Dave and I had the opportunity to attend two national real estate conferences last week in San Diego and Las Vegas. While we attempt to stay connected with our clients year-round, there is nothing that replaces making the personal, face-to-face connections that happen at these types of venues.
I'm always amazed at how much we learn by talking with those who run businesses on a day-to-day basis. The school of real life is a relentless taskmaster, but a faithful teacher of truth. Gleaning these truths from our interactions and passing them on to those who read WorkPuzzle is one of the things I enjoy most about my job.
One area that remains to be of keen interest among many owners and first level managers is the topic of social networking as it applies to recruiting. It would seem that this arena has so much potential, but the benefits have been very difficult to capture, measure, and scale. We're really in the infancy of how social networking can be used to benefit the recruiting process.
Of course, the only way to learn is to experiment. And many of these "experiments" have produced disasterous results. In fact, there is a trend emerging where candidates are pushing back on clumsy attempts to use social networking for recruiting. I've read several articles in the last week or so on what NOT to do when trying to promote your employment brand and recruit in the social networking arena.
One of the best articles was written by Kathy Rapp, the Managing Director of hrQ. Kathy recently took three months of maternity leave and was able to use that time to be a third party observer of the social networking state of affairs. Here is what she noticed:
"I can't tell you how many people I've now hidden or turned-off because of the immense amount of social vomiting they do on a daily basis. You know what I'm talking about. There were those who continuously self-promote; those who posted every semi-humorous you-tube video of commercials, bands or cats; or those who simply retweeted everything they could without a single comment as to why I should take time to click on the link.
On the flip side were people who were extremely thoughtful in their posts, blogs or commentary. Those who produced informative reads or insights that made me want to learn more. I really, really came to appreciate the QUALITY of the communication.
When you are trying to establish your personal brand, company presence, networking reach, or just responding to a post, remember quality over quantity. While I may know your name because of the number of tweets you are tied to, if I associate your name with 'annoying' I doubt it is the message you want to deliver.
An example of a company that gets the quality concept: HomeAway. Two years ago they jumped off a big cliff and produced a Super Bowl ad with the much talked about return of Clark and the Griswold family. This year, it was the introduction of the Ministry of Detourism.
They've tiptoed into other social media realms, and as such whenever I see the clever blue birdhouse, I tend to read what has been posted. Excellent example of company branding that emphasizes quality communication over quantity, which also happens to be one of the concepts they are selling to their customers."
Take an inventory of what you're sharing on your social networks. Are you guilty of a little "social vomiting" of your own? I hope not, but it sometimes is difficult to tell what's inappropriate to share. It's a little like trying to figure out if you have bad breath--you may not be able to tell, and others are uncomfortable letting you know. Next time, I'll cover some guidelines on what is appropriate to share and how you can turn your social network into a professional asset.
Editor's Note: This article was written by Ben Hess. Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle. Comments or questions are welcome. If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email. If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.
Comments