Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Testing New Social Media




One of the more important points businesses need to take away from any discussion of developing their social networks is that it is a lot of work and it is slow at first.

The payoffs can take time to build, the groups can be cumbersome in getting off the ground, and the media and sites need a dedicated person to experiment with and learn their capabilities. All of these things take time to master, build, and maintain. Anyone can put a Facebook page up or write a few paragraphs for a LinkedIn company profile. But after that's done, what next?

A constant influx of new content is a must. A page with no updates, a page with no new messaging, is a page with no repeat visitors. It's called social networking for a reason. Like they do with a television network, your audience will come to count on you for constant, new programming. Like mingling at a party, you have to keep moving and moving, shaking hands, slapping backs, telling jokes, learning people's names, and making the rounds.

But you can't just stop at your page. You have to get out there in the blogging, instant messaging, profiling world. Go read what other people are saying. Leave interesting comments that track back to your site. Engage in the social world and the social world will come knocking at your door.

So, fresh content is obviously important, but just as much is fearless experimentation. You try some new things and some of those things fail. But this is good. Failure is instructive, provided it's not a magnificently massive Epic Fail. You put up your Twitter feed and no one follows you. Weeks and weeks go by and nothing. Zilch. Why not? What are you doing wrong? What can you be doing better? Are you following anyone? Are you sending them messages?

Learning what works and what doesn't, you cull from your trials and you hone your messaging strategies down to what works for you, your organization, your industry. Even regular users of various social media platforms don't know and can't keep up with every little wrinkle.

Get out there and mix it up. Have some fun. Learn some new tricks. Meet some new people. Social media is the future. In an ever more and more plugged in world, you can't afford to be left out of the conversation. You can't afford to be left behind.

Just don't kid yourself that it's a part-time job.

Want to learn more about how social media and social networking can help out your business? Contact The David Group and we'll show you the ropes.

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Friday, January 23, 2009

Interesting Development

Everyone knows you can get tons of free content online.

I'm not talking about the illegal downloading of stuff either, which is its own separate issue.

I'm talking popular shows streamed from major network sites like NBC hosting episodes of 30 Rock or CNN streaming the Inauguration in partnership with Facebook. Clips from popular shows like The Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons and others are available on Hulu.com, while nearly anything you are searching for can be found on YouTube or metacafe. Many companies fail to recognize how this sort of free advertising can lead to increased sales and greater name recognition, and some organizations have gone so far as to pull videos others have posted, rather than take advantage of the business opportunities presented to them.

In an interesting turn of events, the classic British comedy group Monty Python took matters into their own hands. First they set up their own channel, essentially a page maintained by YouTube but with content controls for the members of Monty Python. For every unauthorized posting of a snippet or sketch from their show that someone else had posted, they uploaded their own high-quality version. They added new content including familiar television personalities talking about when they first became fans of the group, members discussing writing or acting or anything really, and other items.

And then they linked to their material for sale on Amazon.

And you know what?

Despite having tons of free content available online, within days of setting up their own channel, the guys from Monty Python saw their DVD sales on Amazon rise to the number two spot with an amazing 23,000% increase in sales.

Now, how does this relate to advertising and specifically to recruitment advertising?

Simple.

With a creative approach to marketing yourself and your organization and by taking advantage of the free distribution of content, you can set up your own YouTube channel and begin spreading the word. You can post videos of hiring event games or clips of employees telling the world what a fun place to work you are. You can show that your hospital is inviting and pleasant, cutting-edge and compassionate. You can illustrate the kind of high-tech manufacturing environment you're seeking to staff. You can highlight your latest retail location.

Too many companies are just names and addresses to potential job seekers. Why not put a face with that name and show the world you're an organization worth working for?

This panel of experts agrees.


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Monday, January 19, 2009

Equal Opportunity


Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits an employer from discriminating against employees or potential employees on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin.

Almost every single recruitment advertising piece includes somewhere in its body a statement of the organization's commitment to upholding the law in relation to EOE standards. The passage of this law provides for diversity hiring in the workplace which has proven remarkably beneficial to companies as we move toward an ever-more global economy, but more importantly it has expanded the promise of opportunity for all that our nation was founded on, that we promise to every citizen.

Today, we celebrate the legacy of one man who worked tirelessly to do just that, to hold our nation accountable to its dreams, its aspirations, and its ideals. By happy coincidence, tomorrow, the culmination of part of that dream will occur when America officially hires its first African-American President. Today and tomorrow, back to back, that is history you're living in.

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Friday, January 9, 2009

New Year Resume Mining

The start of the New Year is typically the beginning of one of the more active times in the recruitment and hiring world, though the current economic situation suggests that fewer positions will be filled this year than usual.

However, human resources and other hiring managers can expect a glut of applications and resumes for the limited positions that they post. Our own Freelance Copywriter position has netted us no fewer than one hundred resumes with a swelling number of attendant follow ups. That's one position at one company. Imagine what happens when you have four positions to fill...

With so many people looking for work and with even HR staff feeling the pinch of budget shortfalls, your job search situation can easily snowball out of control, leaving you swamped in applicants but without adequate time to give each resume your full attention.

At times like this it is even more important than ever to partner with your Recruitment Advertising partner. We can sift through your resumes, finding the applicants that match your specifications. On the more active side of the equation, we can seek out great applicants who might have missed your posting but are searching for work nonetheless.

The upcoming year will present organizations with many challenges, not all of them at the HR level. But for your neck of the woods, shouldn't you work with a partner with years of experience that include the good times and the bad?

Shouldn't you partner with The David Group?

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