more reach and more power – like the difference between hand tools and power tools – and should form the foundation of your job search.
The real benefits of social media sites are that they make it easier for you to be seen as a thought leader; to show you are on the cutting edge of your industry, company, or professional. It also gives you a chance to demonstrate your personal interests and that your interests are relevant. Social media also forces you to focus on one or two things that are truly important to your personal brand; your core value. And social media teaches you to be concise; you need to make your case quickly, and you always can direct interested parties back to more detailed information, such as a LinkedIn profile.
On all social media platforms, your profile is the anchor for your personal brand. It’s your online calling card and allows those who read it to understand your value proposition. Therefore it’s important that, no matter how many social media sites you use, your profile should be consistent across all platforms. Also use the same photo to create a consistent presence.
For the executive, LinkedIn should be your best friend. LinkedIn gives you access to decision makers. Between 80 and 90 percent of all CEOs are currently on LinkedIn, which is only one of many reasons to upgrade to a paid subscription.
Twitter is becoming more important and has been gaining momentum with recruiters. And recruiters usually respond to those who contact them via Twitter. You can search contacts by keyword and interest, and unlike LinkedIn, it’s easy to make direct contact using Twitter.
Plaxo is another tool to consider. Although Plaxo hasn’t gained the momentum of LinkedIn, it is another touch point and a good place to be found. There are people using Plaxo who are not on LinkedIn so you should make sure your information is complete, correct, and consistent.
What’s the easiest way to manage your online profiles? Consider using Ping.fm. Ping allows you to select which platforms you want to connect to and use a single update that will be forwarded to all or them. Nicola warns, however, that creating frequent updates can irritate those who are following you, so make them count. (Nicola added that a Twitter update told her that Ping.fm was just acquired by Seesmic.com, which lets you update 50 social networks from a single location.)
No matter how you choose to pursue social media, remember to be engaged, be collaborative, and be authentic. You also need to be focused to make the most of your time online.
