Creating a successful brand in today’s information-overloaded social media landscape takes time, work, and believe it or not – courage.

Brands that achieve success within the social space go beyond the boundaries of your typical online marketing strategies.

Here are some tips on how to save your brand from becoming another face in the crowd.

Be Provocative: Some of the most discussed, shared, and re-tweeted content across the social space are about subjects that organisations wouldn’t dare talk about.

Being provocative on social media is not the same as being offensive. It means being unique and discussing content that your target audience won’t see anywhere else.

Leak Information Slowly: You want to create anticipation. A key ingredient to creating buzz is not sharing everything you have right away.

A consistent stream of information over a set period of time leading up to a big announcement can keep people engaged with your brand.

Think of your social media strategy in terms of how a new movie trailer works. Before a movie is due to be released the studios release highlights without giving the entire story away; hence, creating conversation and building excitement.

Engage With Your Audience: If your brand is trying to make a name for itself on social media platforms it is important to create awareness. Major brands have an easier time conversing with people because they are already well-known. You might not have the same luxury; therefore, a considerable amount of time must be spent building relationships.

Let people know you’re now in the social space, let them know what you’re all about and let them ask you questions.

Follow Your Competitors: The concept of out-performing your competition is a constant challenge. It’s in your brand’s best interest to monitor all competitors as well as your own brand within the social space. Too many brands focus too much attention on ‘numbers’ when the ultimate goal should be quality rather than quantity. I mean, if you are offering a quality service to the consumer, you could expect natural growth from word of mouth, sharing of content etc. Branded ads should only be used to support natural growth.

What do you think? How do you use social media to stand out from the crowd with your business or brand? We’d love to know.

@TWoSocial

Is Google+ is ‘a bit like Facebook’?

The following link is to an opinion piece written for Adnews looking at the relative merits of Google+ and whether brands should engage now, later or not at all.

www.adnews.com.au/adnews/opinion-brands-don-t-sign-up-for-google-yet

Also, the following link is to an interesting and alternative view from Mike Zeederberg

http://ht.ly/8NDoW

Certainly an opportunity which will continue to develop over time.

I recently wrote a blog entitled ‘What Does Your Online Reputation Say About You?’

I outlined how organisations are screening potential job candidates online and how managing your online reputation is as important as ever.

In part two of this piece, I will focus on how employers evaluate online reputations as well as provide some tips on how you could improve your online reputation.

What content on your social channels is available online?

Employers have quickly caught on to the social media trend. Organisations using social networking sites including; LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to recruit, increased from 34% in 2008 to 56% in 2011. In addition, the number of organisations who do not plan to use social recruiting dropped from 45% to 21% during the same period.

As expected, results established LinkedIn as the most popular for sourcing potential employees, with 95% of companies that use social media recruiting through LinkedIn. Facebook came in second with 58%, followed by Twitter at 42% and traditional recruitment sites at 23%.

What this means for job seekers is that it’s even more important than ever to be prepared to be found by organisations. In addition, it is also important to be proactive in your own search for a job so you’re in the right place and right time if a company is looking for someone with your skills and experience.

Tips to Help Improve Your Online Reputation

Social media has made our lives very transparent. When people hear about you for the first time they will usually Google your name to see who you are and what you do. Chances are that if they find content that they don’t like, they aren’t going to get back in contact with you.

Below I pinpoint ways in which you can improve your online reputation.

Google Yourself: Research suggests that this is the first thing a potential employer will do if they want to find information about you online, so it’s a good idea to be a step ahead of them. Be proactive and Google yourself! A quick online search will extract some of the information about you that is available to others online.

Maintain Privacy: Check your privacy settings on all your social networking accounts to make sure your personal information is kept private. Take advantage of Facebook’s privacy setting to keep photos and videos that others post of you off basic Web searches.

Remove or hide any negative content that you control: If you have negative content that can be seen to the public on any site that you control the best options are either to delete the page or change the privacy settings to private. The less negative content visible, the better.

Separate social networking from job networking: It’s easy to fall into the Facebook job-hunting trap, but keeping social networking and job networking separate will help you avoid blurring the lines. Build up your prospective job contact list on professional networking sites like LinkedIn instead.

Listen: Feedback is important but what people are saying about you will be useless if you don’t take heed. You can learn from the experiences of others when it comes to what information you share online.

Stay consistent: Make sure your professional and educational background information on your social networking profile matches the information on your resume. Needless to say, any mismatch in information will give potential employers a reason for concern.

Monitor your progress: To make sure you are in line with goals you have set yourself, double-check all information you share on your social networks. Be sure to constantly update any old information that is no longer relevant.

If you’ve never given a thought to your online reputation, now is as good a time as any.

Have you ever encountered a situation where your online reputation has compromised your work? Any tips to share?

Like it or not, you are a brand.

People take what you put out as your persona and create a perception of whom you are, and what you mean to them.

We may not like the idea that people “judge a book by its cover”, but we do this all the time, its human nature.

Ever considered what your online reputation says about yourself?

With so much engagement across multiple social networks, employers can make judgments on potential employees before they even meet them. They are most certainly screening potential job candidates online, a vastly different procedure than in years past, making online reputation management an essential component of achieving success.

With easy access to our social networks through mobile connectivity, it is becoming increasingly hard for us not to post anything and everything online, often without thought or consideration. Education continues to be the key to knowing what to publish and what not to publish.

I challenge you to analyze yourself as a brand by presenting yourself to friends and or family. This could be a difficult task for some, but by seeing yourself as a brand, you are more likely to rethink your online image and set yourself up for success.

Below are some questions you could pose to yourself to ensure what you are posting online will not harm your online reputation.

1. If I publish something who will see it, not only now, but also in the future?
2. Will I have the same opinion in the future?
3. Have I done a good enough job promoting my expertise, and not just highlighting opinion?
4. How much do I want to promote myself?
5. Am I consistent with my messaging?
6. Have I done a sufficient job searching myself online to know what is being said about me, or what I have said in the past?
7. Is what I’m saying adding value to add to the conversation?
8. Have I done my research on the topics I discuss?
9. What photos of me are public and are they offensive?
10. Have I triple checked my grammar?

I am the social media coordinator @TwoSocial.  Follow me on Twitter @shanebrien

Listening.

It’s step 2 of the 12 Steps to finding staff in the social web…..and it’s the MUST DO precursor to any social media activity.

So once  you’ve set your goals for B2E social media activity, STOP, and take 5. WAIT before you set up that  Twitter Account and start blabbing about the fabulous jobs you have open!

The critical listening stage will provide HRDs and Hiring Managers with an understanding of candidate interests, behaviours, likes and gripes (not to mention talent competitor insights).

Before actively engaging with your candidate tribes, being smart – and patient – enough to listen and observe will play a crucial role in creating a successful social engagement strategy. A strategy that will vastly improve your hiring efforts.

In order to listen with maximum effect, there are a number of stages to consider which I’ve outlined here; possibly not all relevant depending upon your workforce size and organisational complexity.

But remember this: whether you’re convinced or not of the need to participate in online conversations for talent sourcing, the act of listening is fast becoming a business imperative.

Source: I’ve borrowed the format from Jeremiah Owyang’s “Web Strategy”, but customised it for  B2E. Thanks Jeremiah!

In July 2011, Dell commissioned Forrester to conduct research on ‘Listening and Engaging in the Digital Marketing Age’. Findings showed information collected during the ‘listening’ phase provided organisations with key insights that were used to create strategies across all areas of the business.

Report what you learn. Share it with your stakeholders. Use the learnings for all workforce groups, business-wide.

Have you listened to your future hires online yet? Let me know!

Follow us on Twitter:

@Croaghie
@Lu_cy_Lu
@Daemonwithin

Goal Setting…..Step 1 of the 12 Steps to finding staff in the Social Web

As HRD or Hiring Manager, you’re likely hearing about the proliferation of online social communities or ‘tribes’. But you’re not sure how to tap into these groups, to help your organisation’s talent and hiring needs.

Plus, you may be thinking your current strategies for finding people, and managing your organisation’s employer brand, is a little dated; not as punchy as it used to be; even tired.

Where do you start?

Before you get the ball rolling in the social stratosphere, think about what you’re aiming to achieve.

What’s the point?

A good idea during the process of goal setting is to define the desired outcomes of your goals. This way, you’re able to see and manage tangible results (and in time, you’ll need to set success metrics for your activity….I’ll post that up soon, as part of this series).

Here are some thought starters, in the B2E world:

Once you’ve defined the ‘why’ of social media, the idea of taking it on for hiring and employer reputation management will be a lot clearer, and more achievable.

Give it a go! And let me know if you think I’ve missed anything.

Follow us on Twitter!

@Croaghie
@Lu_cy_Lu
@Daemonwithin

The traditional channels for finding new staff (read: great people that will ‘fit’ with your business) as stand-alone sourcing opportunities are increasingly ineffective: we’re talking jobboards, press ads or ringing your trusty recruiter.

No surprises here.

What is surprising is the glacial speed with which many ‘innovative’ organisations are moving, in accessing all that the social web has to offer, for building tribes of great talent.

I say ‘tribes’ as the old ‘talent pipeline’ chestnut, although a meaningful idiom, never really stuck in execution. The global community in which we now live is increasingly tribal. And we run in multiple tribes…. by interest, hobby, gender, religion, profession, skill set, ethnicity, politics, opinion, experience….

These tribal habits which candidates are developing online (and let’s face it, everyone is a candidate), are providing a clear pathway for smart organisations wishing to cut-through and grow their own tribes of best-fit future staff.

Prospective hires for your workforce (or your client’s workforce, recruiters), housed on your candidate database or CRM, are not real prospects. Why? Because they’re not a community, they’re a number. They’re not treated with insight and intellect. They’re a back-stop.

And before you know it, they’re being fed great content by, and forging relationships with your talent competitors: which means, you fall further down the list of ‘organisations I want to work for’.

The approach for sourcing talent on the social web is simple. Below I’ve defined the 12 key steps. They’re sequential, and they’re easy to achieve.

1. Defining goals
2. Listening
3. Stakeholder buy-in
4. Planning
5. Strategy development & sign-off
6. Optimization
7. Content
8. Going live: action/execution
9. Engagement
10. Management: of the strategy
11. Management: of the tribes
12. Review

Importantly, this isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for hiring. Start by thinking about altering your traditional approach to finding people. And combine this with simple social sourcing strategies that are tailored to your talent needs NOW and in the (near and distant) future.

Over the next few days, I’ll shed light on each of these steps.

Today’s about getting your head around the concept. And on that, I have enormous respect for Deloitte’s lateral approach to tapping into candidate tribes online. Have a read.

Have you started to think about using the social web for your hiring needs?

Follow us on Twitter!

@Croaghie
@Lu_cy_Lu
@Daemonwithin

Friday in many industries, marketing included (…ahem), are often approached by staff in a casual, laissez-faire manner.

When does weekend wind-down mode start in your office? Thursday night?

In an ad agency I used to work for, the creative department checked out most Fridays at midday. Literally. Most often never to return for the week. And if they did, they were usually….. well… not very tidy.

How do you keep your people motivated on Friday?

Here over at Daemon Within HQ, we often…

• Brainstorm an upcoming client challenge for the following week over a glass of vino or cold beer
• Monthly, we share our respective highlights (or lowlights)
• Partake in one of the famous Daemon Trivia events

On that, to my horror, about 3 weeks into my tenure with Daemon, my lovely colleagues @rockylindner (alias Twitter handle: @youreffindreamin) and @lucie_may (alias Twitter handle: @SexyMcAwesome) decided to host a rock-a-sted-ford style trivia event. And sadly I hadn’t prepared myself (ie, no alcohol involved). So I belted out a few lines of ‘American Pie’, whilst trying to bustamove. And I can’t sing. @Croaghie #FAIL.

So, on our experience, it’s a good time for culture development.

What about informal team meetings: not boring or task oriented, but sharing of information such as:

• How the company’s performing
• Staff changes; general updates
• Great news articles on industry activity and competitors
• Asking for feedback from employees: on the day-to-day, diversity, culture, competitors
• Encouraging your people to get to know one another better: what’s happening on the weekend?

Another previous employer of mine, had the ‘Ad-Agency-Name Hour’ at 4pm on Fridays in the boardroom. Sadly, the culture was such that many people would bugger off at 345, knowing the CEO and other business leaders were actively participating in said ‘Hour’. Hmmm….not good!

Finally, if you’re really lucky, and have a boss like David Brent, you could goad him into dancing for charity…..

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Follow us on Twitter!

@Croaghie
@Lu_cy_Lu
@Daemonwithin

As the momentum starts to build here at Team Daemon Within, we’ve come across a truckload of predictions for 2012, from a broad cross section of the blogosphere; particularly relating to Social Media and emerging digital platforms.

But firstly, if you want to take a squiz at a very cool interactive infographic, on what was 2011 in the context of Social Media, check out this fab retrospective

Now…. looking forward.  In the spirit of all things new and starting afresh, here are 4 crucial considerations for HRD’s in 2012. In no particular order….

1. Challenge the Norm. Try resisting the temptation of placing your ad on that overpriced jobboard. It might make you feel like you’ve ticked all the boxes, but really, that’s just your comfort zone talking. As Stephen Fry says, be curious. Learn about better, more effective and efficient opportunities that will help you build a tribe of interested candidates.
2. …which is the perfect segway to Point 2: Social Media. Don’t be afraid! (did you know Twitter is the biggest jobboard in the world?). If you’re not sure that Social Media is right for your hiring and talent sourcing efforts, you owe it to your business and your brand to at least start listening. Check out this cool blog entry on how to establish a social listening campaign.
3. Video. It’s gunna kill it in 2012. And, as Google+ experiences massive user uptake (more on that soon), with sweet YouTube integration, it’s a seriously effective platform for reaching out to new candidates. Plus, the creative opportunities for engagement of your existing workforce are way exciting…. but too many to speak of here (someone stop me!)
4. Mobile. Wow. Where do I start? From capturing really specific talent audiences (like grads or engineers) to building personalised relationships; from never missing an opportunity to present your EB to your candidate pipeline to modernising your brand. Mobile is totally happening.

Each of these crucial considerations will be given the greater attention they deserve. So watch this space.

But in the meantime HRDs…..get curious. Soon you’ll  see…..your sourcing ROI will speak for itself.

Follow me on Twitter! @Croaghie

Back to work for 2012…..

Today I returned to work for the New Year. And it’s been an interesting day.

I’m not going to pretend that I could hardly wait to get back to the office. In fact, now that summer’s finally arrived in Sydney, I felt more inclined to head straight to Bondi Beach.

However it HAS been interesting. Dare I say it, pleasantly surprising…..

I’ve reflected on my time away from work: the people I caught up with, the fun I had, the activities I enjoyed.

I’ve reviewed last year’s business activity and started the foundations of 2012’s Master Plan.

And I’ve really enjoyed it (no eye rolling please).

But I’m probably one of the few.

I received calls & texts from friends & family over the past week, bemoaning ‘getting back to the grind’ and ‘working for the man’. Culturally in Australia, we can be overly addicted to holidays and down time, yet the stats tell us that stress (and the often resultant depression), increasingly places a major strain on workforce productivity and our health system.

What strikes me as I return to work today is that this week, next week, and right up to Australia Day, many of us returning to work, will do so feeling uninspired. Have a quick read of this great article about being uninspired at work…

As your business kicks off for 2012, be mindful that this is a flight risk period. Some talent will come back to work, looking for a ‘better’ alternative.

So at this critical time, think inclusion: in planning, in communications, in sharing ideas, in sharing the ‘fun’ part of the workload.

Getting back into the swing of things in a New Year can be a challenge for anyone…. including ‘the man’!