COM0015 – Blog #1: Tools and Source

It can be difficult to narrow down what tools and sources are best to use on social media. Everyone will have a preference, and these preferences will depend on personal and business needs.

For personal use, Twitter and Facebook are my two favourite social media trend tools. I find that there is a lot of information on these two sites that help update me on what is going on in the world. I prefer these two tools over others because I think they give me a complete picture of what my networks are talking about, as well as a good picture of what the overall trends are in the world.

Facebook is especially good at providing an overall picture of trends, which can help give me an idea of what I should keep on top of and paying attention to in relation to my professional development, and what is just for fun or personal interest.

I find Twitter easiest for following trends, as the topics that are trending the most can easily be found on Twitter and a lot of times breaking news occurs on Twitter. Twitter is also good because it gives you a quick snapshot of the news or trends for easy access but also allows you to get more information by clicking through the link to the site where more detailed information can be found. This is especially useful in my professional career because it can give me news quickly and briefly but allows me to research topics further if I need to.

For business use, I would replace Facebook with LinkedIn, as I believe it gives a better picture of what are the important trends for my organization. Discussions around business practices and important trends often occur on LinkedIn, which helps my organization monitor what they should be focusing on or what others in the industry are discussing.

My best sources for news at my workplace are Google Alerts and Twitter. Not only do I use Twitter for listening to trends, but I also use it as a source for news because as mentioned above it allows me to quickly review all news and delve into topics deeper if I need more information. Twitter is often where I get breaking news on a subject, which I then relay to colleagues.

Google Alerts is great at providing me with real time alerts for news on topics that more organization is following, or news on my organization. It provides me with the news I need, without me having to go through each news source constantly. It aids greatly in my daily media monitoring and allows me to spend time on other functions of my job.

Source: Rosette for Social Media Monitoring

At my organization, we also use paid monitoring which is very useful and also gives me updates in real time for a lot of different news sources that appear in the paper, through broadcast and online. If you are able to afford these tools, they are great in streamlining how you get news and when you get it.

COMM 0015: Blog Post # 3 My Networking Social Media Blueprint

I’ve spent most of my career building a personal network, but it was done the traditional way. Lots of handshakes, plenty of good conversation, and building a reputation through hard work, professionalism and determination.

When social media came around, it provided both an opportunity and a threat to my personal networking prowess. Sites likes Facebook, Twitter and Linked In have allowed me to connect with a much larger audience that would not have been available to me previously, because some people simply weren’t easy to find.

With no networking borders because of the internet, I knew the new face of networking had to be a combination of traditional schmoozing and on line dialoguing. So I jumped into the social media world and slowly worked on figuring out the rules of engagement and how I could have some influence.

It’s still a work in progress, but here are what I consider my top five “must do’s” in social media networking.

1. Be the same person on line that you are in person. Nobody likes a fake.
2. Build your credibility by posting good content.
3. Interact. Listen and respond. Don’t just be a networking creeper.
4. Find your niche. Focus your posts so that they resonate with the people that you want to be part of your network.
5. Stay on top of what’s new in social media. If you want to network on line, you need to have a presence and that means joining the networking “hot spots.”

Moving forward, I have a few goals to strengthen my network. I work at a community college and I am particularly interested in the subject of strategic enrolment management within post-secondary institutes, and want to connect with more professionals in this evolving field.

I plan to do this by:

1. Commenting on more blogs written about strategic enrolment management to start conversations with subject matter experts.
2. Writing my own blogs on the subject to build personal credibility based on my experiences.
3. Attending more conferences, workshops, webinars that provide leading content on strategic enrolment management.
4. Read books written by organizations/individuals that have extensive experience working in strategic enrolment management.
5. Participating in college strategic enrolment management committees to learn from my colleagues.

Through personal and on line connections with enrolment management professionals, I know I can learn a lot and help my college achieve its overall enrolment goals.

COM0011-521: Enhancing Personal Brand – Effective Content?

OBJECTIVE:         To promote my personal brand.

FOLLOWERS:      Business Development, Sales, Marketing professionals, Employers

Often misunderstood, Business Development (BD) is about the process of discovering new business opportunities. It is sometimes labeled as Sales and quite often called Marketing. The three functions are quite different yet overlap. More appropriately, they interact.

BD professionals are busy, largely driven to be successful by incentives, typically money in the form of a variable compensation component in addition to a fixed amount as a base salary. Success is measured by the level of new  business opportunities the BD professional introduces to the employer. Motivated by the desire to maximize the variable component, not to mention retain their job, BD professionals are governed by, and are constantly trying to meet or exceed, quotas or revenue goals. Hence the term “busy”.

Being like-minded and having excelled as a BD professional throughout my career, the most effective content must conform to the following criteria:

• Relevant – it must relate to the BD profession;
• Insightful – content should be new to followers; it could be information on a topic one or more followers have requested;
• Valuable – should be of value such that followers are able to utilize this new knowledge in their day-to-day environment going forward;
• Concise – brief and convenient; provide just enough relevant content of value to permit followers to decide if it’s worth clicking the “MORE” button or be redirected to additional detail;
• Credible – content must be current or future-oriented and demonstrate brand expertise so it will be perceived as credible.

Examples of content that I consider most important to my objective include, but are not limited to, the following:

Business Strategies – what BD approaches works and what don’t; examples, case studies;

Relationship Building Tips – people always struggle with how to establish (connect), nurture and leverage relationships.  Support in this area is fundamental;

Effective Networking – another area where people are challenged.  For example, how to join a group of people huddled around a coffee station at an event; or, how to disengage from someone (politely) when he\she won’t stop talking;

Events List – a listing of current/future events pertinent to BD professionals – events they may wish to attend for networking and lead generation or simple enhance relationships;

Jobs Forum – open opportunities and discussions of; employers who utilize BD professionals and those who are considering BD professionals; compensation options and discussions;

Professional Development – opportunities for improvement, including webinars, conferences, and other appropriate venues; community involvement opportunities, e.g. Board Directors.

In the not too distant future, this group may evolve to offer business services such as the following for example:

• Acquisition & Sales – We find prospects and get sales contracts
• Business Development – We discover new business & close deals
• Connecting the dots – We connect you to others and arrange contracts
• Commercial Strategy – We assist with any commercial challenge

While there may be other content of value to this community, the content mentioned above is very effective to building my brand.  I am, however, always open to comments and suggestions on how to improve on this approach.  Thoughts?

@giddingsbob