Where have you seen social media go wrong?

We asked Paul Burani, Founder of Clicksharp Marketing - Where have you seen social media go wrong?

Last winter, Belkin -- maker of ubercool accessories almost as hip as the Apple products for which they are designed -- brought shame on itself with the malicious misuse of public perception. In short, an employee got busted using a third-party "pay-per-review" service to inflate ratings and positive press on one of his company's products. It got worse when the company's president issued a public statement saying the company does not endorse such practices... followed by an anonymous voice from the inside saying that yes, in fact, they do endorse them. What a mess.

If it is not already self-evident, why such practices should not be put to use in the first place, it's important to remember who we are dealing with. Consumers on the internet should be thought of as "best in breed" -- they hunt down information throughout their networks and process it at dizzying speeds. They follow patterns and uproot the outliers. Translation: they're not as easy to fool as we think.

Moreover, in the social media space, there is always a paper trail. Virtually everything that is posted is indelible -- archived by the sites, and indexed in search engines. One misstep is all it takes to tarnish one's record. Readers of related stories posted comments like "unethical," "burning the trust of the consumer" and my personal favorite: "Whenever you stir a corporate bucket long enough, the greasy layer always floats to the surface."

Ironically, it appears no one knew the identity of the offending employee until another social media site did him in -- his LinkedIn profile.

Live and learn. Or just listen to your elders, when they teach you not to lie.

Hear Paul Burani speak on Sustaining Communities at www.socialmedia4HR.com

Expanding Your Social Media Options

In a tough downturn economy with a rough job market, people will use new tools to search for job. Is HR using social media to the fullest extent? Find out how to expand your social media options to retain top performers, recruit talent and share knowledge at http://www.socialmedia4hr.com/ June 9th in NYC.

I found my job on Twitter
Forget the classifieds, these days unemployed workers are finding more job opportunities through social networking sites.
By Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- In today's tough job market, it's critical to stand out. So how to make sure your application gets noticed: A flawless cover letter? Killer résumé? Glowing reference from the CEO? Not even. In the worst job market in 25 years, building an online presence is crucial to getting a job. Who you connect to, "follow" and "friend" can be just as important as conventional tools like résumés.

"Not only are employers looking for better candidates, but ones that are well versed in social media and seeking out opportunities," said social media expert and president of Affect Strategies Sandra Fathi. "These mediums are here to stay and also a great way to differentiate yourself."
Not only are valuable connections forged with potential employers and colleagues on sites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and LinkedIn, but openings are also posted there, sometimes in lieu of job boards.

Making the right connections

LinkedIn, which has over 40 million users, is geared specifically toward professional networking. Expansive networks are built by posting a profile which acts as an online résumé, making connections and getting references from your connections that potential employers can view.
For Barbara Maldonado, LinkedIn was the gateway to a great opportunity. Maldonado, 32, participated in a professional group on the site for "Innovative Marketing, PR, Sales, Word-of-Mouth & Buzz Innovators." Another member of the group posted a question and liked Maldonado's response. From then on they kept in contact.

"When I updated my status that I had been laid off, he referred me for a position that was open at his company, which is where I work now," she said of her current marketing position at the firm in a suburb of Chicago. "Without actively participating in that discussion, I would not have made the contact for the job."

Other sites like Twitter and Facebook, while popular among teens and young adults, have also been embraced by professional communities. Friends on Facebook typically share status updates, pictures and video. Twitter limits exchanges between people, also known as followers, to messages of only 140 characters.

If it weren't for Jen Harris' followers on Twitter, she would not have been notified of another job opportunity, only moments after getting laid off from Idaho-based MPC computers in October.
As Harris packed up her desk she sent out a tweet that read: "just been laid off from MPC."

"By the time I left the parking lot, I had a job offer from a friend that had a Web development company in town," she said.

First dibs on job openings

But job seekers don't have to rely solely on others for information about possible job openings. There are a variety of services associated with social networking sites to help too, like TweetMyJobs, which sends out automatic updates of new openings in a specific field and region sent to your cell phone or by Twitter.

If you fan a company on Facebook or follow internal hiring managers on Twitter, you might be the first to find out about job openings at the employer of your choice.

When the Minneapolis office of Weber Shandwick was looking to hire a junior Web developer, the digital strategy manager, Greg Swan, sent a 136-character tweet to over 2,000 followers which read: "Weber Shandwick Minneapolis looking for mid-level html developer and PSD slicer. Plus you get to work with me. DM or @ me for more info."

Doug Hamlin, 23, landed the job after responding with his résumé and information.
Job seekers can also seek out and follow professional recruiters, like Shane Bernstein, to get first dibs on job opportunities.

Bernstein runs an IT talent agency based in Los Angeles and says he uses social networking exclusively to find candidates for technical jobs.

"Social network is going to take over job boards," he said. The greatest advantage to Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and LinkedIn is that job candidates and employers can meet through people. Those connections make it easier to break the ice, he said.

Too much information

But for job seekers, there can also be a downside to that type of access. "It does open up a more 360 degree view," Fathi cautioned.

A prospective employer may see your friends, your pictures and your personal information, "so you can't have drunken pictures of yourself in Cancun," she said.

For starters, Fathi recommends cleaning up your online image. Job seekers should do a Google search on their own name to get a sense of what information is out there.

Because of their popularity, social networking sites will generally pop up first. But make sure the privacy settings are activated so that a potential employer can only access the content that is appropriate.

If a Google search returns no results at all, that means that you don't have an online presence, which is also a bad thing.

Fathi recommends that job seekers immediately create a LinkedIn profile, a Facebook page, join Twitter and any relevant professional networks or communities in your field.

"Even adding your name to a directory or commenting on a high profile blog can create new content for a prospect employer to find when searching for information on you," she said.

If recruiters use it to screen candidates, why can't colleges?

Facebook in admissions: Is it ever OK to peek at an applicant's page?
Posted 4/29/2009 12:44 PM EDT USA TODAY

A report released today by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, revives an evolving discussion about whether it's OK for schools to make admissions decisions based on what an applicant has posted on Facebook or similar account.

The Big Brother-like implications of doing so is what gets people's dander up. But I get the feeling that most college admissions officials recognize and respect the ethical issues involved in such a practice.

Of more than 500 colleges and universities surveyed last year, 17% said they used a social networking site and 23% said they used a search engine to research potential students. Those numbers represent drops from the previous year, when more than 400 colleges were surveyed. In 2007, 21% said they used social networking sites and 26% said they used search engines. The respondents represented a cross section of types of colleges nationwide.

Should we make something out of the declining numbers? Survey author Nora Ganum Barnes, director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, said the dips are within the margin of error and cannot be considered significantly different. It's worth mentioning that Kaplan Test Prep and Admission last year found an even lower rate of use for schools it surveyed: just 10% of 320 admissions officials surveyed said they have visited an applicant’s social networking site. The company surveyed schools with the most selective admissions.

I wonder if the dips reflect a certain ambivalence among admissions officials about whether to acknowledge what they do. "I think there was a little hesitation," Barnes told me. "If this is the number of schools that openly tell us they do it, there probably are others, too."

But Susan Starke, vice president of enrollment management at the University at Binghamton, told me a decline wouldn't surprise her. "College interest may have peaked and waned," she says. Starke said those sites are, essentially, none of her business. Even if potentially damaging information is available publicly, "Students feel this is a private site for their friends. We want to look at what a student sends in and tells us about."

Robert Maddox, electronic recruitment coordinator at St. Mary's College of Maryland, St. Mary's City, says he, too, thinks most colleges have moved beyond using Facebook to evaluate students. "We don't want to infringe on their personal space," he says.

While I can imagine the temptation to check out the occasional Facebook page to try to get more context about an applicant, I suspect most schools don't have the time to Google students or sift through Facebook pages -- smaller schools probably have fewer staff available to take on such a chore, and larger schools simply get too many applicants. I'd be interested in hearing what readers have to say on this topic. Is it ever OK to take a look at an applicant's Facebook page?

Source: USA Today - http://www.usatoday.com/community/profile.htm?UID=ca617b94859be53c&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3aca617b94859be53cPost%3aba35e9b9-1e19-447e-bc12-62d31d1a08e3

Discuss this and more topics at www.iqpc.com/us/socialmedia

Facebook: An Employer's Secret Recruiting Weapon

Checkout this podcast from Johnny Taylor Jr., President and CEO of Rushmoredrive.com.

http://www.humanresourcesiq.com/podcenter.cfm?externalID=111

Spontaneous sharing of insights and ideas

We asked Toni-Ann Mills of Fenwal, Inc.: How did you get started in social media? What is your favorite social media platform (what do you like to do)?

I got started in social media because I was looking for an efficient way to have brief and ongoing connections with colleagues at work and elsewhere. Social Media goes beyond the bonds of more formal methods and so opens up opportunities for the spontaneous sharing of insights and ideas. I particularly like the global aspects of most of the platforms I use and the ease with which I can converse and share materials with others on a global basis. It is very difficult to pick just one platform. I have personally found blogs to be a great place to store information and then be able to reflect on growth and change and take on board the feedback and input of others. I use several instant messaging programs to make quick contact with others – especially when I want to give a less formal aspect to the conversations. Youtube provides a wealth of examples for training purposes and Wikis give me a feeling of having personal access to the brain power of many. I use Facebook, Myspace and photosharing programs for staying touch with family and friends in the USA and Australia.

In the work environment we find the social media aspects of SharePoint – blogs, workflows, personal and group pages, team discussions, calendars etc have spurred all of us to do better more easily.

I am sold on the value of social media because it is within the reach of everyone, it is easy to use and it provides the most up-to-date information and communications.

Hear Toni-Ann on Tuesday, June 9th at http://www.iqpc.com/Event.aspx?id=178796.

Getting buy-in from senior management from John Failla of Eze Castle Integrations

How difficult/easy was it to get buy-in from senior management to use social media?

Introducing social media in any organization is a change management initiative, and must be part of a change management process. Any change in process within an organization must:
a) fit into the general growth strategy, and;
b) have senior management buy-in.
Any organization will have plenty of social media users, but it has been my experience that these users are usually the rank-and-file and middle management. The exceptions being of a few Social Corp pioneers such as Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos), Michael Dell (CEO of Dell), IBM, Sun Microsystems, Proctor and Gamble, etc., most of the senior management team is somewhat removed from the social media movement. Getting their buy-in in social media is the same as getting their buy-in with any change management initiative.

The first step is to go through some basic education with your senior management team and get them to understand the “W” questions (who, what, where, when, and why). Supplying the benefits along with a little education will go a long way in gaining their support. Fortunately, the company I’m working for now is accepting and opened to the social media trend, but I have not always been that lucky. There are many organizations out there, for one reason or another, are concerned about their employees misrepresenting their message, brands and products. For those who are experiencing this challenge, it is important to leverage proof (just Google: “Unhappy employees/customers + social media and you’ll have plenty of evidence) that there is little to do to suppress a misrepresentation from employees (and customers too).

Incorporating a social media culture within an organization is about trust and transparency. Relationships between your company and your customers, senior management and employees, and the industry you are operating in and the rest of the world. If trust and transparency are a big issue with your organization, getting buy-in from senior management might be a real challenge if not impossible. So, when you are having lots of difficulty with senior management buy-in, you might want to focus on taking some risk and ask for forgiveness instead of permission.

Here are a few of the benefits that I have used with some of my senior management discussions/presentations:

1. Unfettered access to all types of information – consumer/client buying habits, brand recognition, ‘what’s the competition doing’, (product) support issues, etc.
2. A renewed awareness of the company brand and its perception – Can you think of anything better than a continuous discussion on the brand?
3. 360° Engagement with every aspect of the organization – clients, employees, vendors, partners, etc.
4. Collaboration – online message boards, wikis, microblogging, etc. These are a wonderful way to enhance all collaboration efforts. An excellent example of this is Dell’s IdeaStorm, (http://www.ideastorm.com/) which enables Dell to gauge which ideas are most important and relevant to their customers and the general public.
5. Better control over the company’s marketing message.
6. Internally, social media tools can leverage status information, training, best practices and other silo-eliminating benefits.
7. Promote a thought leadership position within your industry.

Getting buy-in from your senior management on using Social Media, should be addressed like any other change management initiative. Briefly educate your company leaders, show them the benefits with tangible and intangible ROI and articulate the risks. By following this model, you will be able to generate interest and hopefully a healthy dialogue with your senior management team about embracing the social media culture.

See John speak at http://www.iqpc.com/Event.aspx?id=178794

How employees are responding to social media in the workplace

We asked Avi Singer, Director of OD for Undertone Networks, his thoughts on how employees are responding to social media in the workplace?

Well, this may be result of the the fact that I have worked in organizations with a relatively young employee base, but I find that the employees I work with love the use of social media in the workplace. Innovation is something that they have grown up with and appreciate the fact that their work tools mimic the tools they use in their own social lives. In the same way that they could not imagine working without email or instant messaging they are perfectly comfortable using Linkedin to enhance their personal brands and presence, using blogs as a way of sharing knowledge or even using Twitter.

The other great aspect of their comfort level with social media is their willingness to "play in the sandbox" and help us test out new tools that may, or may not, become useful in the workplace. They're not afraid to try almost anything and give frank feedback about how they feel about the tools.

I imagine that there are work environments that are not as comfortable with the use of social media as a part of the work "toolkit", but they are probably the same companies that were late email adopters or are still trying to figure out whether or not employees should be able to use IM. They need to move past their own insecurities and realize that they are only holding themselves back. The upside of embracing social media heavily outways the potential downside.

See Avi speak at http://www.iqpc.com/Event.aspx?id=178794