This is part 2 of a 3-part interview with Natasha D’Souza, founder of Virtual EyeSee one of the up-and-coming social media strategy companies in Ottawa. If you haven’t already, check out part 1 – Social media and the economy.
Jamie:
What are some examples where companies have used social media effectively to promote a particular product or strengthen their relationship with customers?
Natasha:
Facebook is an excellent example. They recently changed their terms of service and a lot of their customers were very upset about it. They listened and reverted to their old policy and are now taking the feedback into account.
Jamie:
One of the first ways that corporations typically get exposed to the benefits of social media is to Google or scan a Facebook profile as part of diligence of evaluating potential employees. Unfortunately, that focuses on the negative aspects of peoples’ willingness to put “everything” online. How can someone looking to get hired by certain employers use social media to position themselves ahead of the pack?
Natasha:
The employee first has to figure out their target market so to speak. Then find the appropriate social media places that these target markets participate in. For example having a presence on LinkedIn with the relevant experience highlighted on their profile. Not just the past job they had but every career experience they have had that is relevant to the job they are pursuing. Participate in the conversations happening on LinkedIn regarding their industry.
Next would be to be up to date on industry Blogs and participate in the conversations happening there. If they have extra time they could also start their own Blog to establish themselves as a thought leader in the field. On Facebook for example, join various groups both professional, hobbies, charities etc. Again participate in these discussions or initiate some. Set up a You Tube Channel and broadcast a regular program on their industry, thoughts on the trends in that space, new developments etc..
The possibilities are endless.
Jamie:
They truly are. From a design / developer stand-point there are a lot of other activities that one can do to get themselves noticed or help build their personal brand recognition:
- Contribute to an open source project – either directly to the core or with most platforms offering extensible widget, plugin or theme concepts by distributing your own item.
- Building a stand alone tool / product that fulfills an area of need for yourself. Chances are there are others who would benefit from it and it helps you keep your skills sharp if you are unemployed.
- Build Internet recently highlighted the value of practical personal projects, “represent a way to try new things, but focused on something practical…Besides job hunting, you could also turn some of these into side profits if it fits the nature of the piece.”
There will be one more post in this series on Friday which looks towards how government can / should / needs to get on the social media bandwagon.