One Voice
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UPDATE: Recently, Bobby Specht (@BobSpecht) turned me on to a couple other social media tools that measure online presence. This is the reason I have the string of characters above, so I can have my blog added to my Emire Avenue account. Please check out his comments and check out the sites!
If you haven’t listened to any of the Zac Brown Band songs live I want you to stop reading, listen to “Martin (Live)” on iTunes and then continue reading. Zac Brown sounds the exact same in his live songs and he does his studio produced songs, which is what makes him my favorite artist. I believe that one of the reasons Zac Brown is so successful is because he has One Voice. Fortunately for me, he is performing at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, MO at the end of July, so I will get to see him perform with Kenny Chesney, Billy Currington and Uncle Cracker. Of course, Zac Brown has more live songs than “Martin” and even more songs that come from the studio. So what does any of this have to do with advertising, marketing or public relations? And why I am using another country singer as an intro to my blog post? Well, I love country music, so that’s what I’m using him in my intro. And this is how he relates to adverting, marketing and public relations: your online presence should have one voice, but it can sing different songs. If you can overlook that metaphor, let’s take a look at what I really mean…
My online presence consists of mostly the following: my blog, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. I use each of these outlets for different reasons.
Facebook is my most “social” presence online. My motives behind Facebook have little to do with advancing my position in the professional arena. I use it to connect with friends, keep in touch and interact with those who I can’t see on a regular basis. I do this through comments, photos, events, pages and causes. But just because I don’t use Facebook as a tool to seek employers DOESN’T mean that employers aren’t using Facebook to check out potential employees. Here is a prime example, courtesy of http://workathomemafia.com and whoever this guy is :
This is my profile picture from the Kentucky Derby.
See the difference?
It might be a date party, a lost bet, Halloween or maybe this is how he wants to dress. Whatever the occasion, does this picture make you want to hire him? While my picture may not make you want to hire me, it also doesn’t give the illusion that I could be a threat to your company’s image. Social media has proven it is here to stay and its use is only on the rise. More and more employers are using social media to scan their potential employees. This can work against you (as it has here) but you also have the opportunity to make it work for you. Make your Facebook profile appropriate for everyone, share your interests so employers can get to know you beyond your resume. Let Facebook paint a good picture of the social tones in your online voice. And at the very least, use your profile privacy settings! If you aren’t my friend, you can go here and see what my profile would look like to potential employees. If you need more tips on Facebook, see my previous post.
If you haven’t heard it yet, you’re about to. Your presence on Twitter should be 75% professional and 25% personal. Some people get very turned off by this statistic because they think, “I’ve been at work all day, why would I want to talk about it even more?” But in this case, professional doesn’t have to mean business, if you ask me. Twitter is a great way to stay current on your industry (which hopefully you find at least a little bit exciting, considering you are working in that industry) and you can interact with other professionals and experts so you can learn and help other learn, plus you’ll probably be making some great connections. Plus, I don’t know a company that wouldn’t enjoy some positive PR if you tweet about some of the company successes or interactions with the community. You can also use Twitter to support national causes (two of my favorites are @SU2C and @LIVESTRONG) and still have a professional tone. Not to mention, you can stay up to date on current events by following accounts such as @CNN, @CNBC, @FoxNews or @nytimes. These interactions are still saying that you know how to act professional online, even if you aren’t talking about your profession. Still in school? Tweet things about your school or college and make sure to follow the accounts that are relevant to you and your community (but save the ones about sports for your personal tweets). When it comes to personal tweets, feel free to interact with your friends and family, or post something funny you saw or thought of. People like to be entertained and there is no point in using social media if you can’t be social with it. Just remember, not every thought that jumps into your head on the subway is a golden nugget. So be sure to filter those, and throw in some solid professional tweets that tells others you’ve got the ability to balance your online presence, people will listen!
Clearly this is your most direct avenue to sell yourself as a professional. With opportunities to connect with other professionals, businesses and organizations, you’ve got a lot of opportunity. But just having a LinkedIn isn’t going to quite cut it. If you don’t plan on being standstill in your professional life, why let your professional profile come to a stand still? If you are continuing to grow as a professional, use LinkedIn to show that. There are many different ways to enhance your profile on LinkedIn, you just need to find what is right for you. There are applications you can use to upload some of your work, you can show what you’ve been reading or even where you are traveling to (so you can connect with professionals in the are). Plus your blog and Twitter account can always been connected (fortunately there is a way you can filter which tweets make it on linked in by using #ln).
4 Square
While it may not carry as much clout as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, just make sure that every now and then you check-in to some place other than a bar. You never know who is watching!
Blogs
Blogs are a great place to bring everything together. Your twitter can be on your homepage, you can have links to Facebook and LinkedIn and you can write about things professional and personal. You can even say things about yourself through your blog lay out and design. Your blog is a great place to show who you really are and what you have done, can do or what to do in the future! The most important thing, to me, when it comes to blogging is making sure that you’re not trying to be someone/something you’re not. You’ve worked so hard to voice a consistent and positive online presence though your social media outlets, make sure you strengthen it by showing who YOU are in your blog.
So lets recap a little, here is my simple equation: Facebook (Social) + Twitter (Life & Balance) + LinkeIn (Professional) + 4sqaure (Activities) = Your Online Voice
Overall, make sure you are paying to your photos and your content closely. I chose a lot of my profile photos to be the same and for a lot of my social media outlets to interact with each other. My blog posts to Twitter and Facebook, my LinkedIn and blog are available from Twitter, my blog and my Twitter are available from LinkedIn and everything is available at my blog, so it is important that my content, my writing style and my voice all compliment each other to tell the world who I am.Your online presence can be your best PR friend or your worst PR nightmare, so be careful, but have fun!
I hope this post has helped in some way, shape or form! There are a lot of opinions out there on social media, so please feel free to leave a comment and we can talk about all things social!
- Reed Pankratz
Posted on June 28, 2011, in Uncategorized and tagged 4square, ADV, advertising, blog, facebook, intern, job, linkedin, marketing, MKTG, pr, professional, public relations, resume, search, social, social media, twitter, voice. Bookmark the permalink. 7 Comments.
Another great post. I definitely need to work on making my Twitter slightly more professional as time goes by. What’s this 4square business about? Would you recommend getting one?
4-square is a social media app where you can “check-in” to different locations. When you check in, you can also see who is there and you receive points for visiting that venue. There are different ways to collect more points (which can earn you “badges”) and if you have the most check-ins at a location, then you become the “Mayor”. Businesses are also using this application to offer people special deals and discounts if you show them that you have checked-in there or if you are the mayor. It’s an app that I use mostly for fun and to pick up some good deals every now and then. It could also come in handy if you are visiting a new area and want to use the GPS to see what is around you. If you want one, then go for it! But you can see how just checking-in to bars could affect the perception of how you spend your time, so it is a good idea to use it to showcase a lot of the other things you do.
“Foursquare-While it may not carry as much clout as Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter.”
Found irony in the fact you used the word “clout” while Klout.com takes into account those 3 social networks but not Foursquare.
Do you use Klout.com? I’m not really 100% sure what it is for yet.
Klout’s basically meant to show your influence in social media…or rather how important you are online. People in my office brag about it and some they’ll put it on their next resume. If your getting into a social media field I wouldn’t be shocked for it to be required soon.
You may also find http://www.peerindex.net/ and http://www.empireavenue.com/ interesting.
The world is changing extremely fast, and those who are apt and can adjust to it are going to come out ahead over the next 10 years.
I already jumped on the Klout train. I like it. I will have to check out the other two soon. I have heard good things about peerindex. Thanks for the tips!
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