Social Media: LinkedIn

The first blog that I wrote this semester was about gaining control of your social media. I spoke about several different social media channels and ways to be aware of your overall social media presence. Since then, I have gained a better understanding of social media and how it can actually affect your personal brand. One business tool and social media channel that I have grown a certain appreciation for is LinkedIn.

On LinkedIn: important organization or campaign information can be viewed; professional content and updates from colleagues or business friends can be shared; or employers and other business professional can search for you and your personal brand/background, as well. This is why taking complete control of your LinkedIn by understanding and utilizing all of its components can lead to online and social success. To help you on this venture, I have researched and used my own experience to create a list of the top 8 things I think you can do to harness the full power of your personal LinkedIn account.

1. Fill out your LinkedIn account completely.

• This includes updating a photo, adding projects, old jobs, blog pages, links to Twitter or professional profile or portfolio pages, blogs, even courses you took in college. Updating this information allows people to get a better feel for who you are, what you can accomplish, what is important to you, and how you influence the people around you. LinkedIn is a place to share and generate ideas about business and the world, and you only get out what you put in.

2. Do not be afraid to humanize your brand.

• Do not only push out professional content. Update a profile picture, have a headline that attracts attention, blog about things that you're passionate about, prove that you are a leader in the business world and that you are a thought provoker. Show you care.

3. Engage with other professionals, especially people in your field.

• LinkedIn, like Facebook and other types of microblogging sites, give the opportunity for millions of social connections to take place. Use to your advantage the fact that you have hundreds of other like-minded professionals in your field available to you at the touch of a button. Engage with other professionals in your field, join webinars, chats and other conversations. Engagements help get your name out and your thoughts heard. 

4. Post updates regularly.

• Keeping yourself relevant on LinkedIn is important. Like other social media networks, LinkedIn is fast paced and constantly updating. Be a part of this. Post content at least once a day, whether it a blog, work updates, a photo, a funny meme relevant to your business, anything. 

5. Keep your network growing, and maintain relationships.

• When you meet a new professional, add them on your LinkedIn network. Join groups. Follow organizations or pages you are passionate about. Keep up relationships by congratulating people on new jobs or awesome projects. Engage with old colleagues and teammates. You never know what opportunities will arise, or who you might need to contact in the future. 

6. Receive and give recommendations and endorsements.

• One way to show your personal work ethic and standing in the business world is to give and receive recommendations and endorsements to people that you have worked with. The more you give, the more you get. This adds a sense of personality and humanization to your personal brand. More times than not, what people say and think about you means more to employers than your credentials on paper. 

7. Blog on your LinkedIn account.

• Employers are always looking for professionals who not only do good work in the workplace, but also are influencers outside of the workplace. Even if you work in public relations, and your passion is cooking or gardening, or whatever it may be, blog about it! Show people that you are passionate about something, and that you have something to say and interesting thoughts to contribute. This also humanizes your LinkedIn account. 

8. Update your page with new information.

• Finally, continuously update your LinkedIn account with new jobs, opportunities, projects, and information. If you take a new headshot, get a new position or write a new post, share it with the professionals you are connected with. This will also open new doors for you, and help keep your page updated and relevant.

Here are a few of the links for LinkedIn optimization that I liked and that helped me create my personal brand. Good luck on your journey and I hope this helps!

http://www.inc.com/rebekah-iliff/top-10-ways-to-leverage-linkedin-for-pr.html

https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-surefire-ways-to-boost-your-linkedin-profile-when-you-only-have-10-minutes

http://www.forbes.com/sites/cherylsnappconner/2013/12/05/fourteen-steps-to-improve-your-linkedin-presence-in-2014/#55c851cd3966

Picking the Right Communication Channels

PR, communications, marketing, advertising - these professions all rely on one thing: the ability to send an effective and clear message to a selected target market, enticing action and ultimately helping achieve company goals.

The ability to send a clear message, and the effectiveness of that message (did it change anything? did it come across the way it was intended? etc.) depends on several factors. The first factor, the message its self, is arguably the most important. I have already blogged about why only sending clear, non-cluttered, short and sweet messages is the most effective method of communication; however, I only barely touched on the second factor of sending an effective message: choosing the right communication channel.

A message can contain several key communication practices (attention grabbing content, interesting data, easy-to-understand message, concise but complete info) but if it's received by the wrong audience or misinterpreted by the receiver, it is not truly considered an effective message. This is why it is so important to choose the right channel of communication. 

Internal and external communications, the two types of communications, call for different messages and messaging channels.

With internal communication, keeping stakeholders, employees and a board of directors engaged with one another and on the same page is imperative to running a successful business, but can provide several challenges. One of these challeneges is picking the best communication channel.

There are several types of internal communication channels, including (but not limited to) open forums, message boards, email or team meetings.

Knowing the best way for your specific content to be presented and received (visually, verbally, written, etc.) is important when deciding what channel of communication to choose; just as imperative to the decision though is understanding the way the audience prefers to receive content and are most likely to respond. Here is a comprehensive list of internal communication channels and considerations, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.

When considering external communication, there are also several types (some of them are outlined here). Again, understanding your message and target audience is key. Not every communication type needs to be used, and some companies may only call for one or two. That is okay! If you choose the right channels, and target your messages, they should be effective every time.

Finally, the most misunderstood external communication practice, social media, is a very important tool that has the power to either make or break a company. Again, here is a list for some social media channels and when or why your business should use them. Every social media channel is different, attracting different types of attention and sending different types of messages. Consider if the content you want to share would be best in words, on your website as a long release, as a short Facebook post, or as a sentence and link on Twitter. Will your content be received better if it is represented visually (using charts or pictographs) and where should you share that visual message; or would a photo or video do better?

There are so many ways to communicate with todays instant access information and socially integrated society; don't let your company or personal brand can go unnoticed or misinterpreted because you didn't choose the communication channel that is right for you.

Gaining Control of Social Media

Hello there,

Social Media Management is something that my professors have been talking about for a while, and it is something that wasn't important for older PR professionals, but is absolutely necessary for companies and PR/Marketing/Media/Company individuals now.

Now more than ever, companies are searching online to find out how you represent yourselves socially. My PR professor this semester, Samra Bufkins, told our communications course that companies do not even look at your sources for recommendations anymore, they just check out how you present yourself online.

I've known that I needed to for a while, but after hearing that, I decided that this semester I was going to get total control of my social media, and will be keeping up with the process on here, to hopefully help another student who (like me) is struggling to change from the online active social butterfly, to the online professional and respectable people we want to represent.

The first two things that I have done, and I urge anyone to do is:

1. Get control of your accounts

The advice that was given to me  that I am now passing on is - create different profiles for your work and your social life, still do not post anything on your social accounts that could come back and ruin you, and only invite people to see your private social accounts that you know would never intentionally harm you (someone you'd invite to your living room.)

I created all the accounts and made all the changes that I need to, but now I need to go back through and make sure all the people on my accounts are the people that I want there, my social accounts are private and everyone who shouldn't be on there has been deleted. This will take some time, and honestly, when I start to do it I become overwhelmed because I know I have to do it for several accounts (which breaks down to a lot of work).



However, I know the outcome will be worth it. It is worth keeping your private profiles as secretive and private as can be. What I have had to learn is that it is not rude to delete someone off my personal account who I think might potentially cause me harm, and if they come to me wanting an explination, I have a whole other list of professional social media accounts of mine that they can follow, where they are not receiving my most personal information.

I have a long way to go, but right now I am getting my accounts cleaned up, my friends and followers where they need to be, my pictures and old content deleted, new content uploaded, passwords and emails changed for privacy (it was suggested to me that each account be different), and finally I need to make sure no personal accounts are able to be found through my name or any other professional email and accounts I might be using.

A family member very close to me who does the hiring and firing for a very successful and well known management company in Dallas told me once that "if you've got an account online, and there is a way to find it, you can guaran-damn-tee that I am going to find it."

It may not seem easy to look at all your social media accounts and realize the amount of work you have to put in to separate your social from professional life online, but it will be worth it, and I will be doing it right along with you all semester.

I have an awesome powerpoint, and lecture notes, and help from professors that I can refer to, but you've got the internet.  I found one article online on "How to Distinguish Your Personal from your Professional Brand Online" by Scott Langdon and it's a good place to start.

Good Luck!