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Sure, social media marketing doesn’t cost as much as a minute of Super Bowl advertising, but marketers appear to be vastly underestimating its expense.

Econstituency vice president Rebecca Lieb says 32 percent of marketers who responded to the e-commerce advisory firm’s recent survey said they spend nothing on social media, according to “Live from SES NY: Marketers Claim Social Media Doesn’t Cost a Dime” by Tim Parry on Multichannel Merchant. Lieb theorizes that respondents consider dollar figures to equal the amount of money spent, and are not accounting for resources such as the manpower that go into having a social media presence.

And they are using social media. More than four-fifths – or 86 percent – report marketing on Facebook, while 77 percent are tweeting and 58 percent are using LinkedIn, says Leib.

The SSN take: Either the accounting departments have not caught up with the marketers, or someone is really trying to make social media use look cost efficient. Neither is good business.

John Sniffen, April 22, 2010

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When it comes to using social media for recruiting, Deloitte—which provides auditing, consulting, financial advisory, risk management, and tax services through independent firms worldwide—deploys a full-court press.

“Deloitte is taking a multifaceted digital approach to recruiting by using a blend of social networking resources and multimedia elements. A versatile introduction to their company is available at the click of a button,” reports the T+D Blog in “Deloitte: The Future of Recruiting is Social Media.” Deloitte’s program integrates several interactive media outlets, including a micro-site, a Twitter feed, a Facebook page, a LinkedIn group and a YouTube channel.

The micro-site provides an in-depth look into the lives of the firm’s Gen Y workers through a series of profiles and short films. The Twitter feed, “Life at Deloitte,”features daily tweets designed to provide insight into the company’s different practice areas and the latest hot topics from a variety of business leaders. The “Your Future at Deloitte (U.S.)” Facebook page also has interactive message boards where potential job candidates can join the discussion. A campus-focused LinkedIn group helps connect college students with employees and recruiters.

Deloitte’s YouTube channel, “Your Future at Deloitte,” features video testimonies from employees about why they chose the company and what the work means to them.

Deloitte, which has about 169,000 employees worldwide, estimates it will hire about 4,800 full- and part-time employees during 2010.

Sodexo USA, the global food and facilities management services provider which was recently awarded ERE’s 2010 excellence in recruiting award, also makes use of a full social media arsenal. “Sodexo’s social media initiative is on the leading edge of best practices,” writes John Sullivan in “Best Practices in Recruiting” on ERE.net. “Its web presence effectively communicates Sodexo’s company culture, and opportunities across a Careers blog, Facebook page, LinkedIn group, YouTube channel, Twitter and Flickr.” The Society for New Communications Research has recognized Sodexo for its pioneering work in microblogging.

Employing a more one-dimensional social media recruiting campaign, Sears Holding Corp., recently posted 7,000 positions with TweetMyJOBS, a Twitter-based job board service. Writing for ReadWriteWeb , Sarah Perez says TweetMyJOBS president and founder Gary Zukowski claims the partnership makes Sears, which also includes the Kmart chain, one of the largest brands to embrace mobile recruiting. The service lets job seekers receive instant notification on their cell phones via Twitter when new jobs are posted online.

The partnership has a large potential to grow as Sears posted more than 500,000 job openings last year via traditional recruiting channels.

Another social media recruiting partnership features CareerBuilder.com and Facebook.

In “It’s time to update your Facebook status—recruitment strategies move toward social media in 2010” on examiner.com, Megan Munch notes that job postings from CareerBuilder now also post directly to Facebook. “The best matched candidates will be able to see the company’s job advertisement on the side of their Facebook page.”

Careerbuilder and Facebook also cooperate in helping the more than 700,000 local companies that have Facebook pages improve their image. CareerBuilder consultants work with clients, checking their Facebook pages weekly—blogging, posting updates, new hires and accomplishments—as well as monitoring site activity.

Munch offers one bit of advice to potential job seekers using social media, especially those fresh out of college. “I would advise taking down [photo] albums titled ‘The Hangover Album.’ Inappropriate behavior can and will affect job and internship opportunities.”

John Sniffen, April 14, 2010

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Find yourself checking Facebook or Twitter or LinkedIn on the hour—or more often—while at work? You could be headed for a social networking meltdown.

In “6 ways to Stop the Social Media Madness” on the WebWorkerDaily, Aliza Sherman says what’s needed is a bit of common sense. “In trying to tackle overload and meltdown, two modes that seem part and parcel of our digital social communications, I tried to return to some common sense, something I think we’ve almost left behind as things move so quickly around us,” she writes.

Sherman, founder of the first woman-owned Internet company, Cybergrrl Inc., provides a half dozen tips:

1. Pare down. Decide which social media sites are not essential to work and daily life, then drop them.

2. Turn off non-essential notifications. Only use the ones that mean “go there now” or “do this in 10 minutes.” Those are reminders, not invasions of limited brain space.

3. Designate time. “If it isn’t your job to monitor the social mediasphere for a client, you’re falling into the trap of ‘always more and never enough.’ Remember that we all survived quite well before tweets and updates.”

4. Filter better. Narrow searches terms to a few “mission-critical” terms, and be more specific.

5. Step away. “If you find yourself consumed with your social networks and endless updates, push the computer away and step away from your desk. Go for a walk. Have a conversation with someone face-to-face.”

6. Go cold turkey. “If you’re really struggling with managing your information intakes,” says Sherman, “just stop. Go a few days completely disconnected. Pay attention to life. Listen to people.”

The SSN take: Besides returning productive work hours to the company (or your own bottom line, if self-employed), these guidelines may also promote mental and even physical health.

John Sniffen, March 23, 2010

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The Next Web’s recent article, “The Social Media Cheat Sheet,” features an easy-to-read PDF with color-coordinated ratings of the top social media websites, created by the marketing gurus at CMO.com.

The sheet details various social media sites and how well they can be used for customer communication, brand exposure, upping site traffic, and SEO. At the top of the list? Twitter, of course, allowing instant interaction and exposure for anything, as well as re-tweeting links and sending traffic your way. YouTube and Facebook rank high, along with Digg, though McLellan cautions that the site’s user-driven rating system eschews any perceived commercial content. “Buzzing up” through Yahoo!’s new service, along with the lo-fi Reddit don’t get high marks in any category, but this doesn’t mean they can’t be utilized by your company, you just need to know your audience. Social bookmarking sites like StumbleUpon and Del.ici.ous are listed with some value, too.

The SSN Take: Diversification in the social media landscape is a good thing; utilize each site’s strengths.

Sam Hartman, March 20, 2010

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Not everyone is jumping whole hog into the social media feeding frenzy. Attorney/blogger Ken Chapman, writing in the Calgary Beacon article “Overcoming the Social Media Fear Factor,” notes that government and big business, especially energy producers “have been hesitant to embrace the opportunities these new trends and technologies offer.” Used to controlling their message and only being on the sending end, government and big business find it daunting to leap into “to the chaos of social networking.” But there is an answer, says Chapman: LinkedIn. He says the business-oriented site offers more comfort for business and government users “to engage in a professionally based, interactive, participatory and business-oriented social-networking space.” Launched in May 2003, it now has more than 55 million registered users worldwide.

John Sniffen, Feb. 27, 2010

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The “connections” feature in LinkedIn is one of the reasons the site stands apart from other social networking sites, and using it effectively will help job-seekers stand out in the sea of resumes that employers may wade through. “How to Use Linkedin Networking while applying for a Job” covers a step-by-step process in refining your resume before submitting it directly to the hiring manager. By locating an “insider” in the company with a professional connection, be it alumni status, a professional association, or even mutual friends, one can request an “informational interview” to determine 1) if the job is still available, 2) the name of the hiring manager, and 3) desirable characteristics of the potential employee. Once you know this, you can customize your resume and have the insider deliver it directly to the hiring manager. This personal touch should give you higher response rates than blindly applying for jobs.

Sam Hartman, Feb. 25, 2010

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In “Who’s Who of Social Networks for Business,” some points are highlighted for the startup crowd wishing to capitalize on the plethora of social technology. Each site has its own protocol, so choose wisely and see what works for you. LinkedIn is the gold standard for professionals and executives, with membership at over 50 million. Network, discuss, post your resume, and search for potential employees. Facebook trumps MySpace in membership, and also in demographic: MySpace is mostly for “tweens” and lacks the social “feel” of Facebook. And who can forget Twitter? Its text-message-like layout has everything from job leads to breaking news. Whether promoting or seeking, it’s time to tweet, update, or blog your way into the social network world.

Wrap-up: LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook, in that order, are your best bet for getting a handle on the social media landscape.

Sam Hartman, Feb. 19, 2010

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Similar to the 140-word update on Twitter, LinkedIn has a feature called Network Updates.  SFGate’s recent article highlights this underused feature. LinkedIn is your professional social media site and the Network Update feature is considered your billboard. Advertise yourself, your work and what you have to offer. The author warns that this 140-word update should not be what you put on Twitter, it should be professional. When you update your status on LinkedIn, it makes you visible to your connections. Being invisible when you are seeking sales leads or career opportunities is not good. So after you tweet about the long line at the car wash, consider posting the latest investment opportunity on LinkedIn.

Melody K. Smith, Feb. 17, 2010

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