Social Media Presence
Designing your Social Media PresenceIntroductionThe head of your company passed you in the hall and asked, Why couldnt I find you on LinkedIn? I want to make a connection with you!Companies are expanding their use of social media to external stakeholders for a variety of reasons, including, as cited by Social Media Today (2014):Customer Service successful use of social media provides channels to customers that allow for real-time communication that can be used to answer questions solve problems support the sales process convey care for customers solicit customer feedback Brand Building by increasing exposure through more channels brands can be strengthened by building awareness and identity associating a voice with the brand reaching more customers enabling competition with larger companies expanding reach to global markets while making relationships more personal Reputation Management through monitoring of online presence that enables companies to become more accessible drive more traffic to web presence link to other partners respond swiftly to negative comments and complaints In addition, companies are employing social media internal to their organizations. Towers Watson (2013) found in their surveys that 56% of the employers surveyed currently use various social media tools as part of their internal communication initiatives.Internal Communications serving as official and unofficial channels of communication for the purposes of sharing company-wide official information introducing and reinforcing company culture facilitating communication among employees across organizational boundaries supporting collaborative work building a sense of community There has also been a rise in social recruiting, employers, recruiters, and job seekers employing social media to find jobs and hire candidates.Recruiting by performing web searches Employers and recruiters seek out prospective employees to obtain more information about them, both professional and personal; examine examples of their past work; and gain insights into potential fit with the organization Job seekers are using social media to gather information on potential employers, checking their outlets for information company culture, management, benefits, and employee opinions A survey of recruiters reports that overwhelmingly, recruiters who use social media use LinkedIn to post jobs, search for candidates, contact candidates and do pre-interview vetting (Jobvite 6th Annual Social Recruiting Survey). A new survey from Careerbuilder found: