It is no secret that social media is a hot topic right now. From a business standpoint, you know that social media can be a powerful tool for marketing and recruiting.

But what about your candidates? Do they realize the effect that  social media is having on their job search efforts?

Most employers will at least do a Google search of anyone they are interested in hiring. What they find can be damaging to a job search and a career.

Make sure that you are conducting these same search before sending a candidate out on an interview. Remember, they are representing your firm and this is just another way to manage your brand online.

The following article has some great tips for how employers are using social media, and how to clean-up any “digital dirt” that you may have.

Digital “dirt” can haunt your job search

Haley Marketing Group is excited to announce the addition of social media and blog development to their stable of services. 

Haley’s social media services will help staffing and recruiting firms; position themselves as experts, expand their professional networks, strengthen their relationships with HR managers and other staffing decision makers, and gain top rankings with Google, Yahoo, Bing and other search engines. 

For a special one-time promotional price of $995 and a monthly fee of $395, staffing and recruiting firms will receive: 

• A customized Wordpress blog to compliment the look and feel of their corporate website.  This includes blog setup, training and search engine optimization tools.
• Four professionally written and search engine optimized posts per month consisting of: a case study, company focused post, candidate focused post, and a top job or top candidate post.
• Set up of Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook profiles which includes a branded design and integration with your blog so that content is automatically fed to these social media sites. 

Carol Szatkowski of Clear Point Consultants, Inc. stated, “Haley has been an invaluable consultant in assisting me with my company’s SEO and social media marketing strategy. They understand the technology and also our business objectives to increase our Web presence and build new business. Since working with Haley to create an SEO strategy our web traffic has increased 70%. I highly recommend Haley if you want a knowledgeable and effective consultant to increase leads to your Web site.” 

Brad Smith Online Marketing Director at Haley Marketing notes, “Over the past year we have worked closely with dozens of firms on SEO and Internet marketing.  We have found social media and blogging can be extremely effective tools for staffing and recruiting firms and we are very excited to offer these valuable services to our clients at a price that can fit their budgets.” 

Interested staffing firms can call 1-888-696-2900 to find out more.

Haley Marketing’s Social Media and Blog services

So you’ve set up your LinkedIn profile…now what?

One of the best resources within LinkedIn are “groups”.   You can join groups to take part in discussions with colleagues within your industry, answer questions, share best practices, network, etc. 

The folks at Beyond–Recruitment Strategists recently came up with a list of the Top 5 groups that all recruiters need to join…

1. Linked: HR- Topics for Discussion: Job Offers, Recruiting Strategies & Processes, Career Management, Retention, Human Resources Trends & Technologies, HRIS, Best Practices, Employment Laws, Retirement, Compensation & Benefits, Health Care, M&A, Downsizing, Headhunting, and other key HR topics.

2. ERE.net- A networking group of over 12,000 human resource professionals.

3. eRecruiting- An excellent group for sourcing of candidates.  Over 7,000 members.

4. OpenReq- This group features 14,000 members who are dedicated to serving the staffing and recruiting industry.

5. Indeed- Indeed.com’s LinkedIn group featuring more than 4,000 members.

We’ve seen more and more of our clients becoming active in social networking sites.  What groups are you joining?

Q: In your last Ask Haley you talked about why a staffing firm should be on Twitter.  What about LinkedIn? 

A: Designed as a professional networking tool, LinkedIn currently has more than 42 million members in over 170 different industries in 200 countries and territories around the world.  According to LinkedIn, a new member joins approximately every second and executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.  With those numbers, it’s safe to say that LinkedIn can be worth your time if invested the right way.

Unlike Twitter, the positive implications of using LinkedIn are much more straightforward.  Your professional network may be one of your most valuable assets as an individual and as a staffing company.  With LinkedIn, you can connect to other staffing firms like yours (that may have similar challenges), connect to colleagues you have worked with in the past, connect to your current clients and prospects, join groups, find talent, etc. 

When it comes to social media, LinkedIn can be your most powerful sales and recruiting tool.  Here are a few best practices for making LinkedIn work for your staffing firm:

Recruiting and prospect research.
With LinkedIn, finding and connecting to candidates and prospective clients can be easy if you know what to do.  Here are five ideas:

1. Maximize your network.  With LinkedIn networks, bigger equals better. Think six degrees of separation.  The more people in your network, the more people you can access.  To build your network, connect with current and former clients and candidates, colleagues at former employers, alumni from schools you attended, and members of groups you join.
2. Use the company search. As a prospecting tool, it’s a great way to find key executives who work for specific firms.  As a recruiting tool, you can use the company search to identify current and former employees in specific job functions.
3. Use the people search tool to look for candidates based on keywords they’ve listed on their LinkedIn profile.  
4. Use the group search tool to find organizations and networking groups of people with interests and experience that’s relevant to the types of prospects and candidates you are seeking.
5. Ask for referrals.  If you have a tough job to fill, ask for referrals via your status, LinkedIn’s in mail email service, and by posting your jobs to appropriate groups.

Helpful hint: When selling or recruiting on LinkedIn, don’t be overly salesy.  It’s most appropriate to be professional and direct.  Also, be sure to let whomever you are contacting know why you are contacting them, how you found them, and what you’d lke them to do next.

Build your brand.
LinkedIn is a terrific tool for building your personal brand and reputation, as well as that of your company.  Here are three ideas for using LinkedIn for brand building:

1. Build your credibility by asking for recommendations.  
2. Become a thought leader by answering questions, sharing articles with groups you join, and asking questions. 
3. Use your status updates to show off your expertise, drive people to your website, keep people informed of the events you attend and the organizations you support.

Keep an eye on the competition.
LinkedIn allows you to keep watch over your competition.  Use the company, people and question searches to see how they are sharing their expertise, where they are networking, and keep track of who they are hiring.

The ideas in this issue of Ask Haley are really the tip of the iceberg when it comes to leveraging the power of LinkedIn.  Here are two resources with more ideas on getting value from LinkedIn:

Guy Kawasaki’s article: 10 Ways to Use LinkedIn

Free LinkedIn Taining

Best regards,
David

Please connect with me on LinkedIn:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/davidsearns

And follow me on Twitter.  
http://twitter.com/DavidatHaley

We have all heard so much lately about the importance of developing our skills in social media as it applies to business. Well, some of you out there probably have not even started to get your feet wet in this fast growing arena yet. 

Want to know what it’s all about?  I read a really good article called “Get Started With Social Media”.  So, for all you beginners out there, take the plunge and jump in!

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and a Blog

With your business objectives defined and audience’s behavior understood, it’s time to step into the social Web. Look through the following list, then pick one and give it a try:

1. Facebook. Facebook gives you access to a quarter of a billion people, plus or minus. Of course, your mileage may vary — and probably will since you’ll want to be more focused about who you target on Facebook. This is something else that the site allows you to do very easily through its 30-second setup display ads platform. Facebook also offers Business Pages, complete with viewership stats via the Insights data available to Business Page administrators. You can embed Facebook applications in your business page, and you can drive traffic to it since the business page, unlike a Facebook Group, can be viewed (but not interacted with) by non-members of Facebook. One caution: Facebook’s terms of service prohibit one individual (read “person” and not e-mail address) from having more than one Facebook account. This means that your personal life, assuming you have one and assuming that some part of it is posted on Facebook, is potentially merged with the business page you’re managing. Facebook itself separates the two, but not all Facebook applications do. Word to the wise, and look for this to be cleared up as Facebook pages become (even) more popular.
2. Twitter. Enough said, right? No, of course not. Twitter may be the hot app right now, but that’s not enough of a business reason to use it. Here’s what is: Your customers use Twitter to talk about you. Hot or not, Twitter is a lay-up for listening. Set yourself up on Twitter, go easy on the “all about me” tweets, and use a client like TweetDeck to search for mentions of your brand, product, or service in real time, as well as those of your competitors. You’ll be fairly amazed at what you find and at how easy it is to keep abreast of conversations that matter to you.
3. LinkedIn. No doubt you know that LinkedIn offers a network directory service. I’ll bet you’re a member of LinkedIn, too. But did you know that you can create a company page? Just like your profile, you can create a page that represents your company and connects all the people who work there. Beware, though. Because there is no control on who people claim to work for and because some companies have the same or similar names, your company page may well include people who don’t work there. In the LinkedIn search box, choose the “Company” tab and then enter your company’s name. To remove people who don’t belong, you’ll need to e-mail LinkedIn Customer Service. It should be easier than that and over time probably will be. But, hey, it’s free, and it’s a start.
4. Your business blog. I saved this for last because it’s often the anchor of everything else. Your blog is where you get to talk, in depth, about things you are passionate about, about your industry, and about events and legislation related to it. Your blog is very attractive to search engines, and by linking your other social profiles and pages to it you increase the visibility of all the components of your social program. Don’t have a blog? You can set one up at Wordpress.com in under 10 minutes. Quite seriously, blogging is a social media best practice.

Read the full article at “Get Started With Social Media”

If you would like more information on adding a blog or social media to your website, please email me at paula@haleymarketing.com or call us at 1-888-696-2900.

Just surfing social media sites, and I came across an interesting article on the problems  Twitter is having in creating a sustainable  business model.  The good news? Their CEO recognized the problem and is working on ideas to capitalize on this powerful microblogging tool.

Check out: The Case Against Twitter

And as a counter balance to that article, here’s another article with 62 ideas for using Twitter as a marketing and personal branding tool:

62 Twitter Marketing Tips and Ideas

So how can your staffing firm use Twitter?
Here are 10 ideas:

• Tweet jobs to candidates who want up to the minute info
• Follow thought leaders in the recruiting profession
  (you can learn a lot from the ideas and tools they share)
• Follow thought leaders in the industries you serve
  (stay up to date with your clients–and one step ahead of competitors)
• Solicit feedback from your candidates
• Use TweetDeck to watch for information posted on your firm,
  your clients or about new jobs for the types of people you place.
• Promote content on your website
• Hold special referral contents only via Twitter
• Follow as many local HR people as you can – build personal
  relationships and learn about their challenges
• Use hashtags to create local groups or track local job opportunities.
• Cultivate relationships with candidates who are active on social media.

Reserve Your Seat

Q: David, how can staffing firms protect themselves from false accusations and negative information on social networks?

A: Three weeks ago, I was interviewed by Julie McCoy from Staffing Industry Analysts about social media.  We spent a long time discussing how staffing firms can protect themselves from the dangers of disgruntled clients, competitors and temporary employees and the misinformation they could post.
 
And then a funny thing happened–this situation happened to us. Another firm did not like an article I wrote because they thought it was about them (actually, it wasn’t – it was a rant against a firm in California that was using misinformation and outright lies as fear tactics to sell their SEO services).  This other firm decided to reprint my article on their website with some very derogatory comments about our services and misinterpretation of my message (for the record, my rant was against one-dimensional marketing and sales people who lie, not against the value of SEO and social networking).
 
Anyway, this brought me back to Julie’s question.  What can a staffing firm do when this happens to them?  At Haley Marketing, we recommend two strategies.

1) Play Offense.  Before anything negative appears on the Internet (or to combat what’s already out there), create opportunities for positive information to be posted about your firm while also encouraging people with complaints to submit them directly to you. 

Here are a few ideas:

• If you have a blog, encourage your temporary associates and clients to contribute success stories and testimonials.  And if they don’t have time, consider writing a blog post for  them and gather their feedback and approval before posting. 
• Encourage your temporary associates (those who are really happy) to share their experience on sites like Yelp.com.  
• Set up a site specifically to allow people to vent their service frustrations.  You can use a service like GetSatisfaction.com or create an area on your website for feedback. 
• Join social networks that focus on the types of clients and  candidates you serve, and then become a frequent contributor of ideas and advice. For example, search groups on LinkedIn and Facebook to find your local chamber of commerce, local SHRM chapter, and groups for specific types of professionals. Position yourself as an expert and a resource. 
• Create a Facebook page for your firm and encourage your candidates to become fans. 
• Use free press release distribution sites to submit newsworthy stories that illustrate the successes you are having with local  job seekers and employers. 
• Become a social media listener.  Set up a Google alert to inform you whenever new information is posted about your firm.  Use a service like Trackur (http://www.trackur.com/) to monitor a wide range of social media. 
• And most importantly, avoid service problems up front by doing your best to set realistic expectations with clients and candidates.  It’s an old truism that you are best served by “under promising and over-delivering.”  If you can’t fill a job order, be honest about it.  If you interview a candidate that you know you’ll never place,   give them candid feedback and suggestions for improvement.  We worked with one staffing firm several years ago that would go so far as to explain to under qualified candidates why the firm could not represent them and then give the candidates a list of other staffing firms that could.

2) Play Defense.  When you’re in the staffing business, you will have some unhappy clients and candidates.  You can’t be perfect, and even more so, you can’t please every person.  So when something negative gets out on the Internet, you have to know how to react. 

Here are a few strategies:

• Do nothing.  Sometimes the most intelligent approach is to ignore the complaint.  If the complainer is clearly overstating problems, ranting or using vile language, ignore it.  If you’ve done your job playing offense, these complainers will look like the nut cases. 
• Deal with the person directly. If someone’s complaint is legitimate or at least based in reality, you want to address the situation personally and offline first. Call them. Email them. Probe to find out what was wrong, what you can do to improve, and come to an agreement about next steps.  Then you can announce the changes you made via social media.  Ford Motor Company recently had this exact experience.  Their legal department went aggressively after one of their fans for selling unlicensed products.  Before the “Goliath beats up David” story ever reached the press, Ford used social media to resolve the problem–and it took less than 24 hours! Here’s the story: http://leftthebox.com/archive/how-scott-monty-stopped-a-ford-pr-disaster/ 
• Admit to your mistakes. If you made a legitimate mistake with your service, fess up to it, publicly. Then also state what you learned and the changes you made to resolve the problem.  You can get the word out via your company blog, your Facebook page, and directly to people via email and services like Twitter.  Most people understand that businesses make mistakes. It’s how you deal with them that counts.

I hope you find these ideas helpful.  It’s not an exhaustive list of everything you can do to play offense and defense, but it should be plenty to get you going.

Regards,

David Searns
President

P.S.  Wonder how we dealt with our issue? 

We took the high road. Rather than join the battle of mud slinging, we focused on what we do best–sharing ideas and information.  We then leveraged the power of social media to help spread the word, and the results have been beyond amazing–336 responses in less than one week!