7 Handy Tips for Managing Multiple Social Profiles
When providing social media education to a group or department, the length of the session usually does not allow for a detailed overview of each network. (Oh how I wish it did!) Every social site functions so differently and allows you to reach a different target audience. But there are some common threads and methods for managing more than one profile. So here are seven handy tips to manage multiple social networks and your personal brand that I often share with my students:
1. Create a content plan.
The big brands do it, and you should do. Do you plan to write blog weekly? Twice a week? How often will you post to Facebook? Will you schedule your Tweets in advance or plan times each day to be live? Most importantly, what content are you sharing? What message do you want to communicate? Get organized and create a plan that will help you strategize your delivery and save you time on a regular basis.
2. Understand your settings, functions and features.
If you have never taken the time to go through the settings on each platform and understand how they work, now is the time to do so. If you adjust setting X, how does it change your profile? Do you read the pop-up windows when the network adds a new feature? Do you understand how each and every function can enhance your profile? It’s time to learn what these platforms do with your information and how you can take advantage of their features to make your personal brand shine.
3. Schedule time each month to review settings, functions and features.
In the digital age, big things happen in the blink of an eye. And some networks add new features without even telling you (Facebook). Take 10 minutes each month to make sure your settings are the way you left them and check if there are any new features you can use to build your profile. LinkedIn just added a bunch of fun settings. Go through each one and see if there is some value for you. Facebook seems to get a kick out of randomly resetting your settings to default just to keep you on your toes. So stay a step ahead and on top of your settings. Otherwise, you might be sharing content with people you don’t intend to share with.
4. Make your bio work for you.
You’ve probably heard this before, but it is essential, especially for job hunters. Use the same photo for all your profile pictures so that people know it’s you. Craft one short and strong bio that you can use in whole or in part across all your networks. Make sure it reflects who you are and why you want to connect. If you aren’t getting some of the results you think you should, or you are all of a sudden attracting a stange crowd on Twitter, change it up. Your bio and your photo are the first impression. How do you want to be perceived?
5. Be strategic about posting photos.
You might really be enjoying that tropical vacation. However, your professional connections do not need to see you at the beach in your bikini, proudly holding up that adult beverage. There is nothing wrong in posting fun and social photos, but how does that photo represent your brand? If viewed out of context, what impression with that photo make? Think a little bit about the photos you post. How will they help you in the long run? Do they enhance your image? What impact that photo make? If there’s the slightest chance that that one photo could embarrass you later, don’t post it.
6. Use lists to manage your connections.
I’ve written about the Facebook and Twitter lists functions before. Leverage this feature to your advantage. On Facebook, using lists can help you with custom privacy settings. And if you have a lot of friends, it will help you check in with some folks who may not be appearing in your Timeline as often as you would like. On Twitter, you can subscribe to other people’s lists and create up to 20 of your own. You can use the list function to separate Tweeps by topic or industry. You can create a leads or contact list. And what’s really helpful is that you don’t have to follow someone to put them on one of your lists. I have a news list and while the list is long, I follow less than a handful of accounts. But it serves as a great resource and good content to share with my followers.
7. Take care with who you friend and follow.
It might seem really cool to have 5,000 friends or followers, but if 80% of those are spammers, bots and porn stars, what good does that really do? If you friend someone on Facebook, Link with a connection on LinkedIn or follow someone on Twitter, you are associated with that person. So it might seem cool that RoxyXXX is following you, and in the spirit of #TeamFollowBack you might give an automatic follow to all who follow you, but when your potential employer finds you on Twitter and sees who follows you, it’s pretty certain that they won’t think you’re all that cool if your friends and followers are less than respectable accounts and people. Be strict with who you friend and link with and make sure to manage your followers. It’s better to have connections with substance than large numbers of fluff. (Note: Pinterest has yet to enable the feature of managing followers, so be careful. They have not responded to requests as to when they will allow people to block followers.)
Ultimately, take a pause before you post anything anywhere and determine whether that comment will benefit you and your brand. Determine if your content will make a positive impact on your viewers or if you leave yourself open to interpretation. Good question to ask yourself – What’s the point? If you can’t find one, don’t post it.
5 Tips to Make Your Personal Brand Shine
This post originally appeared on flexjobs.com blog on July 31st. Flex Jobs makes your search for a telecommuting, part-time, freelance, or flextime job better, easier, faster, and safer. Their site is easy-to-use and even allows you to build a professional-looking resume right in your profile which you can digitally send to any prospect. The platform allows you to create more than one profile so you can filter your search and find the best matches for you. Enjoy the post!
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The L.A. Times reported recently that, “A whopping 92% of U.S. companies say they are using social networks to find talent in 2012, according to a new survey. In addition to checking your resume, nearly 3 out of 4 hiring managers and recruiters check candidates’ social profiles — 48% always do so, even if they are not provided.”
When you are on the hunt for a new job, it is essential that you have your personal brand in order and your online ducks in a row. If you have not yet taken the time to polish your personal brand, let’s review this handful of essential tips to help you outshine your competition.
1. Define You
The most significant step to developing your personal brand, is determining what your brand represents. Your core values are the heart of your brand. It is the foundation for all of your brand and communication strategies. Ask yourself a few questions. What motivates you to get up in the morning and tackle the day? Why are you unique? What are you passionate about? When you begin to answer these questions, your personal brand will take shape. Once you have discovered your core values, you can easily draft your personal vision statement. Your vision statement will serve as your personal brand guide and will keep you in check as you continue your search and promote yourself.
2. Set Goals for Your Job Hunt
Setting your goals will help you filter your search results to apply only for jobs which align with your brand. How well does a company and job listing fit your brand’s values? If they don’t match up, don’t apply. FlexJobs has a great feature, which allows you to develop more than one profile. You can create very specific profiles to look for jobs tailored to your specific goals. There is even a video tutorial to show you how to set up multiple profiles. This will really help you narrow your search and save you valuable time.
3. Develop a Content Plan
Develop a detailed content plan so that you are continually engaging audiences, sharing valuable content and affecting perceptions of your image. Think about how often you will post to your social accounts. What topics are relevant to your job search and to your desired industry? Use a calendar to map out your social content plan and develop a strategy. Use a tool like Hootsuite to manage posts for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+, among others. Your communication strategy will help you stay focused on your goals and in-line with your brand identity.
4. Promote Through Social Media
Digging a bit deeper into some of the specific platforms, you’ll gain a better understanding of why you need to plan your content. It takes time to manage your profiles, but your hard work will pay off as you will be more easily found, and will be proud to share your social links because you can be confident what others will find.
- Add video to your LinkedIn Profile. This Sprout Insights article is a good tutorial for that.
- Utilize Sections on LinkedIn to highlight your achievements, especially if you have less work experience to leverage.
- Remember to include LinkedIn as part of your content plan and schedule posts.
- Tighten up your controls so that your posts, photos and/or activity are not set to Public.
- Use Facebook Lists for easy use of custom settings.
- Strategically use Life Events to post your achievements to your Timeline. Set those posts to Public so recruiters can see them.
- Schedule some Twitter time each day to reply, retweet and converse.
- Use the list function to set up lists for leads, businesses, news sources, etc.
- Update your bio to reflect your job hunting status.
- Take care with who you follow and who follows you.
- Use Pinterest as the visual form of “Interests” on a resume.
- Share photos relative to your hobbies and life goals.
- Pin the items which make you a person a Hiring Manager can relate to.
Website/Blog
- Establish your own website, blog or splash page like about.me.
- Make sure to mention that you are looking for employment.
- Write about or post information that is applicable to your chosen industry.
On your FlexJobs profile, you can list one website per profile. Promote your site or list a splash page or your LinkedIn account to help you make a positive first impression.
5. Be Consistent
- Use the same profile photo and color schemes/background photos across all networks for easy identification.
- Make sure your bio information is listed the same on all sites.
- Follow up with your leads and conversations and track interactions.
With sites like FlexJobs, the search for that perfect job is made much easier with so many tools and resources at your finger tips. Taking the time to build your personal brand and engaging online will prove to be worth the effort, as your brand will be refined, professional and ready for any recruiter to discover.
Shanna Bright founded Beaming Bohemian, unconventionally brilliant communication, to infuse communications with positivity and purpose and to empower you to build a meaningful, personable brand which connects and inspires people. She consults with several university programs, businesses and individuals about personal branding and strategic use of social media. You can learn more about her work at http://beamingbohemian.com or contact her directly at [email protected] to schedule a private consultation.
It’s Just My Opinion
“It’s not about what made me unhappy,” Solo said. “It’s not about one game. I have my beliefs that the best commentators and the best analysts should be analyzing come Olympics, come World Cups, and it’s only my opinion. You can take it or leave it, to be honest, so it’s my opinion, and I think analysts and commentators should bring energy and excitement and passion for the game, and a lot of knowledge, and I think it’s important to help build the game, and I don’t think Brandi has that.
“It’s just my opinion, and nothing else really matters, to be honest. What matters is tomorrow’s game against North Korea, playing at Old Trafford. The team’s excited. It’s my birthday. I don’t really care to answer any other questions about Brandi.” via ESPN
Those of the words of an Olympic athlete. Hope Solo, the US women’s soccer goalie, made no apologies for her Twitter rant about the skills and ability of NBC correspondent, Brandi Chastain. This Mashable article has all of the tweets that Solo spewed, which were also tagged for Facebook posts.
Solo’s comments about Chastain were inappropriate enough that coach Pia Sundhage called Solo in for a meeting to discuss. What’s unfortunate, though, is that it appears Hope Solo was not reprimanded in any way.
What lesson does that teach Hope Solo?
Solo’s posts and commentary may be “only her opinion” but how will she learn that her opinions, expressed in a very public forum where the whole world is watching, does not favorably represent the U.S. women’s soccer team nor Team USA? How will she understand that her opinions do not reflect the opinions of the team or the USA? Will she understand that tweeting nasty comments teaches young girls who look up to her that that kind of behavior is acceptable? Will she realize that she comes across as a spoiled brat who doesn’t care what anyone else thinks? What lessons in leadership are missed here, as well?
I wonder what drove coach Sundhage to conclude that she would not discipline the birthday girl. She could have at least insisted that Solo apologize to Chastain. Solo could have been fined. Solo could have been benched for 15 minutes, a half or even an entire game. It would have been interesting to see if Solo is that big of a factor on the team. And it certainly would have driven home the point that smack talk is not an acceptable communication style for US Olympic athletes. Freedom of speech can be used as an argument here, but certain people are held to higher standards. We have greater expectations of the athletes that are privileged to represent our country in the Olympics.
During my softball days, my dad, who was also my coach, ran a very tight infield/outfield drill. As he and the other coach would smack softballs at us, one rule stood: If you drop the ball, everyone runs a lap. It was one drill which has stuck with me forever. My actions affect others.
Hope Solo could stand to learn the drill that her words are not just her opinion. In this scenario, they affect and reflect her team, her coaches, the US athletes and you.
Have you changed your Facebook e-mail yet?
Today’s post is super short. I realized going through several of my friends’ profiles recently that perhaps many people didn’t notice or learn of a recent Facebook change. One thing Facebook is infamous for is changing or adding features without telling users. That’s the case with Facebook e-mail. They recently added a default address which is [email protected]. So if your e-mail was [email protected] you are now [email protected].
It’s time to go to your settings and confirm what YOU want to be displayed in your profile. Go to your Profile and under your photo, hit the About button. This will pull up all your information. Scroll down to the Contact Info and click Edit. You’ll see your assigned facebook e-mail address. And as Facebook likes to do, this is now your default contact e-mail address. You can keep it this way or click the dots to hide the facebook address and make your original e-mail what displays on your profile.
Anytime Facebook changes or adds features, it’s a good time to review your privacy and account settings. In fact, you should calendar a 10 minute session once per month just to make sure Facebook hasn’t reset to your setting to default and “everyone,” which is something they really seem to enjoy doing.
Who Moved My News Feed?
Do we all remember the revolutionary and #1 Best Seller Who Moved My Cheese?
Who Moved My Cheese? is the story of four characters living in a “Maze” who face unexpected change when they discover their “Cheese” has disappeared. Sniff and Scurry, who are mice, and Hem and Haw, little people the size of mice, each adapt to change in their “Maze” differently. In fact, one doesn’t adapt at all…
Soon after the book was released, I was working as the Member Relations Director at the City Club on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles, a ClubCorp private club. We all got a copy of this book. And we all read with enthusiasm how to adapt, monitor and even anticipate change. Or should I say, “Enjoy change!” Yes, it was a little, um, cheesy, but it worked for the corporate environment I lived in.
In 1998, we barely had regular e-mail communication with members, much less an interactive website or social platform to cultivate our membership community. We were constantly looking for creative ways to retain members, maintain ongoing communication (remember committee meetings?) and increase involvement through events at the City Club. We craved change.
Now we are all navigating unchartered digital waters, much of which is exciting, revolutionary and completely life changing. When one company improves its product and implements new features which changes the look of the profile page we are used to seeing, we scream and whine and moan and complain that we don’t like it. Blog posts have been written left and sideways picking apart what is great, what may be scary and what we are just bound to dislike.
May I ask a favor? Can we grab on the spirit of 1998 and remember how to embrace change? Can we appreciate the ever-evolving landscape happening online and celebrate a launch, an update, a design change, a new way of doing things? For if there were none, we would be blogging our brains out about how nothing is new or exciting or fresh. We would demand upgrades and increased user-friendliness and cooler graphics and quicker loading times.
Change is the only constant when it comes to the digital world. The cheese will always be on the move. And we must remain expectant.
Make that list!
Just as I was preparing this blog post about list functions available on social networks, Facebook announced that it is improving Friend Lists. Great timing! I was actually a bit surprised to read that, according to Mashable, less than 5% of users take advantage of Facebook Lists. I’m a huge advocate of organizing your contacts, and hope that these upgrades will encourage Facebook fanatics to better manage their friends.
Here’s a few methods for creating effective lists so you may better target your messages.
Who are your friends on Facebook? How do you know them? Are they all your high school buds, or do you have some colleagues mixed in there? Any random people that you accepted and don’t have the heart to unfriend?
The promised improvements aim to make a sweeping division between “Close Friends” and “Acquaintances,” which you will have to update manually. This will affect what information appears in your News Feed, with your “Close Friends” more prominently appearing. There is also the reference to “Smart Lists” which will automatically create lists for you according to work, school, family or city. It’s a good start in helping you manage these connections.
Lists are super effective in Facebook, especially because you can maximize your privacy settings and make sure that the information you post is seen only by the people you want to see it.
In my Facebook account, I have people separated by how I know them. So my high school friends are separate from my UCSB pals, people I’ve met on my world travels all fall under their own group as do former colleagues, friends in LA and now San Diego. I even have a “random” list, for people who I felt obligated to add, but who I really don’t want to see all my information and posts.
Taking the time to manage your privacy settings makes it easier to manage who sees your posts. If you have your lists in order, it’s easy to customize your settings, versus adding people one by one for restricted items. Once the improvements are in place, you will be able to easily select who will view your post before you post your status.
The new list features are set to roll out this week. Whether it’s a play to compete with Google+ (which inherently groups together your contacts in Circles) or just a great new set of services, it’s a tool you should take advantage of for more efficient posting.
While I cannot select certain lists to tweet to (wouldn’t that be awesome), I am still diligent about creating lists in Twitter. In my account, these are more likely divided by category or topic. For example: Global News, Marketing, Sports, Travel, etc. What I love about the list function in Twitter is that I can add any feed to a list, but I don’t have to follow them. So most of the Twitter handles on my Global News list… I’m not actually following, I just make a point to check the list feed once or twice a day to see if there is any news worth sharing, or if anything catches my interest. It’s the same with celebrities. I know I won’t get a follow-back, so I just add them to my celebrity list for quick access to the Tweeps I like and care to share news about. Example:
It’s also a good idea to check lists of those you do enjoy following. You can subscribe to their lists if you don’t want to follow every person on it or work to put together entire list of your own. I’ve attached a screenshot of @DiscoverSD (a great resources to find out anything and everything about San Diego!). You can see the drop down menu of lists Michelle has created. For example, “San Diego Events.”
When I click on this list, I can either view the recent tweets of folks on this list, or see all of the accounts followed. You can see the “Follow this List” button, which you can click and add to your own lists in your account.
I also find that I peruse my lists often looking for new people to follow. I tend to find more relative Tweeps and people who have similar interests or offer great information. This manner is often more on point than the people Twitter suggests.
One more function in the Twitter lists – You can make your list public or keep it private. If you’ve collected leads or hot contacts all in one list, that might be something you don’t want to share with everyone else. But perhaps your favorite charities, news sources or celebrities…that’s something fun to share and can possibly increase your influence online.
HootSuite
The opportunity to create lists on Hootsuite, if this is your chosen dashboard, also exists. You can either create lists from scratch or import from Twitter. Importing from Facebook is not available at this time. Importing your Twitter lists could not be easier. Here’s a link direct from Hootsuite: http://help.hootsuite.com/entries/115076-how-to-import-twitter-lists-to-hootsuite. I love that I can see these feeds right in my dashboard and do not have to leave the application to check out the updates. Super convenient when traveling. I’m sure TweetDeck and other management tools have similar functions.
I hope you use this this quick overview to help kick start the organization of your contacts. Lists can prove to be a powerful tool in managing your social networks. It may take a little effort up front, but once you have it sorted out, it’s easy to maintain and should prove to be helpful as the various platforms release new versions and more methods to engage with your audience.
Facebook Deals a done deal?
On April 26th, I eagerly posted the announcement that Facebook Deals had come to San Diego. Facebook said at the time,
“A few months ago we launched Check-In Deals, to help you get special offers when you check in at local businesses from your mobile. Today we’re going a step further and testing a new feature to help you find fun experiences to share with your favorite people: Deals on Facebook.
Initially, Deals will be available to people in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco and we hope to expand this test to other cities in the future.”
I looked at the Deals page today and noticed there are a whopping six (6) deals posted for all of San Diego. There are 15 deals on offer in San Francisco, 12 in Austin, eight in Dallas and 12 in Atlanta. Considering these are all test cities, I wonder how such few participating retailers and restaurants can be considered a success?
A few problems I see with the Facebook Deals program is that the page is not easily found on the news feed. If you haven’t visited the section recently, you’ll have to actually click the “more” button to get the drop-down menu which also includes Pages, Notes and the like. People are lazy. Not many will actively seek the Deals page.
I also mentioned in my previous post that I was not eager to provide Facebook with more information about me, my hobbies, interests nor lifestyle habits. I understand that by clicking “LIKE” on any of the deals that that information is stored and will be used to present similar adverts in the right-hand column. (Although the FB algorithms must be off today because the suggested pages for liking are Skittles and Sponge Bob Square Pants.)
With so few deals available, I’m not tempted to participate. It makes me wonder how aggressively Facebook is courting local businesses to put something on offer? Glass blowing and night photography are two of the six discounts on offer. Not too sexy. If Facebook actually wants to compete with Groupon and Living Social, they need to get their booty in gear and provide some kind of encouragement for businesses to participate if they imagine the Facebook Deals to take over other daily deals programs.
I mentioned also in my previous post that Facebook Deals should prove successful because as a shopper, I can check my Facebook News Feed and look at the Deals all in one visit, versus traveling to other websites to take advantage of coupons. Facebook is really not playing up this aspect of convenience and have done very little advertising since the first initial splash in April. GIZMODO did a review of all the daily deals platforms recently, but it is hard to find an article which highlights Facebook’s success in this area versus a mere comparison against Google, Amazon, etc.
Facebook Live (http://on.fb.me/facebookhq) is geared up for an “exciting product announcement” tomorrow. I’m curious if it’s the replacement for Facebook Deals, as it seems this program has sunk before it even had a chance to swim.
What are your thoughts on the Facebook Deals launch? What would you do differently to ensure the success of this program? How can Facebook better compete with Groupon and Living Social? And finally, have you used any of the Facebook Deals? Eager to hear your answers in the comments. Cheers!
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