Social Media Impacts

You’re Fired, Now Get to Work: Social Media Never Misses a Beat

Unemployed Social Media professionals don’t get to limit their job search activities to an 8 hour day.  I know that we’ve all been told, for years, that “looking for a job is really a 9-5 job.”  That may be true for most other fields, but not for those who work in Social Media.  The reason for this is quite understandable.  Not only is there a new job to be found, but there is also a greater “body of work” to be cultivated and nurtured in Social Media during the job hunt.  That body of work is a living portfolio of all that has been accomplished in Social Media on an ongoing basis and it can be as volatile as the New York Stock Exchange.  I’ve seen some Klout scores drop by as much as five to seven points in a single day, due to reduced activity and, perhaps, an error or two in good posting judgment.

Here’s the thing.  While on the job, the Social Media professional spends his entire day enhancing the business prospects of the company employing him.  He is the face of the company in Social Media.  At the end of the day, he has put his full heart and soul into building awareness for his employer and its brand; constantly engaging their prospects and customers and aiming for a volume of sales conversions that validate his job performance and pays his salary. 

While at work, the brunt of the corporate Social Media effort comes at the expense of individual identity/expression, as the person responsible for the posts and tweets is obscured by his company identity and logo.  The daily campaign also comes with strict corporate rules of engagement and limited candid interaction.  This is why so many consumers feel much less comfortable conversing with companies and brands in Social Media.  This is also the reason why so many warm and genuine Social Media professionals are forced to toil in relative obscurity, while representing their employer and his brand on the Web.  Regardless, it is a role and trade-off that most Social Media employees must accept in order to satisfactorily fulfill their employer’s marketing requirements.

Maintain a Strong and Respectable Personal Identity in Social Media

Hopefully, most of those employed in the field of Social Media have also maintained a separate and personal identity from their strict daytime employer personas.  Certainly, future employers are most interested in employability issues that zero in on a candidate’s past track record.  But during the consideration, they also are looking for individual with a real passion For Social Media, as well as an evolving package of technical and social skills evidenced by positive recognition from others.  It is better that one can offer a new employer multi-dimensional experience, rather than just that of an individual company’s single-dimensional approach.  Perhaps, what one has done in Social Media on his or her own – outside of the work environment – further demonstrates advanced creativity; the fruits of ongoing experimentation and a greater understanding that is far beyond what may appear under previous job responsibilities in their resume.

Maintaining a non-employment Social Media presence calls for a great deal of personal time and effort.  It is not just recommended to have a personal networking presence – it is absolutely required.  This means that regardless of the hours spent at work, additional time must be devoted to keeping up personal appearances on the Web. 

Fortunately, there are many automated tools such as Tweetdeck and Hootsuite to help manage time in Social Media.  But, even with such automated options available, one still needs to produce a great deal of custom content -manually shared – if they are to come across as genuine, trustworthy and well-engaged with others.  There are Tweets and messages to respond to; situational and timely Facebook posts to be contributed; LinkedIn questions to be posed and answered; and a Blog post of the week to be written and published.  And, not every work day ends at 5 O’clock, so time must be set aside to do whatever is necessary to be seen and heard from in Social Media– sometimes it is late in the evening and it certainly calls for some availability on the weekends

Your Resume Should Reflect All of Your Social Media Experience

It is not advised that anyone wait until they have become unemployed to host a personal Social Media “coming out party.”  We all know that seeds of Social Media take a long time to bear fruit.  Building relationships with others cannot be rushed.  If you plan on showing prospective employers what you can do, you need to be able to show them what you have already done over time – and it should be an impressive portfolio.

Here are some helpful tips for those trying to present themselves to future employers in the best possible light:

1. Maintain a separate Social Media identity from that of the company employing you, at all times.
2. Be true and attentive to your personal Social Media engagements and never let your regular contributions and routine follow-ups get stale or tardy, respectively.
3. Be as passionate about your personal Social Media involvement as you are about your on the job efforts, despite the fact that you may be exhausted at the end of the workday.  Dig down deep to find the necessary energy to genuinely emote and bring value to the conversation.
4. Talk about “you” and your interests as well as those of others through your own Social Media channels.  Forget work agendas and especially forget about trying to pitch your company’s business goals within your personal engagements.  Be especially sure to stay out of the kind of hot water that may be harmful to your current job and/or your future career.  Avoid crossing over any lines of employer trust and acceptable professional behaviors.
5. “You” control your own activities within your own Social Media network, so have fun experimenting with new platforms and tools that you might not currently use at work.  Just don’t bite off more than you can chew with your limited and precious time.
6. Discover reliable ways to qualitatively and quantitatively measure your personal success while engaging in Social Media.  Work on continually improving your Klout and PeerIndex ratings.  And keep up with ever-changing “indicators” coming from tools such as SocialMention, Hubspot, EmpireAvenue, Backtype, Twitalyzer, TwitteGrader, TweetStats, TwitterAnalyzer, TweetEffect, Twinfluence, TwitterRank, TweetReach, and TweetRush.  Their results will give you a better idea of your growing reach and influence through Social Media.  It is highly recommended that you look at several of these results to gain a well rounded picture of your impact on the Web.

6a.    In addition to the above tools, use your own analytic abilities to determine your Social Media impact by calculating and analyzing the numbers and types of Blog comments you’ve received. Pay particular attention to the percentages of positive versus not so positive comments added under each of your Blog posts.  You should also be adding up the total number of Blog subscribers you have gained over time to measure growing interest in what you have to share with others.  Also, account for the total number of third-parties that have picked up and re-run your posts in their own Blogs and in their other online and print publications.  Consider the overall number and types of comments left by others under your YouTube and Flickr contributions.   It is also a good idea to regularly calculate the number of Facebook link click-throughs as well as the “Likes” you’ve received for your posts.  Finally, reviewing the number of times any E-mails you sent to others that were actually opened and shared with others say something of your audience popularity.

In Social Media You Are Always “On”

Like a medical doctor, the Social Media professional – employed or unemployed – must be on call at all hours (manually or automated).  He or she must be constantly studying his/her field for changes and new improvements.  They must always be prepared to engage people, at any time in a way that is positive, friendly and easily approachable.  Finally, the Social Media professional – on or off duty – must always be involved in measuring and interpreting the results of their online involvement.  

So, when A Social Media professional becomes unemployed, the best advice he or she can be given is for them to always be prepared to demonstrate their professional competencies and show their current results (both for business and personal) rather than look for excuses to explain away any downtime in measurable activity.

About the Author

President of Integrity Consulting Associates (www.icanewfriend.com) (DBA: ICA Social Media) Formerly, Director of Social Media for RiaEnjolie, Inc.

My team and I develop winning social networking strategies – for our small business clientele

Follow me on Twitter: @icanewfriend  Join my Facebook Group/ Social Media Marketing for Small Business 

social media impact

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