Is Your Social Media Influence Important in Finding that Dream Job?

Applying for a job is a challenge in a crowded employment marketplace and it can be tough and daunting task as you are often competing with many other candidates for that one spot. Applications flood in via email with  resumes attached.

The recruiter or company can receive hundreds of application for just one position and it’s an avalanche of data and information that clogs the inbox.

It’s the survival of the fittest!

How do you stand out from the crowd when you are just a a click away from being deleted from the process?

There are a variety of ways to get that inside running for that dream job.

How to Stand Out from the Crowd

There are many tactics to gain that important attention and emerge from under a pile of resumes as the victor.

1. Create a multimedia resume that makes your application stand out from the crowd (here are some examples and yes they got the job)
2. Be referred to the boss by a friend who is on the inside (and I don’t mean jail)
3. Advertise on Facebook targeted at the exact company you want to work for

There is Another Way

A less traditional approach is that you can go about building up your online influence through producing and publishing content and buzz online with a blog, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

This proactive online personal branding and positioning of you as a person of knowledge, passion and attitude in your industry or niche will have employers hunting you down and begging to hire brand “You”.

So how do you do that?

10 Steps To Promote Brand “You” With Social Media

1. Identify your Passion

Maybe you already are an expert in your industry and you are passionate about your area of expertise. If you aren’t, you need to identify what you can focus on so you can create and publish content relevant to your industry.

More reading:

How To Blog With Passion and Purpose

2. Obtain a Domain Name in Your Name

If you can’t obtain it because it is already taken create another name that encapsulates what you are about. Gary Vaynerchuk created a video blog with the domain name tv.winelibrary.com to provide a platform to promote his passion about wine. There is no right or wrong about this but get started.

3. Start a Blog using WordPress

Google loves blogs as they deliver new and unique content that keep Google’s search results relevant and recent. WordPress is easy to use and you can buy templates that allow you to set the blog up without being a programmer

More reading

105 Tips To Make Your Blog Rock

4. Write and Publish Unique Content Regularly

Choose your medium such as video, audio or the written word as some people can write, others are better on video and some can communicate their passion through speech. Video bloggers such as Gary Vaynerchuk transformed their business with a video blog.

More reading:

9 Secrets of A Successful Online Video Social Media Marketing Strategy

5. Create a Twitter Account in your Name

Twitter is a great marketing tool to communicate to a niche market ever invented. Open a Twitter account and secure your Twitter name today which is consistent with your blog domain name.

6. Engage, Communicate and Promote Brand “You” on Twitter

Start following people on Twitter in your industry and  the Twitter etiquette of following back people who follow you allows you to connect, engage and then influence people in your target market.

More reading:

11 Twitter Essentials You Need To Pimp Your Blog

7. Create a Facebook “Page” with the Same Brand as your Blog

Facebook with nearly 700 million users provides a rich source of contacts to spread your content and get feedback and allow your message and brand to spread. Start a page today (not a personal profile)

More reading

How To Increase Your Facebook Page Fans By 1,000%

8. Set-Up and Optimize a LinkedIn Account

LinkedIn with nearly 100 million professional members with an average income of $100,000 is a social media channel that will appear high in Google search results whenever anyone Google’s your name. On LinkedIn you can link to feeds from Twitter and your blog into your LinkedIn page that provides social proof of your expertise and authority

9. Publish Content to “Other” Social Media Platforms

If you are a manager or a professional you no doubt will have PowerPoint presentations, upload these where appropriate onto Slideshare. Record videos of presentations or interviews and create a YouTube account  and upload those videos to YouTube. If you have great photos from events and seminars create an account and then upload the images to Flickr ( a social network photo and image repository). These social networking platforms appear high up in any Google search results when anyone searches your name.

More reading:

Google Becomes More Social And It’s Hurting Your Business

10. Make it Easy for People to Share your Content

On your blog make sure that you implement two features that allow people to share your content with 2 clicks. Install a Retweet and Facebook button that reduce the friction for anyone to spread your expertise to their Twitter or Facebook network with  a couple of clicks of the mouse.

More reading

How To Increase Your Blog Traffic By 55% With One Button

So you have completed these 10 steps and you are building Twitter followers and Facebook fans that are reading your blog and leaving comments. How do you measure that social media influence?

Measuring your Online “Influence”

Klout.com is a company that is attempting to measure this. The Klout Score is the measurement of your overall online influence. The scores range from 1 to 100 with higher scores representing a wider and stronger sphere of influence. Klout uses over 35 variables on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to measure your influence which includes reach, amplification and your network.

True Reach

True Reach is the size of your engaged audience and is based on those of your followers and friends who actively listen and react to your messages

Amplification Probability

Amplification Score is the likelihood that your messages will generate actions (retweets, @messages, likes and comments) and is on a scale of 1 to 100

Network Score.

Network score indicates how influential your engaged audience is and is also on a scale from 1 to 100. The Klout score is highly correlated to clicks, comments and retweets.

What is Your Klout?

You can measure your “Klout” by entering your Twitter name (such as JeffBullas) into the Klout website after logging in via Facebook or Twitter.

In a knowledge and attention economy it is important to be influential, obvious and noticeable and influence now extends beyond the traditional analog network of  the “old boys club”.

Some people might think that this is pushing the digital space beyond the point of credibility but at this stage nearly 2,000 companies have now bought data from Klout to use for assessing online influence for hiring and for finding people who are influential in their industry and area of interest.

If you were hiring a sales person, marketing director or even a CEO their ability to influence is important in their job roles.

Forbes also mentions some other ways companies are finding people with Klout to help them market their goods and services

So do you think having influence online is important for winning that dream  job?

Image by DaveKav