70% of HR Pros have Disqualified a Candidate Because of their Online Reputation
According to a new survey by Microsoft, Online reputation matters more than you think.
- 70% of HR Professionals have disqualified a candidate due to their online reputation.
- Only 15% of consumers think that their online reputation matters in their job search.
Yikes. HR Pros and Recruiters are actively using online reputation in assessing candidates, yet candidates don’t seem to think it matters. Clear disconnect. If you are looking for a job WAKE UP! It matters. Worry about your reputation before you are looking for a job.
- 63% of consumers think that their online reputation may impact their personal/professional life.
- Less than 50% consider their reputation when posting comment.
Again, clear disconnect. You know that what you post online could impact your persona life, but when posting content online you don’t think about it. Think. Before you post something online think about how it impacts your personal reputation. Are you OK with that?
There is Good News.
86% of HR professionals (and at least two thirds of those in the U.K. and Germany) stated that a positive online reputation influences the candidate’s application to some extent; almost half stated that it does so to a great extent.
So think before you post. It may make more of a difference than you think.
Social Media – Should your Intern do It?
This is a question that comes up over and over again. I’ve even been asked to train interns at a University because their employers wanted them to “do social media marketing”. Why was I training these youngsters who are supposed to know everything about social media and the internet? Because they know how to use it socially, but not professionally.
It would be like asking the kid who watches the most TV at your office to “do tv advertising”.
The reality is that while younger people understand how social media works, they lack an understanding of how to use it strategically as a part of an integrated marketing strategy. They know how to add friends and post photos, and sure they have probably even fanned a few brands. But that doesn’t mean that they know how to represent your brand and drive business value online.
Marketers need to stop being intimidated by the technology.
Learning the technology isn’t hard. It isn’t hard to create a facebook account, or even a page. It isn’t hard to start a blog. It isn’t hard to set up a twitter account. The technology is the easiest part. These sites are designed so that an average (or probably well below average) intelligence individual can use them.
The hard part is the strategy. Who is the target market? What are they interested in? What can I talk to them about? What will engage them and help me break through the noise and clutter? How can I bring my brand equity and positioning to life? What sites is my target on? What opportunities are there for brands and marketers on these sites? Who in my organization should handle social media?
These are just some of the strategic questions that need to be answered.
Can an intern answer these? Maybe. Do they have training and coaching from an internal person who understands these things? Is this similar to the way you handle other media? Do you have an intern “figure out tv” or “tell us what to do with print”?
Social media is tricky. It is new. The rules change. The downside can be big.
That doesn’t mean that you can’t tackle it correctly and strategically.
Don’t treat social media like the ugly duckling and pawn it off on the most junior person in your organization. One of the biggest reasons that companies fail to see results from their social media efforts is that they don’t give it adequate attention. ROI and results are there – and companies who do it right are benefiting from this.
I gave this answer at a presentation before, and someone in the audience asked if I was just trying to build my business by making it sound hard.
The reality is that I’m not asking you to think of social media or your digital strategy any differently than how you think of your other media. Treat it the same way. Be strategic. Have a plan. Execute consistently and with excellence. Then you’ll see ROI.
News: Most Popular Facebook Fan Pages
Ever curious which Facebook Fan Pages are the most popular?
Wonder no more – AllFacebook publishes a list of the most popular Facebook Fan Pages. While it is easy to jump to conclusions from these numbers and congratulate the winners, there are a number of questions to be answered first.
Were the fans added organically? Many big brands run Facebook ads to acquire fans – getting a ton of fans through ads is not as valuable as fans who seek you out to join.
Are you driving value from your fans? Having a bunch of fans is great, but so what? How are you engaging with your fans and continuing to drive value – for them, not you. How do you provide value to your fans?
Anyone else have thoughts on this list?
10 Ways to get More from your Facebook Fan Page
We talk about Facebook a lot – it is the largest (over 300 million registered users) and quickest growing social networks. Marketers are interested in Facebook not only because of the sheer size and growth, but because the user base is extremely active – 50% of Facebook users login every single day.
The Fan Page is one of the most popular ways to market brands online – but just creating a fan page isn’t enough. You have to have a plan for your fan page to actually add value. There are currently over 1.4 million Facebook Pages and they collect over 10 million fans every day.
Here are some tips to get more out of your Facebook Fan Page.
1. Create a content plan
Don’t just create a fan page and forget it. Create a plan of what content you will add and how frequently you will add it. Remember that your fan page updates show up in the newsfeeds of your fans. This can be a great way to reach your fans with relevant content. Create a content calendar that consists of multimedia (ie. links, text, photos and videos) to maximize your fan page and keep your fans engaged. Remember – provide them with something interesting or useful – don’t just update for the sake of it.
2. Extend your Fanpage
There are a lot of different plugins for Facebook Fan Pages. Plugins will allow you to do more with your fan page. If you are active on other social networks (twitter, Flickr, Youtube) you can set your fanpage to automatically pull that content in. To add to your Fan Page look in the administrator options under applications. You can add things like polls, contests, and many other fun things to engage your fans.
3. It isn’t Just about Selling
While direct marketers will be tempted to use Facebook to drive sales immediately, Facebook often works best with an indirect sales pitch. Rather than talking about your brand and product (which people may not care about), talk about the things related to your product that they are passionate about.
4. Provide Unique Value
The Dell Social Media for Small Business fan page is one of a number of fan pages from Dell. This page is a resource on Social Media for Small Business Owners. It features a guide to social media. This Fan Page has almost 35,000 fans and a lot of activity on the wall and discussion forums. By adding value you can engage with your fan base.
5. Refine with Analytics
One of the most powerful things about Facebook Fan Pages vs. Groups is that you have access to analytics. Facebook analytics allow you to track information about your fan base including – interactions, demographics, engagement, etc. Regularly looking at your analytics will help you to understand how engaged your fan base is. You can also use this to refine over time based on what works and what doesn’t work.
6. Integrate with Multi-Media
The Coca-Cola Facebook fan page has almost 4 million fans who are extremely active. The wall is full of Coke fans posting their own photos of coke. There are over 3,500 photos posted by fans on the fan page. By Coke fan page is engaging because it encourages fans to actively participate.
7. Run a Contest
The Tide fan page provides unique value to fans through coupons and contests. When you become a fan you get a $1 off coupon for a Tide Stain Pen. They also have weekly contests where you can win by uploading photos and engaging on Facebook or Twitter. This drives value and engagement for fans. The Tide Fan Page has over 100,ooo fans and hundreds of “likes” and “comments” – not bad for a laundry detergent…..
8. Get Found
Search engines are working to integrate Facebook into their search results. By using keywords in your profile and status updates you can enhance your SEO efforts both on Facebook and in regular Search Engines. Search Engine Optimization is often an unintended yet powerful result of effective social media marketing.
9. Integrate it with Other Campaigns
The Victoria’s Secret fan page integrated videos from a model casting into their Facebook Fan page. The result? They have over 2 million fans and their video about their model search has over 2400 likes and 200 comments.
They also use their fan page to promote their iphone app – the post on the iphone app has over 1400 likes and 80 comments. The engagement (liking or commenting) is especially powerful since it shows up in the news stream of the fan.
10. Be a Resource for your Community
The Toyota Prius facebook page includes an “ask an Expert” section where users can ask experts questions about Prius. The result? They have over 45,000 fans and an active discussion board. By being a valuable resource you can increase engagement with your fans.
Want to learn more? One great resource to check out is this list of 100 Resources for Facebook Marketing, organized by subject area.
