Category Archives: Communication

Social Media = New Job

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Three EASY steps:

1)      Set up a “professional“ Facebook account, a LinkedIn account, and a Twitter account.  Use the same username and password for ease.  Note, your username is often visible, case in point, Twitter, so use something short, sweet, and memorable.  “SexyGirl69@…” isn’t going to cut it unless you’re going clubbing.  Also recommend getting a head and shoulder picture in a professional setting with either a coat and tie, or a blazer and blouse.

This goes without saying, but what you write in LinkedIn needs/must be PERFECT.  Use all the tools available to provide as much granularity to your profile.

2)      Your settings for all three accounts should be open and accessible to all.  This means making sure everyone can see your entire profile in LinkedIn when you visit their profiles.  This means automatically accepting all “followers” in Twitter.  And this also means allowing all to see your page on Facebook.

This also goes without saying, but your “professional” Facebook should not have any photos from last weekend’s frat party or your antics at the last tailgating party.  These pictures should be of your work and perhaps a photo or two in a personal setting that shows you’re a well-rounded person with activities other than work.

3)      Last step is to begin looking for jobs that match your specifications.  When you find one, apply.  Please, please, please ensure you get someone else’s eyeballs on your resume before sending it out.  Your eyes will deceive you!  Have someone else check it.  After applying, search the company on LinkedIn and follow it.  Scroll through the listing of employees for keywords like “HR” or “Recruiter” and click on their profiles.  If they have a Twitter account, there will be a semi-blue box with a check mark and “Follow Me” in it.  Follow them.

This does two things.  The next time the recruiter checks “Who viewed my profile”, they will see your bright shining smile along with your successes.  When you follow them on Twitter, they will receive an email indicating that you are now a follower.

Now go get that job!

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Danny Chung is a professional communications consultant with more than 2 decades of strategic communication and public relations experience.  His work has been on numerous news programs and television shows to include the New York Times, BBC, CNN, and The Fox News Channel.

The Perfect Ad (tugging on the elephant)

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Chip and Dan Heath, in their book SWITCH, describe the emotional tug as the superior force in our lives and compares that to an elephant being directed by the analytical man sitting atop it.  You can tell the elephant that not wearing a seatbelt is dangerous; that wearing a seatbelt may save your life; and that it is against the law to not wear the belt.  But ultimately, the elephant will do what the elephant wants to do.

No matter how many times I tell my children to buckle up, every time I look into the back seats I see them scurrying to avoid the $1 dollar per infraction fee I have implemented (to no effect) for failure to wear the seatbelt.  Perhaps if I had “tugged” on their emotional beings, rather than their intellectual I might have succeeded. Perhaps this video will do it not only for my family, but for yours as well.  Buckle up!

Investment Firms and What They CANNOT Say on Facebook, Twitter

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Brokerages and Fund Companies are often entangled within a web of legal and compliance rules and regulations preventing them from openly saying what they’d like.  And in an effort to prevent illegal or insider trading, brokers and their advertisements must include verbiage detailing phrases any investor has read or seen numerous times such as the mumbo-jumbo at the bottom of this ING ad.

But the question is ”should the same regulations apply within the social-media scene?”

FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) seems to think so.

Investment firms can be held liable for what their employees post to their Facebook pages, for what they tweet, and what they blog.

Therefore, it is highly advisable companies set regulations and brief their employees before the company itself finds itself with a large target painted on its backside.  FINRA is looking and it will only be a matter of weeks, maybe days before the Wall Street Journal or CNBC reports on the latest violation of non-compliance or SEC investigations.

AdvisorTweets.com, a Web site that aggregates the tweets of close to 400 U.S.-based financial advisors is a good place to begin your research and begin learning to navigate this landscape.

What are your thoughts on these restrictions?

Caveat emptor? or increased regulations?  What do you think?

Social Networking for Small Businesses 101

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Facebook:

-          Financial Investment Firms need an organizational or “Business Page”.  This is the official Facebook site for the business and should be ‘friended’ by all employees of the firm with their profile.

-          The goal here should be to acquire as many “Fans” as possible.

-          This is the site where official updates of the business are posted, updating your “fans”… to include:

  • Upcoming events; open houses; social hour; conference…
  • Blog postings, related articles, podcasts and videos…
  • Pics of the most recent media training, company outing, or birthday celebration…
  • Links are important.  Links to sources of information, links to bloggers, links that are of value to current and prospective clients.

-          Financial Investment Firms will then need to move onto the creation of a “Group Page”.  This is specifically targeted to the audience we want.

  • This is the water cooler where topics related, but not necessarily directly related to the business can be discussed.
  • This is a great site to eavesdrop on your fans discussing different topics and get an idea of what your potential and/or current customers are thinking and discussing.  Pay particular attention to gripes, moans, and complaints… These types of comments should be looked upon as a gift from your customer.  It provides insight into a potential future loss, which you are now able to thwart and keep as a customer by addressing those needs before culminating to a point of frustration.
  • It’s important to facilitate in a group environment and not attempt to drive the conversation.  Allow it to travel its own course.  This is the only way you’ll be able to acquire accurate data.

LinkedIn:

-          This is a professional site for business professionals to network and “link-in” with each other for opportunities, answers to questions, jobs, and for staying abreast of the business “buzz” of the day.

-          Instead of fans, you have links, which in turn provide you even more secondary, then tertiary links to potential clients or business partners.

  • The most interesting part of this fascinating Web site is where you can see who’s been looking at your profile.  For the most part, it indicates the line of work this person is in, and in some rare occurrences, it indicates the searcher by name.
  1. On occasion, it’s exciting to see who’s been looking at your profile.
  • Credibility is the name of the game when it comes to the social media landscape and a great way to garner this is through LinkedIn’s Answers/Questions.
  1. You can ask a question, then post it for the next week or two to see what kind of responses you get.
  2. Or, you can answer already posted questions.  If your answer is deemed one of the better responses, the person asking the question may stamp you with “the best answer” label, thus marking you as an expert in this particular field.

Twitter:

-          This is the most egregiously misused tool in the social media toolbox.  What began as a 140-character update (a tweet) on the most important and pertinent issues of the day, has turned into a social update tool to inform the masses that you are in line at the hot dog stand and it is taking too long.

-          “Tweets” should be focused on your area of expertise or a specific target-topic for your audience.

-          Every tweet should set you apart as an expert and thus a resource for your audience.

-          Remember not to sell.  This only turns off your potential clients.  As long as you provide information deemed pertinent to their needs, they will eventually come around.

-          Step 1.  Set up a profile and pay particular attention to “Bio”.  This will often determine whether someone wants to follow you or not.  A quick, but interesting sound bite, but once again, don’t sell yourself here or anywhere else on Twitter.

-          Step 2.  Set up a company profile and have every (this is important that EVERY single employee “follow” the company site, otherwise, potential clients will be wondering why…) employee follow it.

-          Step 3.  Begin wandering the hinterlands of Twitterville.  I.e., look up some prominent companies in similar lines of business and see who’s following them.  Then, follow them!

-          Step 4.  Monitor what’s being said by those you’re following.  What are the topics?  The buzz?  The latest news?  What stories are they linking and retweeting?  All this will direct you in the right direction, not to mention as soon as you begin tweeting your own expert opinion in the matter, tweeters will begin following you.

Networking, whether in the real world or in the social media realm takes time and effort.  The bad news is, it’s tough to get started.  Just as if you were visiting a foreign country for the first time, you will not understand the language, the culture, nor be in the right time zone.  The same can be said of the social media realm.  The language is often confusing, the mannerisms are difficult to understand, and your head is spinning with the traffic going back and forth.

Take your time and take small steps at first.  Start with Facebook, then move onto LinkedIn, and finally to Twitter.

Don’t want the Normandy invasion of pitches?

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Don’t want a barrage of unwanted emails containing pitches for the latest technology when your title clearly indicates you are an investment and banking reporter?

Here are a few tips for reporters:

As a reporter, you may not want to get the Normandy Invasion of pitches from folks like me in the PR field. So how do you filter out the credible and pertinent pitches from those that have absolutely nothing to do with you?

LINKEDin!

After reading hundreds of thousands of articles on LinkedIn and networking… ok, so it was really only a few articles but who’s counting? Anyhoo, after reading these articles, I’ve done it! The hard work. I’ve whittled the list down to five steps. And, here they are:

1) Set up a LinkedIn account and flesh it out. If you’re not on here, you nearly don’t exist. LinkedIn profiles are not only searchable online, but Google algorithms place LinkedIn profiles almost always at the top of their list when searching for names. (Here’s a link to a great YouTube piece on how it works: http://bit.ly/YouTubeLinkedIN)

a) If you have a blogsite or a website with your professional work, you can connect it to your LinkedIn page so viewers can see and link to it.

b) Keep it up to date. One of LinkedIn’s shortcomings is that there is no “as of” date. Yes, I’ve made the recommendations, but nothing yet. Continuously updating your page and refining it keeps it fresh and ensures your profile is listed in LinkedIn’s weekly Network Updates.

2) Begin building your network, however, and this is a “big” however, ensure your Account Settings are set to your desires. A few privacy considerations are listed below, but before we get there, you’ll need to begin building your network. Start with those you trust, respect, and need as potential resources. Afterwards, you can begin branching out from there.

a) Connections Browse – Do you want to allow anyone to see your connections? While those not connected to you cannot see your connections except the number, your connections may be able to rifle through your connections. Some enjoy a level of anonymity. If so, set it to “not allowed”.

b) Email Notifications – Do you want to allow complete strangers to contact you via LinkedIn? Or, you can set it up so only those who know your email will be able to contact you. We’re talking about non-connected folks right now. It’s just as easy to “ignore” a request when they come in, but perhaps you don’t even have time for that. In that case, set it to “I’ll only accept Introductions” AND unclick the 8 boxes next to it. All this is under “CONTACT SETTINGS”.

3) Browse and “ASK” questions. If you hover your rodent, I mean mouse over “MORE” near the top, then click “ANSWERS”, you’ll be taken to a Q & A section filled with the latest questions and answers on everything from “Which shampoo do red-heads recommend?” to “Are Municipal Bonds worth investing in?” (ok, so that last one was my own) This is a great resource. And if your answer is deemed worthy, the questioner may stamp it with a seal of “BEST ANSWER”.

4) Rifle through your connections’ CONNECTIONS. Yes, it’s a little creepy going through someone else’s connections, but hey, if they’re not secured, why not? HOWEVER, I always make an effort to contact my direct contact first if I plan on connecting with their connection. Are we connecting?
Plus, it makes a great segue to your intro by saying something like “Hi, we are both mutual acquaintances of Bill…”, or something to that effect. The point is, respect each person’s LinkedIn profile. Just because we’re hiding behind a computer doesn’t mean we cannot be civil.

5) Lastly, if your employer is willing to shell out the extra bucks per month, buy the upgrade. The upgrade allows you to better search results, to save and organize profiles, and to send InMails. InMails are emails sent within the LinkedIn realm, adding credibility.

Would love to hear your best practices and thoughts about my tips. You can always email me or InMail me on LinkedIn.

Best wishes.
-Danny

“Jarheadpao”

Crises happen.

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virginatlantic787ii2Virgin, Jet Blue, Mattel, Milk, and Tiger have all fallen victim to today’s onslaught of social media. Many so called “experts” seem to feel compelled to post questions like “What could Tiger have done better?” And though we can all armchair quarterback these issues to no end, shouldn’t we really be looking at what these companies should have done years before?

Here’s a TRUTH for you: Crisis Happens.

So then any corporation needs to ask themselves if there is any single point of failure.  A single point of failure is any one function, person, or thing a company relies upon for the very survival of their business.  In the Marine Corps we refer to this as a “critical vulnerability”.

After identifying this critical vulnerability, PROTECT IT.

In today’s frenzied media environment, reputations can skyrocket or plummet in an instant.  It’s no longer so important to “manage” a reputation as it is to be ready for when a criss happens.  Yes, crises happen, but there’s an opportunity here.

It’s been proven that during times of expansion, businesses outperform each other by tiny fractions, however, it is during time of recession that businesses, especially those prepared excel beyond the crowd.

Be prepared.  Have a crisis communication plan ready to deploy.  And, protect your critical vulnerability now before it’s too late.