guidelines

Career education and job search guide, gathering information from a variety of sources – all in one location online.

Job Opportunities & Career Information is a one-stop resource location for those currently looking for career development, a new job or just some valuable information regarding employers and employee relationships. Providing a source for job leads via Twitter accumulated into one daily report expedites the process of searching through Twitter for specific data. Career planning information all indexed into one location can make the experience much more positive. Even the warnings about “earn money from home” scams and what to be on the lookout for are valuable resources to find in one location.

The SSN Take: A good resource to bookmark and watch if you are in the job searching mode.

Melody K. Smith, April 26, 2010

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If you are looking to launch a mobile application of your website, it is your lucky day. Offering your services “to go” is a great way to beef up business for the long haul.

Learning from those who go before us is a tried and true method of doing business, and well, to life in general. OpenTable’s Scott Jampol offered up his advice at a recent conference, as reported in The Next Web’s article, “5 Tips from OpenTable in Crafting Your Mobile Strategy”, OpenTable wasn’t an immediate success. They worked hard and have earned the respect and business of diners and restaurants worldwide. But how did they do it?

Jampol’s five tips are simple, but profound. “Mobile doesn’t mean “simple version of your website” starts the list and though it seems like a “no-brainer”, let’s face it, we’ve all seen examples of just that. Check out the article for the rest of these profound tips, which include staffing and support advice.

The SSN Take: A mobile application can provide key information for social search engines, especially when they are done right.

Melody K. Smith, April 23, 2010

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Communiscpace CEO Diane Hessan has some advice about using social media and the common element is this: use your head.

In “Lessons From Leno and Twitter Bombers: 3 Rules for Next-Gen Marketing,” Austin Carr writes in FastCompany about Hessan’s recent presentation at the Advertising Research Foundation’s (ARF) 2010 Re: Think Conference in New York. Hessan presented eight rules for next-gen marketing research based on feedback from over 200 consumer-insight professionals. Carr focused on three of them: 1) manage social media jitters; 2) game-changing insights don’t usually come from testing; and 3) don’t underestimate the power of one.

Regarding responding to social media, Hessan prescribes a balance between reaction and overreaction. “We need to listen hard to consumers, for sure, but if your target consumers are not on Twitter, for instance, then you don’t necessarily need to change strategy because of an angry tweet or two.” Hessan said that research doesn’t always translate into success. Game-changing insight may instead come from ongoing discovery, which she views as a necessary part of marketing. And Hessan said “the big breakthroughs often happen away from the spotlight. … The one lone voice in the background” may have the best insight.

The SSN take: Rules can be good guidelines, but in the end you still need to think.

John Sniffen, April 17, 2010

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Improper planning is being blamed for the projected fail of social media initiatives.

Tradeshow Week recently reported on some dire predictions in their article, “Gartner predicts over 70 percent of IT-dominated social media initiatives will fail.”  Their focus is on corporate enterprises which typically have a more advanced systems and processes, but still lack proper planning. Everyone seems to be in a hurry to get something out there and in that rush, forgets that proper planning is needed for a social media launch just as much as for a major marketing plan or communications strategy.

The SSN Take: Once organizations step away from the experiments and begin to design proper, well planned, well thought out approaches – the failures will decrease. Social media itself is not the failure.

Melody K. Smith, April 11, 2010

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The travel sector’s strategy has changed, says a new report by Total Media, a UK-based media planning and buying agency.

“Six critical issues to consider with social media in travel” highlights six key trends of the report, driven by the “sociability” of consumers. First and foremost is the “word-of-mouth” experience – getting customers to talk about their experience and share it with others online. Handling praise as well as criticism is important: “be active in the reviews ecosystem.” We all know that SEO is important, and being “visible on search” is crucial. Mentioned many times is the keyword “inspiration” – advertising, content, and reviews need to inspire consumers to book dates and seek out deals. Lastly, they caution to avoid going after the young, flighty consumers who may be too busy to review – it’s the “older, mainstream consumer” who will be the influencer.

The SSN Take: With the consumer’s influence and your company’s inspiration, any market can be positively affected.

Samuel Hartman, April 6, 2010

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“Yelp for Business: 4 Steps for Success” lays out the reasons for local businesses to claim and manage their Yelp listing.

With its user-generated review and rating system, urbanites come to the trust the site for information on where to eat, buy clothes, or get an oil change. While your business may be listed, “claiming” it is important, and only take a few minutes. Once completed, update your listing with all pertinent information – an incomplete page will likely send a consumer to a competitor looking for a service.

Yelp allows businesses to respond to customer feedback, and even provides an easy guide on how to handle criticism. Part of keeping consumers happy and interested is using the Yelp platform to announce offers and sales. For those wishing to take it to the next level, Yelp offers a premium account with on-site advertising – rates range from $300 to $1000 a month.

The SSN Take: “Take the reins” of your Yelp page and utilize its feature to hone in on local consumers.

Samuel Hartman, April 6, 2010

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If you’re spending even a moderate amount of time online, you probably hear regular warnings about the latest security threat, scam or other scheme that is spreading across the social networks.

While some users react by feeling helpless against a savvy cybercrook, others relax because they’ve got the latest security software. However, in “Protect Yourself Against Social-Network Scams,” Harry McCracken from FOXNews.com points out that some of the best precautions come from common sense habits.

• He advises that you should always use the current version of your browser because it will have updated patches for security leaks.
• Another tip is to judge emails and messages very carefully.
• Be on the lookout for fishy or cryptic notes.
• On a similar note, be cautious about clicking on “short URLs,” which are pervasive on Twitter.
• Lastly, as technology goes increasingly mobile, take care not to let the whole world know you’re not home, when you really just wanted to tell your friends or family.

SSN Take: An essential component of your social media policy should be taking proper security measures. If one employee from your company is hacked, it can be dangerous for everyone.

David Hardt, April 5, 2010

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A successful social media campaign depends on carefully determining what is to be achieved before starting, says Michael Jansma, CEO of GEMaffair.com.

“As an e-commerce seller, is your goal to drive more visitors to your site? Improve your presence in the search engines? Or, is your goal more focused, like increasing brand recognition or reputation management for your brand?” Jansma is quoted in “Social media success hinges on clear goals, e-retailer says” on internetretailer. “If your goal is to turn your followers into buyers, you’ll want to make sure you are engaging your followers and creating dialogues with your potential customers. Whatever your goal, there are specific tactics to use.”

Jansma, an early adopter of e-commerce, is also an enthusiastic proponent of social media. With more than $20 million in e-commerce revenue, GEMaffair.com is one of the leading gemstone and jewelry retailers on the web.

The SSN take: Common sense advice for pretty much any marketing campaign.

John Sniffen, April 5, 2010

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It should be a given that brands in 2010 who want to market the most effectively need to be on Facebook.

But the Mashable article “Why Your Brand Needs to Be on Facebook Now” illustrates a crucial point that many may not realize:

Facebook users are openly sharing their life’s passions, personal interests, and their affinity – or lack thereof – for corporate brands, political candidates, and the key public policy stances. In effect, they are openly sharing every bit of marketing data a 21st century company covets.

With this data so openly shared, why wouldn’t your company want to be in that mix? The article advises seeing which employees are already Facebook-savvy and putting them at the forefront – not to mention becoming a fan yourself. Use 10% of your online advertising budget to do a 90-day trial run on Facebook, using advertisements that hit keywords and demographic information.

The SSN Take: With 450 million users and the top spot in web traffic, Facebook integration is a no-brainer.

Samuel Hartman, April 5, 2010

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Back in December, South African President Nelson Mandela became the target of an unfortunate hoax – users began tweeting and re-tweeting that the anti-apartheid activist has passed away.

But was there any foundation to this rumor? No – it was simply a rumor spread by the viral nature of Twitter – a game of ‘telephone’ gone awry. “Why Social Media Can’t Be Trusted for Breaking News… Yet!” uses this example as a case in point for the unreliable effect of news on social media. It seems unthinkable that a major event like the death of a president would be repeated without any fact-checking, yet that’s exactly what happened in a matter of minutes.

The article’s author argues it’s an issue of filtering, essentially a check for quality control. The only problem is, that filter isn’t there. “How do you know that the individual posting news has a firm understanding on what is or isn’t newsworthy? How do you know there’s not bias or agenda? The fact is, you don’t.” This goes beyond simply reposting a link to a story – it deals with the implicit “Social Media umbrella of assumed trust” that we all buy into, sometimes without even realizing it.

I think this is the key point, that by seeing statements, be it mundane (“I just took a shower”) or newsworthy (“There’s a fire breaking out on Main St!”) we tend to believe them, coming from the online representations of our friends whom we believe to be trustworthy in real life. But the author cautions that there’s “too much confusion at play between the speed at which people can receive information, the excitement of the delivery process, how people interpret that information, and trust in the accuracy of perceived news.”

I agree with the author the flaws of Social Media need to be examined in order for its delivery system to turn into a legitimate news source one day. The strengths of Social Media are clear, but as pointed out above, it can be trying to discern fact from opinion in the social universe.

The SSN Take: Regardless of the source, a good fact-checking is a solid idea  - especially on the precarious Social Media news reel.

Samuel Hartman, April 1, 2010

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