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If You Build It, Will They Come? Seven Steps to Building Social Media Presence. follow this blog post

posted by on Aug. 27, 2009

 "If you build it, they will come."

Okay - I blatantly stole this from Field of Dreams. 

But applying this to social media, if you build a social media presence, will your target audience flock to you?  Not always.

Most recruiters feel compelled to try social media as a recruiting tool. Just like everything else, results and opinions vary.  With social media's immediate accessibility, it's easy to jump on board and just try it. What I find is that some recruiters put in the bare minimum (information and time) and expect amazing results.  It won't happen if you can't be found.

If you've been disappointed with results in the past, take a deep breath and step away from the computer. Here are seven steps to improve the chances of your target audience finding your social media presence.

  • Put your ear to the virtual ground and listen. What's your web presence right now? Type your name into Zuula. (Gives easy access to Google, Bing, Yahoo, Gigablast, Exalead, Alexa, Entireweb and Mahalo.) Do you like what you see? Anything surprise you?
  • Consider your current resources. Are there co-workers or colleagues that might be interested in joining your effort? Fresh, interesting content helps build presence. Are marketing materials already available? What information and content can you beg and borrow instead of developing it from the ground up? When borrowing - be sure to give credit to your source.
  • Create your social media strategy. Who do you want to reach and where do they congregate? What is your purpose? What message do you want to present? Are you attracting your community of candidates to build a network? Are you retaining your network? Are you establishing credibility as a subject matter expert?
  • Choose your venue. Considering your strategy, what social media applications and networks will serve you best? LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter all have different demographics and purposes. Are there special interest groups that gather the individuals that you are targeting? (i.e. LinkedIn Group - ERE.net) Where are your targets
  • Build your presence. Go slowly here. Select a social network and completely and thoughtfully fill out the profile. Social networking is about sharing and transparency. If you share openly about yourself, your community will share with you. Make sure your direct contact information is, readily available. Provide links to your other social network profiles. Within the network, search for yourself by keywords to see how easily you can be found. If you don't come up, rework your profile with those keywords to make sure you are visible.
  • Publicize your existence. Invite members of the community to join your network. If you create content to share - cross pollinate! Publicize it on all your social networks. Tweet it. Share it in your LinkedIn Group Discussions. Post it in your LinkedIn and Facebook Status. (But when posting, don't always be promoting yourself. Dialog within your community. Try to add value in communications. Promote yourself only 25% of the time.)
  • Have patience. Social media presence takes time to build. The best time to build social media presence is when you don't need it. (Haven't we all received a request to connect from someone who is recently unemployed?) Longevity within a social network proves you're not a flash in the pan. If you are using this as a recruiting tool, you need to establish trust. Dialog. Contribute content. Ask questions. Answer questions. Comment on others' content.

 

A 2009 study by Nielson On-line found that time spent in social media usage (member community usage) ranked fourth and just outpaced time spent on-line e-mailing. Over 50% of the workplace is made up of "native users" who favor social networking over e-mail.   (Gen X and Y's who text without looking and feel that e-mail is antiquated.) This number grows daily.  Are you positioned for conversations with this growing group?

 You don't have to dedicate your life to it. You do have to invest a reasonable amount of time - and that's a personal determination.

If you're already there, what's worked for you?  How much time do you spend?  What can you add? 

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  • 1 point 2 months ago

    @Ben - I watched your video and it was great.  I hope to come to San Diego this spring - and attend your 6th. 

    @Adriana - Name recognition - I agree that LinkedIn has so many subtle ways to do it.  I set a goal to leave a comment, post, recommendation or update once a day.  It's unobtrusive and don't have to be read - but your name appears every day.

  • 1 point 2 months ago

    Sue - Excellent post.  I agree with everything that you wrote here as social media is indeed a 'contact sport'.  Like many tools, I too often see recruiters try them out, fail to get instant gratification, then state that the tool is worthless.

    Building your social media presence absolutlely requires patience.  You cannot amass the number of followers, readers and/or community members to acheive measureable results overnight.  And once you create your presence, it is critical to proactively drive traffic to these sites, not only through social media sources, but through email and even print collateral such as a flyer or business card handed out at a college career fair.

    One other benefit of patience is that the more effort you put into these tools and the longer you stick with them, the better they will be search engine optimized.

    RSM McGladrey has been very active in the social media space for over a year now.  You can learn more about what we are doing via the presentation I gave at the Spring ERE Expo earlier this year: http://tinyurl.com/l8n35d

  • 1 point 2 months ago

    This is great advice, Sue, and thanks for sharing!  One thing I can add, with reference to using LinkedIn, is to make sure and stay "active".  As you build a good solid network of connections and groups, you want them to see you as a good resource and subject matter expert.  By adding comments to discussions or even starting one yourself, this provides more visibility and people start to notice your expertise and active involvement.  Make sure to also provide recommendations which encourage others to recommend you.  These activities appear on updates which are e-mailed to your network and continually remind your connections who you are and what you do.  There are many different ways to stay active on LinkedIn so make sure to seek out those that get you noticed!