Your Job Search and the Golden Rules of Social Marketing
10 years ago the average job search was done on the phone or by “beating the street” to find openings. The lucky few, who could afford it, used their local post office to mail out resumes and save time. In today’s technology driven society, there are many more efficient ways to find openings and get your resume in front of a hiring manager. The most effective style of marketing to use in a job search today is social media marketing, but to use this form of marketing you have to understand social media.
Social media, also known as Web 2.0, is the new evolution of the internet. In the new model of the internet, users control information. If a group of people find value in information they can share, promote, and market the information. If people find information useless or un-valuable, they move on. Information that is not useful is ignored, it is not promoted, and ultimately it is buried under the countless other mountains of web pages and blogs. The key to marketing on social media is to understand readers and what makes information popular and repeatable.
The first step to marketing in Web 2.0 is the creation of your social network. For more information on social networking, check out my earlier blog post about Establishing a Social Networking Presence to Propel Your Job Search. Once your network is established, you can leverage these connections to spread the word about your job search and market yourself as a likely candidate. Alternatively, if you push your network too hard you can weaken relationships or even lose out on a potential position.
To market through your social network, you must remember the golden rules of social media. These golden rules will expand your network. Following these rules will increase the likelihood that people will tell others about your idea job. This approach will also expand your unique personal brand.
The first golden rule is to focus on the reader. Unlike the traditional web, Web 2.0 is about the reader not about the writer. When contributing on social media focus on sharing something. Share information, share your thoughts or opinions, or share a picture or video. Just keep sharing things you think will benefit the reader.
The second rule is to focus on your personal brand. For instance, if you are looking for a job as an airline pilot, focus on sharing information about the airline industry, new models of airliners, or possibly picture from your weekend hobby as a flight instructor. This focused sharing will help establish you as a leader in that particular space.
The third rule is to give more than you get. If all of the information you post online is related to your resume, very few people will be interested in your media presence. On the other hand, if your media presence is focused on sharing things related to your brand, most people will be happy to promote the information you share.
The fourth rule is to ask for what you want. Be direct. If you are looking for a job as an airline pilot, tell your social network about the perfect job. Ask them if they can help you find that dream job. Most importantly, do so regularly. If you talk about or ask about the perfect job every 20th to 25th post you will be well received by your network and still re-enforce your objective.
Related posts:
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...
This is a great post, and as an online strategist and reputation manager I can only agree with the ‘four golden rules’ listed here. Should make compulsory reading for all ‘Generation Y’ jobseekers.
The four golden rules is great. The jobseekers will be more interested and with all that strategy they can apply.
-John @ Job Duties
Great post.
It’s worth mentioning that there are also online tools to help you find jobs posted through Twitter and other social media sites – meaning you can apply for jobs that you otherwise might not have even heard of.
Leave your response!