Not sure if I like this or not?
Have a look at let me know what you think. It’s cheeky and cheap (the bit I like I think), missing the point of social media entirely, and totally not what this agency should be using Twitter for. I’m sure they have heard of Seek, so why just mirror your jobs and not engage with your target candidate market instead?
Over the weekend I finally went and saw Inception. Unless you have been living under a rock you know this movie has something to do with dreams, and stealing them. On the surface that is initially what it is about, however as the movie progresses the key plot is planting an idea in someone’s dream/subconscious so that when they wake they will think the idea is their own.
Sounds simple right, wrong. And without giving away any more of the movie for those who haven’t seen it yet, (Go see it now) I want to focus on that point, “planting an idea in someone’s dream/subconscious so that when they wake they will think the idea is their own”.
Something dawned on me when I heard this and thought back to my recent Social Sofa episode with Steve Ludlow. Steve mentioned that the benefit that his business receives out of Social Media is that he gets to communicate with his network and does not feel the necessity to sell to them at every opportunity. With a more engaging and sharing approach, Steve has been able to fill 25% of his positions via Social Media in the last 12 months, without the need to sell or broadcast/spam his jobs.
Engaging with your network, providing interesting and varied content, encouraging feedback, conversation and no selling. When someone within your network is seeking a new career opportunity, they reach out to you, without the thought of another company. Without realising it they have you in their subconscious as the “Go To” company and it was all their idea. Did I hear you say Social Media Inception?
If this is not your strategy perhaps it should be, or at least be forming a large part of your social media communication, engagement and content creation strategy.
Social Media Inception, not a bad thought/approach if you ask me, what are your thoughts?
This week’s Social Sofa is with Tim Bull and focuses on a great new Australian start-up company Tribalytic. Tribalytic is a twitter analytics tool to help you filter the noise and focus on the topics you need to listen to. Currently they are in closed beta and only index Australian users, however this is fantastic news for all of those Australian companies out there wanting to understand their market segment a little more via social media.
I have had a play around with the Tribalytic and I must say it is quite impressive. As their stream widens and new features come on board it will certainly be a part of SR360′s tools to use.
Click here to watch! Scroll to the bottom for this episode.
Gaining valued Twitter followers and building your Twitter network is hard work and there is no exact science. I have listed below what I think are some straight forward things you can do to build a stronger relevant network on Twitter.
What other tips or advice have you got?
Amazing stats this morning from Nielsen showing the growth of Social Media usage in Australia. If this doesn’t make the HR/recruitment industry realise there is a HUGE LOST OPPORTUNITY in not being in the Social Media game then I don’t know what will.
Here is a brief overview:
9 million Australians now interact via social networks
Content sharing is the most popular activity
4 in 5 Australian Internet users have shared a photo
Twitter usage grew by 400% in 2009
Nearly 3/4 of Australians read a wiki
2 in 5 Australians interact with companies via social networks
Add to this that LinkedIn reported last week to now have 1 million users in Australia and the arguments just keep stacking up for everyone to jump on board. You can download the 3 page report here
Social Recruiting Use-The-Force
Ah Star Wars, how I love thee. Three amazing films, well ahead of their time with ideas and special effects, and then 3 movies that left a little bit to be desired, but I’m not going to go into that today. The Star Wars story, the original 3, centered around Luke Skywalker and his father Darth Vader, Jedi Knights with abilities that mere mortals can only dream of.
They can convince people to do what they wish, move items at will, fight with a light sabre like its a chopstick and essentially are the keepers of peace, and the instigator of evil. One wants to rule the Universe, while the other is there to keep things in harmony. “The Force” which gives these Jedi Knights their powers is EVERYTHING. It is the living organisms, the buildings, people, anything you can imagine has some element of The Force surrounding it. The Jediss use this to their advantage (or for Evil for Mr Vadar) and extract what they can out of every situation.
The most famous line for me, and one that we all use on a regular basis is “Use the Force”. When I want something done, or someone else to do something, “Use The Force” is always thrown in there. Maybe I haven’t grown up, but that’s not the point and I have to eventually relate this to Social Recruiting.
So what is “The Force” for recruiters and companies trying to find the best talent in the market? Your Network!
Call it a community, a tribe, a bunch of people, call it what you will, but a recruiters “Force” is the breadth and extensiveness of your professional network. You see the more you are networking, be it via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs, Events (yes something offline, it still exists) the list goes on, the better access you have to finding what you are looking for. If you are not using Social Media to assist with this, I have nothing to say other then YOU ARE MAD!!!!! Never before have you been able to network so EASILY…..
It may not always be a candidate for that open position, you could need some specific industry information, a recommendation on your work or help with just about anything and your network will be there for you, Use the “Force”.
So next time as a recruiter you are sitting there wondering where your next candidate or client is going to come from, or you need that specific piece of information that will win you a deal, or best yet you are seeking a new position, double check how much time and effort you have spent building your network of contacts across the various social media channels and how you can leverage “Your Force”…..or are you mad?
PS. George Lucas has no copyright on this blog post at all.
It sounds funny to say that content isn’t King when referring to a blog site or any information that you are seeking about a particular topic. The information stored within a site/blog/book is paramount to learning something new and furthering our minds. But when that content is put in front of you time and time again, every day multiple times a day, with no other option but to delete it, it is no longer helpful or wanted. It is SPAM.
My example of this is Jeff Bullas, and his tweet’s that ran at a rampant 90 or so a day (yes i have checked this) of his blog articles. Now don’t get me wrong, the content that Jeff has is brilliant, I will be one of the first people to should his praises for his insight into Social Media and how effective it is. I have garnered much knowledge from his postings and will stay tuned in to his future blogs.
What I will say though is Jeff, if your listening, tone down the barrage of tweet’s that we have all seen 100 times already and engage with us. I say this with respect to Jeff and his knowledge. Auto Tweets, and more importantly auto DM’s simply are not effective, not at the rate they come through. They reek of laziness and show little respect for your network. I want to hear more of what Jeff has to say and although with his large following it can be difficult to reply to everything, surely a few “human interactions” would be better then the bot approach we see now.
Jeff, I actually received an Auto DM from your account saying “Thanks for the RT”, whilst this may be a nice gesture, I did not RT any of your tweets, I in fact said to you “why do you repost everything 100 times”?. This to me is a contradiction of everything engaging and interactive about Social Media and clearly not in tune with my tweet. I felt cheated.
I encourage everyone to read Jeff’s blog, there is some brilliant content there and we can all learn a lot from his knowledge and insights into Social Media.
Jeff I love your work but please talk to us, turn off the Auto Posts that are starting to become SPAM and join in the conversation.
P.S This is not a personnel attack on Jeff and his work, just highlighting the need for engaging interactions rather then Spam like tweets.
Social Media
I was thinking about this movie the other day and noticed some stark connections between the concept of a collective mind producing outcomes for a desired positive goal. You see the 3 collective minds, lets call them, Twitter, Facebook and Youtube, were all working together to produce a result. They all had their unique strengths and all played off each other to get the desired outcome.
Tom Cruise, lets call him “HR Director”, would watch all of this play out on video and be one step ahead of the game thanks to the forward thoughts of his assistant, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The three would talk to him in a unique way that no one else had access to and allow him to forward plan strategies to save the day.
Armed with this knowledge there was nothing that “HR Director” couldn’t achieve. HR Director had the deepest insights into the rest of the world, lets call this the “global community” and could plan well in advance. Now that HR Director understood his community, the engagement levels were heightened to a level that was never previously dreamed of. The Community was now a juggernaut and there was no stopping it. Plans could be changed well in advance and industry changes and community sentiment were known before others had thought about researching it.
So does life imitate art or does art imitate life? Or have I had to many sleepless nights of late?
Believe or not, over the last week talking with clients I have been asked this question 4 times now by prospective clients wanting to get into the Social Media/Social Recruiting space. It wasn’t necessarily the question that shocked me (well it did but) it was more the fact that these companies had not as yet done there research and identified what benefit Twitter can bring to their business as well as to their own knowledge in the market place.
As with any new tool or fancy gadget it is imperative that you undertake all of the necessary research first to find out if it is right for you, but also what benefit you can expect from your investment in time and money. You won’t just go buy any 52″ LCD TV now will you? Social Media is no different. I myself was totally against joining Twitter when I was first introduced to it, however my scepticism of it “being a waste of time” was quickly shot down.
Here is a list of why I now value Twitter so highly.
1. Build a network of contacts within your industry that you never had access to or knew about before, not just locally, but globally.
2. Share your knowledge and expertise on a global basis
3. Discover new opinions and thoughts from like minded people in your industry, locally and globally
4. Great way to engage with future clients, the Twitter community are a very approachable bunch.
5. Great way to engage with current clients.
6. Build your company reputation through constant engagement and quality content.
7. Build your personal reputation as a thought leader and industry specialist
8. When it’s organised, great way to meet your network through Tweet-ups and like minded events, building your personal contacts and forging friendships.
9. Your Network will bend over backwards to help you with things that you never would have expected. Trust me, it’s true.
10. Listen, watch and learn. You don’t have to contribute 24/7, there are great learning’s to be had just by watching your feed sometimes.
11. It’s FUN
If that is not enough reasons then maybe Twitter isn’t for you. But if it is, what are you waiting for?
