Imagine You’re Not You.
Jul 20, 2010 Consulting, Digital, Employee Engagement, Employer Branding, Internal Communications, Millennials, Recruitment, Research, Social Media/Social Recruiting, Strategy
How did you get here?
Maybe you followed a link from a tweet. Or someone sent you the link via e-mail. Or you subscribe to the RSS feed of this blog.
The point is, in our multi-linked world people arrive at the same destination via very different paths. So when you design communications one of the first considerations must be to understand those paths and make sure your communications strategy takes each of them into account.
This is the philosophy behind the use of “personas” in communications design. Personas (or “personae” if you had Latin beaten into you by the Jesuits as I did) have been used in marketing research for roughly twenty years, mostly by packaged goods makers. Each persona is an amalgam of a set of prospective customers for the product under consideration; a product may have from a handful to a couple of dozen personas depending on the complexity and variety of the potential audience.
Employee Referrals Go Social
Jun 23, 2010 Social Media/Social Recruiting
It all started with connecting with friends online, then it became a source for networking and finding a job, now employers are using social tools as part of their employee referral programs (ERP).
That’s right, referring a friend or family member for an open job opportunity has become a social activity. As a matter of fact, a recent ERE article focuses on just how social an ERP can be. There’s even an example of the work that the Hodes digital team has completed on behalf of clients seeking to take their efforts online.
Check out ERE’s article here and learn more about taking your ERP to the next level of social recruiting!
What the Dog Whisperer Can Teach Us About Employer Branding
Jun 15, 2010 Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement, Employer Branding, Internal Communications, Millennials, Social Media/Social Recruiting, Uncategorized
Earlier this month, the New York Times published an interesting article, “What Pets Can Teach Us About Marriage.” It recaps a journal article written by a clinical psychologist which proposed that if we treated our spouses or partners the way we treat our pets, a lot of relationships would be much happier.
Photo: Photo8.com | Used by Creative Commons license.
This got me thinking about the other important relationship in most people’s lives, i.e., the one they have with their employers. What if employers treated their employees the way pet owners treat their pets?
How often, for example, have you heard a manager complain that employees aren’t following instructions and then end in frustration by saying, “I sent them a MEMO.” Now, if you own a pet, think back to house-training: there were repeated lessons, a few accidents, and then eventually Fido or Mittens “got it.”
Networking Lessons Learned Using LinkedIn
Mar 8, 2010 Social Media/Social Recruiting
Having a presence on social networks is a necessary means to communicate with friends, colleagues, professional contacts and organizations, not to mention potential employers.
In 2005, I created a profile on LinkedIn to enhance my professional networking skills. At that time, LinkedIn had approximately 4.5 million members. Today LinkedIn has over 60 million members worldwide. That’s a lot of potential contacts!
Today, I have over 19,000 first level contacts and happily accept all invitations. Since beginning my foray into making connections, here are some of the networking lessons I have picked up along the way:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennydevaughn
There is quality in the quantity.
Most open networkers cannot possibly know everyone that they have accepted invitations from on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a modern database that allows its users to leverage professional relationships to find referrals through strangers and trusted colleagues. Unless you are a c-level executive with a prized reputation to protect, you may want to consider accepting most LinkedIn invitations.
Tags: social media
Social Media – “Hand-to-Hand Combat” for Recruiters
Feb 8, 2010 Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement, Employer Branding, Internal Communications, Millennials, Recruitment, Social Media/Social Recruiting
An odd social media recruiting primer.
Read the HR blogs or follow HR pundits on Twitter and most of the conversation revolves around social media. Which tools work best for what, how various approaches work, and gossip about the vendors and their stars fill the screen daily.
And, while I am a big believer— and contributor— to this cacophony, I believe it’s time to review our social media practices more carefully.
Start with the latest Edelman Trust Barometer. This annual global survey tracks the credibility of various sources of information, from government agencies and the media to “people like me.” For the past several years, the latter category has risen rapidly as a trusted source, while business and government cred have been falling. The recently-released 2010 Trust Barometer, however, shows a slight reversal of that trend. The percentage of people who trust “a person like yourself” fell from 45% to 25%, while the percentages of those who trust CEOs or government officials rose 9% and 6% respectively.
Social Media Goes to War
Jan 11, 2010 Employee Engagement, Employer Branding, Social Media/Social Recruiting, Uncategorized
MQ-1 Predator drone Photo: JimNtexas on flickr.com
The New York Times reports that the Air Force uses social media to direct ground forces battling in Afghanistan.
“ ‘It’s mostly through the chat rooms — that’s how we’re fighting these days,’ said Col. Daniel R. Johnson, who runs the intelligence centers.
“He said other analysts, mostly enlisted men and women in their early 20s, studied the hundreds of still images and phone calls captured each day by U-2s and other planes and sent out follow-up reports melding all the data.
“Mr. Bigham, a Raytheon executive (they designed the system – Ed.), said the new system would help speed that process. He said it would also tag basic data, like the geographic coordinates and the chat room discussions, and alert officials throughout the military who might want to call up the videos for further study.”
It’s Payback Time.
Dec 17, 2009 Corporate Culture, Employee Engagement, Employer Branding, Internal Communications, Public Relations, Recruitment, Relationship Marketing, Social Media/Social Recruiting
“Productivity in the nonfarm business sector (in the last two quarters) grew at a shocking 8.1% annual rate. There are two possible explanations. One: The last two quarters were among the most technologically innovative and entrepreneurial in the history of the United States. Two: Fearful businesses pared payrolls to the bone. If the second is closer to the truth, payrolls are extraordinarily lean right now. Which means that firms will need to hire more workers as their sales and production grow. Which means that employment may start growing sooner than the pessimists think.”
Alan S. Blinder, Professor of Economics & Public Affairs, Princeton University
“The Case for Optimism on the Economy”
The Wall Street Journal, 15 December 09
As my dear, departed grandmother would say, “From your lips to God’s ears.” Professor Blinder’s analysis jibes with my own experience of late, namely that businesses of all stripes have cut so deeply that very little works as advertised any more. And that has dire implications for brands.
Letter from Perú
Nov 30, 2009 Consulting, Corporate Culture, Employer Branding, Global, Internal Communications, Recruitment, Social Media/Social Recruiting
Imagine what it would be like to work in an economy growing at nearly 10% per year. The country rapidly prospering, people are eager to exchange their new-found wealth for goods and services they could only dream of before. As so often happens in such cases, this affluence creates a domino effect and fresh markets open up in areas once considered backward and inherently deprived.
This is the feeling you get when you visit Perú, one of the most dynamic economies in the world today. In contrast to the problems confounding the developed world, Perú is on an upward trajectory that creates excitement and optimism among its people.
Dinner at Huaca Pallance
The Pew Study: African-Americans more likely than any racial or gender group to use Twitter
Oct 27, 2009 Diversity & Inclusion, Research, Social Media/Social Recruiting
Marketers have know for a long time that African-American consumers tend to be early adopters of new products and in recent years of new consumer technologies, from gaming to MySpace to Twitter. A study just released by the Pew Internet and American Life Project confirms once again that minorities, and African-Americans in particular represent a desirable marketing segment.
According to a study released on October 23, 2009, African-Americans are more likely than any racial or gender group to use Twitter or another status update service. Pew found that 26% of African Americans online use Twitter or other service. The percentage for all groups, including women, was as follows: Men (non-Hispanic)—17%; women (non-Hispanic)—21%; white—19%; African-American—26%; and Hispanic—18%.
Those of us who specialize in helping our clients reach all demographics of the population should take note and factor this data into our strategies when developing communications and outreach plans. We know that social networking sites help build community and if businesses want to build a relationship with minorities, they have the research to support allocating financial resources for that purpose.
Tags: Diversity, Inclusion, social media
IACP Conference Recap
Oct 23, 2009 Events, Government, Social Media/Social Recruiting
The International Association of Chiefs of Police puts together a fantastic annual conference; between the spectacular exhibit floor to the informative and educational workshops they conduct, this conference is a tremendous asset for every Police Department to take advantage of. I have attended 2 so far, and in both instances have come back with valuable insight to assist with recruitment marketing to the law enforcement community. It also has one the more impressive exhibit halls I’ve ever experienced; helicopters, motorcycles, mobile communications vehicles. Let’s just say if it involves policing you will find it on the exhibit floor.
Two weeks ago I shared on a workshop panel at the Annual IACP Conference in Denver, Colorado. Our workshop was on “Leveraging the Internet for Police Recruitment”. The workshop went very well; however, we did have stiff competition from a workshop on “Race and the Police: In Search of a Perspective” which was conducted during the same time.
Tags: law enforcement, social media, social recruitment strategy