5 Tips for Building Your Personal Brand Using Social Media - Guest Post

(photo byswimfreak000)

The internet can be an invaluable tool for promoting yourself or your business—provided you know what you’re doing. Social media, online networking and tools that make communication of all kind quick and easy are great ways to get your name out there and get you known, but they can also get you in a lot of trouble if you don’t manage your online brand in the right way. Here are 5 tips to help you use social media to your advantage and build your brand without too many bumps along the road.

1. Use your profile to put a face on a brand.

When using sites where you need to develop a profile, use this as a chance to really showcase your brand and make it more personal to your customers. You also want to make sure that you keep your profiles consistent across the different social media sites so there’s no confusion about what your brand stands for. This will lead to better brand recognition, loyalty and even popularity if done right.

2. Make the most of networking and communication capabilities.

There’s no reason not to communicate with customers using social media. A generic presence on these sites won’t do you any favors. Take the time to actively engage with customers, listen to what they have to say and respond with your own answers, after all, it’s social for a reason. Being willing to communicate with others makes your brand more trustworthy, more valuable and just all around better.

3. Be genuine and build relationships.

If you want your target market to pass on recommendations about your company then you need to provide sincere engagement with them on your social media profiles and feeds. You can’t just use your blog or profile to push your personal products and expect this to get a great response. You brand will be much better served by offering information and conversation that’s of value not only to you but to your customers as well.

4. Make yourself unique.

Social media offers lots of opportunities to show off the real personality of your brand and make it stand out from the crowd. Spend your time building sites that reflect the “voice” of your brand and make sure all your content reflects the personality you want to associate with your brand.

5. Work your blog.

Blogging can be an excellent way to connect with customers and to start building your brand. That is, however, if you go about it in the right way. If you’re always just posting things that are essentially ads for your products you’ll probably bore all but your most hardcore fans. Instead, use your blog to share a passion for your industry, not just your product and become and authoritative, trusted and even entertaining source of information for your customers.

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This post was contributed by Megan Jones, who writes about job search websites. She welcomes your feedback at Meg.Jones0310 at gmail.com

Strayer University Personal Branding Presentation

Last week, we set out to the San Lake Orlando Campus of Strayer University and chatted with students on Personal Branding and promoting themselves online. It was a great presentation that featured a Dress Barn fashion show and some great info for both the students and faculty at Strayer.

If you would like the Orlando Employment Guide to come to your school, group or organization, please let us know by sending an email to greg.rollett@employmentguide.com. We are currently presenting on the following topics:

• Personal Branding
• Advanced Online Job Seeking
• Resumes, Cover Letters and First Impressions
• Successful Job Fairs

Here is the video from the presentation as well as the slides that accompany the talk. Submit feedback in the comments please. The video is a little long (about an hour) so view at your leisure.

5 Steps To Market Your Self Online | Strayer University Presentation

View more OpenOffice presentations from gregrollett.

-Greg Rollett

Assistance for Orlando Jobless and Those Laid Off

We just received notice from our friends at the Workforce of Central Florida that they have received government funding for scholarships to offer to those that have been laid off, terminated or downsized. From the Workforce Press Release:

WORKFORCE CENTRAL FLORIDA is pleased to offer a limited number of training scholarships to help individuals affected by the downturn in the economy. If you meet the requirements for this program, contact us today to take advantage of this opportunity.

You may be eligible for this program if you meet one of the following criteria:

• If you have been terminated, laid off or downsized through no fault of your own
• If you are eligible or receiving unemployment compensation
• If you have exhausted your unemployment benefits
• If you worked at a facility with more than 25 employees that announced a permanent layoff
• If you are a homemaker who no longer receives support from another family member and are looking to enter the workforce

For more information, please visit the Workforce website and view the webinar entitled WIA Program Webinar to obtain additional information on scholarship assistance and begin the application process.

Best of luck Orlando!

-Greg

Companies Using Twitter To Hire You!

On Friday we took a look at top recruitment professionals on Twitter, from services to communities to coaches. Today we are taking a look at some companies who use Twitter to post jobs form their Twitter account. Being consistent in following these companies may open up an opportunity for you to apply to an open position before the job becomes advertised online, in the paper or another outlet.

If you know of other companies using Twitter to promote their open positions, please let me know in the comments and I will add them to the list. Hopefully we can make this a powerful resource for those looking for employment to talk directly to companies through this powerful medium.

Dominion Enterprises - Corporate recruiting headquarters for Employment Guide, For Rent, Homes.com, Boat Trader and more!
AT&T - Jobs from the telecommunications giant
Burger King - Jobs with Burger King corporate, not individual franchises
Hyatt Hotels - find a job with this hospitality company
Keller Williams - Job positions for real estate agents and others such as secretaries and office managers
Kroger Grocery Stores - Their account says they are hiring in all locations across the country!
MTV Networks - Who wouldn't want to work for MTV?
UPS - What can brown do for your career?
Verizon - Careers for everything you are (or so says their Twitter bio)
Marriott International - Not an official jobs Twitter account but a good way to start building communications with the hotel giant
Whole Foods - again not specific to jobs, but they are very active on Twitter and this can a great learning and building block
CarMax - Chris Wilmore from CarFax talks about things related to their world. He can probably point you in the right direction.
Nordstrom - I guess its okay to find great deals while looking for a job with this fashion leader
Southwest and JetBlue - These 2 airlines are some of the most conversational accounts on Twitter. Start building relationships with them and see where it can lead you in your job search!

Again, not all of the above accounts are for jobs, but the job seeking process is about more than knowing the open positions. Building relationships with "people" that work for companies is an invaluable asset to sculting the career you are longing for. Reach out and talk to a new person or company everyday on Twitter. You never know where your network will lead you!

Happy hunting Orlando!

-Greg Rollett

P.S. Follow us on Twitter for local updates and new job postings! @orlandoeg

Follow These Career Related People on Twitter

Twitter is becoming a great place to not only share information and post your status updates, it is becoming an amazing resource to find out about job opportunities, build relationships with companies and get industry news. Here is a list of Twitter people and companies to follow that will help your Orlando Job Search.

The Employment Guide - Find Tweets on cool blog posts, featured employers and industry news.

Online Resumes - Great resource for resume tips and tactics

Career Realism - Advice From Leading Career Experts on Twitter

Brazen Careerist - Gen-Y Career Center

Jon Hunt Org - Leading career expert helping connect people with employers and careers

JobAngels - Getting people back to work, one person at a time.

Orlando JobSpot - This is our Twitter account which posts information on new jobs to our site, recent blog posts and local career and job news!

Here are some additional Twitter resources that we found while searching the web. They may give you some great insight into using the platform as well as some other Tweeps to follow to kickstart your Twitter Job Search.

• 50 Twitter Users To Follow For Your Job Search by One Day, One Job
• 30 Profiles Every Job Seeker on Twitter Should Follow by Applicant.com
• Using Twitter to Network and Find a Job by The Talent Buzz
• The Beginner's Guide to Finding a Job With Twitter by Job Mob
• How To Find a Job on Twitter from the great folks at Mashable
• 50 People on Twitter Job Seekers Should Follow by Resume Bear
• Top 50 Recruiters on Twitter by The Recruiter's Lounge
• Twitter to Find A Job by Forbes Online
• 30 Minute Brand Building For Twitter by Monica O'Brien at The Personal Branding Blog
• Using Twitter and Facebook To Find a Job by Time Magazine

There is a lot of advice and tips for job seekers out there on using Twitter and other social media tools. The goal is to find what is relevant to you and amplify the things that are working to get yourself into a new job or career as quickly and efficiently as possible. Remember to create real and meaningful relationships, that is the major focus of the medium.

On Monday, check back into the Orlando JobSpot as we look at some of the top companies locally that are using Twitter. These are companies that you can and should start building relationships with, looking for knowledge, conversation and opportunities.

Have a great weekend and happy hunting Orlando!

-Greg Rollett

HOME Families are 'Getting There'

The following is from the recent H.O.M.E. Newsletter. We are very excited to have helped assist this group in job training, personal branding and internet job seeking skills!

HOME just completed its first "Getting There" class, a six-week course, designed to help those who are unemployed receive the life skills they need to find successful jobs.

Eleven members of the class, who are part of HOME's HOMELite program, learned how to write resumes and cover letters, internet marketing, interview skills, and how to dress for success.

With teachers from The Orlando Employment Guide, volunteer interviews from the City of Kissimmee and Osceola County HR department, and a visit to the Central Florida Dress for Success, the members of the "Getting There" class learned how to put their best foot forward in finding a new job!

Above is a group photo from the class on graduation day. Graduates received a completion certificate, weekly planner, and a $15 gift card from JCPenney.

HOME will start another "Getting There" class on June 16.

Automating Your Orlando Job Search With Job Alerts

Take your job search into your own hands and on your own time with Email Job Alerts, a program from the EmploymentGuide.com. In this video cast from JobSpot TV, we look at how to set up a job alert for your specific industry and the purpose and function of doing so.

If you have questions about filling out a Job Alert of why you may want to do so, please leave a message in the comments and we will be sure to answer it and help you along with your job search.

-Greg