A PROFESSIONAL ONLINE PRESENCE

DEVELOPING POP!

© Copyright Dawn Edmiston 2011www.theMarketingProf.com

MARKETINGYOU!

BACKGROUND

The Wall Street Journal declared 2009 was the toughest labor market in 25 years for graduating college seniors

Traditional job board searches and resume submissions are no longer as effective

Social media = communication channel for both personal and professional purposes

Socialnomics (http://www.socialnomics.net/2010/05/05/social-media-revolution-2-refresh/)

Developing POP! The 10 Step Process

1) ESTABLISH AN ONLINE IDENTITY

Encourage students to own their domain name (less than $10/year)

Students may need to differentiate themselves, such as JohnSmithIMC

Students are required to develop a profile on Google and LinkedIn

2) PERSONALIZE URLS

Important for strengthening one’s personal brand and search engine optimization

For example: www.dawnedmiston.com linkedin.com/in/dawnedmiston twitter.com/dawnedmiston

Students need to “own” what appears in search results (note personal example on next slide)

2) PERSONALIZE URLS

Important for strengthening one’s personal brand and search engine optimization

Students need to “own” what appears in search results

Students are encouraged to personalize all URL addresses when possible

Check availability of “brand name” on dozens of sites through tools such as:

3) DEVELOP CONTENT

Once an online identity has been established, students develop content to support their brand: develop professional site using Wordpress submit 3 original posts (with external links) related

to their field of interest Use Google Alerts to receive daily updates on

selected topics

4) PROMOTE BRAND NAME and 5) PROMOTE CONTENT

Include personalized URLs in the signature block of emails, resumes, and business cards

Leverage social bookmarking sites such as:

6) ACTIVELY NETWORK

Social media is an excellent tool for networking with others in a particular field of interest

LinkedIn Groups = 1+ million Students need to join at least 4 LinkedIn Groups

7) MONITOR YOUR BRAND

Students are encouraged to: Google their names frequently Establish a Google Alert for their brand name

Tracking sites are also useful such as:

8) ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE

Students must not only build an online presence, but engage their audience and establish relationships with them

Students are encouraged to review and respond to postings as often as possible and contribute new topics to their LinkedIn Group discussions

9) MEASURE YOUR ONLINE

Measuring social media effectiveness is still new, but innovative tools are being developed, such as Klout

“Klout scores” measure the overall influence that uses variables on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter Based on actions such as retweets, @messages,

follows, comments, and likes

10) MANAGE YOUR BRAND PRESENCE

Ultimate goal = students view this assignment not as a course requirement, but rather as a career opportunity

Building and sustaining POP! will be one of the mostpromising investments students can make

POP! SUCCESS FACTORS

Developing POP! ultimately demands student engagement in the learning process.

Although students can read about the potential of social media, they will not comprehend the power of social media until they actually practice it.