Posted by Katie Noonan
According to a recent article from Advertising Age, the 2009 holiday season has led more retailers than ever before to use social media in their marketing campaigns. In fact, more than half of retailers surveyed in a study conducted by BDO Seidman said they would use social media networks to market their products this season up from less than five percent in 2007. Of the retailers utilizing social media networks, 76% reported that they are using Facebook, 50% are using Twitter, 14% are using MySpace and 14% are using YouTube.
It’s not hard to see why retailers are looking to social media this year. In a comScore weekly holiday survey conducted December 4-7, 2009, twenty-eight percent of those who had started their holiday shopping reported that social media influenced their purchases. Thirteen percent of those surveyed reported that consumer product reviews (either positive or negative) most influenced their purchases, while 11% said that expert reviews of products influenced their decision. Interestingly, 7% of respondents said that they had followed a Facebook fan page to benefit from promotional offers or deals from retailers, and 6% said they were influenced by a Facebook friend’s status update that referred to a particular product.
With retailers looking to get the most bang for their advertising bucks this holiday season, social media campaigns can be an inexpensive and effective way to reach target audiences. In order to be successful though, retail social media campaigns need to be creative, offer some sort of incentive to join (after all, what shopper doesn’t love a holiday coupon or discount?), and responsive to consumers. For those looking for an example of brands with effective holiday social media campaigns, check out Best Buy’s and H&M’s Facebook pages.
Showing posts with label MySpace. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MySpace. Show all posts
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
No Need to Measure Social Media ROI
Here’s a question that all PR practitioners and their clients are asking and no one has yet to find the solution – how do you measure social media return on investment?
Nick O’Neill of Social Times recently wrote an article titled, “How to Measure Your Social Media ROI: Don’t.” In the article, he tackles the topic and gives his feedback on why PR practitioners and their clients shouldn’t force the issue of measuring social media ROI. He highlights the following three points.
Traditional Digital Marketing is Measurable – O’Neill said, “If you want to start selling something, turning to social media is not the first channel to turn to.” In his article, O’Neill acknowledged that, “large companies have no option but to embrace social media to engage their audience.” One of his suggestions to drive people to a particular social media site is to launch a Facebook advertising campaign (ultimately the ROI for this type of campaign would be measured by using traditional conversion metrics even though the communications model is different). When all is said and done, all traditional digital marketing models have standard metrics.
The Value of Social Media is Priceless – “With social media, the model is completely skewed. Can you say that a $500 investment will result in 1,000 visitors to your site? Also what percentage of those will convert in comparison to traditional sources? It’s difficult to track that information and while it is possible, the complete value of social media cannot be measured,” said O’Neill.
As a PR practitioner, demonstrating the value of social media is always a challenge, especially if you are proposing the integrated communications tactic to individuals without social media know-how. As O’Neill said in his article, “The value however is not tangible and just like any other intangible asset; social media strategy can not be given an assessed value.”
Make a Minimal Investment and Determine the Results – “The reality is that social media marketing is not expensive,” said O’Neill. “Even if you are a small business and don’t have a large budget to invest in social media, making a minor investment is well worth it.”
I completely agree with O’Neill – you will never know if social media can work for you and your company if you don’t give it a try. Starting small and dipping your toes in the waters of the social media sphere is the perfect way to take your first step in understanding how to harness social media and put it to work for you. And like O’Neill said, “The result is a community of brand advocates and a more effective way to reach those that are being critical of your company.” Like utilizing public relations services, social media engagement is an investment in your company’s long-term growth.
Nick O’Neill of Social Times recently wrote an article titled, “How to Measure Your Social Media ROI: Don’t.” In the article, he tackles the topic and gives his feedback on why PR practitioners and their clients shouldn’t force the issue of measuring social media ROI. He highlights the following three points.
Traditional Digital Marketing is Measurable – O’Neill said, “If you want to start selling something, turning to social media is not the first channel to turn to.” In his article, O’Neill acknowledged that, “large companies have no option but to embrace social media to engage their audience.” One of his suggestions to drive people to a particular social media site is to launch a Facebook advertising campaign (ultimately the ROI for this type of campaign would be measured by using traditional conversion metrics even though the communications model is different). When all is said and done, all traditional digital marketing models have standard metrics.
The Value of Social Media is Priceless – “With social media, the model is completely skewed. Can you say that a $500 investment will result in 1,000 visitors to your site? Also what percentage of those will convert in comparison to traditional sources? It’s difficult to track that information and while it is possible, the complete value of social media cannot be measured,” said O’Neill.
As a PR practitioner, demonstrating the value of social media is always a challenge, especially if you are proposing the integrated communications tactic to individuals without social media know-how. As O’Neill said in his article, “The value however is not tangible and just like any other intangible asset; social media strategy can not be given an assessed value.”
Make a Minimal Investment and Determine the Results – “The reality is that social media marketing is not expensive,” said O’Neill. “Even if you are a small business and don’t have a large budget to invest in social media, making a minor investment is well worth it.”
I completely agree with O’Neill – you will never know if social media can work for you and your company if you don’t give it a try. Starting small and dipping your toes in the waters of the social media sphere is the perfect way to take your first step in understanding how to harness social media and put it to work for you. And like O’Neill said, “The result is a community of brand advocates and a more effective way to reach those that are being critical of your company.” Like utilizing public relations services, social media engagement is an investment in your company’s long-term growth.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Nielsen Says Twitter Grows 1,444% in One Year
Twitter Grows 1,444% Over Last Year
Time spent on site soars 175%
June 23, 2009
-By Nielsenwire
Time spent on site soars 175%
June 23, 2009
-By Nielsenwire
NEW YORK May 2009 data from Nielsen Online show that people continue to spend more time on social networking and blog sites than ever before. Total minutes increased 82 percent year-over-year and the average time per person increased 67 percent year-over-year in May 2009.
Twitter.com was the fastest-growing Web brand in May 2009, increasing 1,448 percent year over year, from 1.2 million unique visitors in May 2008 to 18.2 million in 2009. Despite being the fastest-growing brand year-over-year, Twitter's month-over-month growth has begun to slow, increasing 7 percent from April.
The average time per person on Twitter increased 175 percent year-over-year, from 6 minutes and 19 seconds in May 2008 to 17 minutes and 21 seconds in May 2009. However, month-over-month growth was flat, decreasing 1 percent from April 2009.Facebook and Myspace Stats:
• With 144.3 million unique visitors, Facebook was the No. 1 global social networking destination in May 2009, the seventh straight month that Facebook has ranked No. 1.
• May 2009 also marked the fifth month in a row that Facebook has been the No. 1 social networking site in the U.S., garnering 75.4 million unique visitors -- a 190 percent increase over May 2008.
• Myspace.com continued as the top social networking site when ranked by total video streams in May, with 116.1 million video streams.
• Unique viewers of video content at Myspace.com increased 22.9 percent month-over-month, from 9.9 million in April 2009 to 12.2 million in May 2009.
Adweek is a unit of the Nielsen Co.
Friday, October 24, 2008
CMOs at the Association of National Advertisers’ Annual Meeting Choose Barack Obama as Year’s Top Marketer
From Katie Noonan – This week’s Gallup poll has Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama leading Republican candidate John McCain by seven percentage points, and according to the current issue of Advertising Age, an effective marketing campaign may deserve some of the credit.
At the 2008 annual meeting of the Association of National Advertisers’, a group of marketers, agency heads and marketing service vendors, Barack Obama was named Advertising Age’s Marketer of the Year. With 36.1% of the vote, he trumped the multi-million dollar marketing campaigns of companies like Apple, Zappos, Nike and Coors.
Regardless of how the election turns out, PR and marketing practitioners and businesses alike could benefit from adopting Obama’s Web 2.0 and marketing strategies.
Internet-based fundraising
First launched by Howard Dean’s campaign in 2004, Internet-based fundraising has revolutionized fundraising in United States’ politics. Gone are the days when politicians could raise the majority of their campaign funds by making appearances at fancy dinners with party big wigs and funders. Dean and Obama’s campaigns have shown that utilizing Internet-based fundraising to cultivate and maintain a bank of small donors is now the most effective way to raise money.
From a marketing standpoint, one of the most effective ways the Obama campaign has done this has been to reach out to small donors via e-mail at pivotal points in the campaign. When McCain angered Obama supporters by comparing him to Paris Hilton in a TV ad, the Obama campaign immediately sent out an e-mail asking donors to give as little as five dollars to “clean up” politics, thus capitalizing on supporters’ emotions. The Obama campaign has also appealed to donors throughout the campaign by offering free magnets and t-shirts with each donation of $25.
Web 2.0 marketing
What first struck me about Barack Obama’s Web site was it’s similarity to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. This wasn’t a coincidence, but rather a strategy on the campaign’s part to draw in supporters by modeling the site after those with which users would be most familiar.
“On one hand, it’s intimate. The language is informal. Personal. It has an inviting matter-of-fact appeal,” said Brian Collins, founder of the Collins firm. “On the other hand, it looks like it has scale and momentum. It’s instantly appealing”
The campaign was able to optimize its social networking capabilities when it hired Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook. As a result, the Obama campaign had an early Facebook and MySpace presence and effectively made use of Facebook and MySpace features. The Obama campaign had its own applications on both Facebook and MySpace, listed all local and national campaign events on Facebook city/regional network pages, and launched both broad and targeted side bar advertising campaigns on Facebook and banner advertisements on MySpace.
Message consistency
The Advertising Age article highlights another crucial aspect of the Obama campaign’s marketing strategy- message consistency. “Across towns, counties, states-and with thousands of volunteers no less-across multiple media platforms, they’ve managed to drive a potent, single-minded design and messaging coherence that should shame many national brands,” Collins said.
While the Obama campaign may receive some flak for the “hope” and “change” rhetoric, there is no denying that the consistency with which they have driven home those two themes has positioned Obama, whether rightly or wrongly, as the candidate who can bring change to Washington. This is a message which Gallup shows is really starting to resonate with voters.
At the 2008 annual meeting of the Association of National Advertisers’, a group of marketers, agency heads and marketing service vendors, Barack Obama was named Advertising Age’s Marketer of the Year. With 36.1% of the vote, he trumped the multi-million dollar marketing campaigns of companies like Apple, Zappos, Nike and Coors.
Regardless of how the election turns out, PR and marketing practitioners and businesses alike could benefit from adopting Obama’s Web 2.0 and marketing strategies.
Internet-based fundraising
First launched by Howard Dean’s campaign in 2004, Internet-based fundraising has revolutionized fundraising in United States’ politics. Gone are the days when politicians could raise the majority of their campaign funds by making appearances at fancy dinners with party big wigs and funders. Dean and Obama’s campaigns have shown that utilizing Internet-based fundraising to cultivate and maintain a bank of small donors is now the most effective way to raise money.
From a marketing standpoint, one of the most effective ways the Obama campaign has done this has been to reach out to small donors via e-mail at pivotal points in the campaign. When McCain angered Obama supporters by comparing him to Paris Hilton in a TV ad, the Obama campaign immediately sent out an e-mail asking donors to give as little as five dollars to “clean up” politics, thus capitalizing on supporters’ emotions. The Obama campaign has also appealed to donors throughout the campaign by offering free magnets and t-shirts with each donation of $25.
Web 2.0 marketing
What first struck me about Barack Obama’s Web site was it’s similarity to social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. This wasn’t a coincidence, but rather a strategy on the campaign’s part to draw in supporters by modeling the site after those with which users would be most familiar.
“On one hand, it’s intimate. The language is informal. Personal. It has an inviting matter-of-fact appeal,” said Brian Collins, founder of the Collins firm. “On the other hand, it looks like it has scale and momentum. It’s instantly appealing”
The campaign was able to optimize its social networking capabilities when it hired Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook. As a result, the Obama campaign had an early Facebook and MySpace presence and effectively made use of Facebook and MySpace features. The Obama campaign had its own applications on both Facebook and MySpace, listed all local and national campaign events on Facebook city/regional network pages, and launched both broad and targeted side bar advertising campaigns on Facebook and banner advertisements on MySpace.
Message consistency
The Advertising Age article highlights another crucial aspect of the Obama campaign’s marketing strategy- message consistency. “Across towns, counties, states-and with thousands of volunteers no less-across multiple media platforms, they’ve managed to drive a potent, single-minded design and messaging coherence that should shame many national brands,” Collins said.
While the Obama campaign may receive some flak for the “hope” and “change” rhetoric, there is no denying that the consistency with which they have driven home those two themes has positioned Obama, whether rightly or wrongly, as the candidate who can bring change to Washington. This is a message which Gallup shows is really starting to resonate with voters.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Web 2.0 for Today's Generation of Lawyers
Last week I was published in The Legal Intelligencer with an article titled: Web 2.0 for Today's Generation of Lawyers. In the article, I explain to reader that:
The majority of today's "next generation" of lawyers graduated from high school in the late '90s or early 2000s. These are the "children of the Web." You likely had e-mail, iPods, text messaging, MySpace and Facebook profiles and access to the World Wide Web all before graduating from college. But this isn't so for the rest of us. Many seasoned attorneys have never listened to a podcast, still don't use e-mail, don't know the difference between the terms YouTube and Boob Tube, and believe the words "social networking" refers to cocktail parties and black-tie galas.
If you're a member of the "next generation" (aka a young lawyer), then you need to understand the "old way of doing things" so you can begin to adopt Web 2.0 in a way that is not offensive to your corporate culture. On the other hand, if you graduated from law school in the age DOS applications or typewriters, listen up. You need to get with the times or be left behind.I go on to explain blogs, RSS feed, Google alerts, social media and more. To read the full text of the article, go to http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/PubArticlePA.jsp?hubtype=TopStories&id=1202425053120
Thursday, September 25, 2008
How Relevant is Social Networking?
An interesting article in PR Week raised the question of how relevant social networks continue to be in the US and abroad.
A Synovate study conducted globally found that social networking familiarity was higher than average among Americans than other nationalities, but that survey participants across the board are losing interest in social networking sites.
I wonder though, is it that social networkers are losing interest, or has social networking merely become a habit that users give about as much thought to as brushing their teeth every morning? My suspicion is the latter. The novelty and excitement of Myspace, Facebook and the myriad of other social networking sites may be wearing off, but the high number of hits that those sites continue to receive shows they are still going strong. Users may not be on the edge of their seat, but millions continue to log in each day.
Here are some statistics from Facebook alone:
- More than 100 million active users
- Facebook is the 4th most-trafficked website in the world (comScore)
- Facebook is the most-trafficked social media site in the world (comScore)
- No. 1 photo sharing application on the Web (comScore)
- In a little over five months the site was released in more than 15 languages, including, Spanish, French, German, Russian and Korean.
Social networking sites are a valuable public relations tool. The PR Week article shows that public relations experts must strive to find new ways to appeal to an audience who may be tiring of the “same ol’ same ol’” on social networking sites. The most successful public relations campaigns will be those that stay fresh and ahead of the curve and utilize the ever changing features that sites like Myspace, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, LinkedIn, Digg, and the others are continuously adopting.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Harnessing the World of Social Media and Client Relationships
The Wall Street Journal Online recently published an article by Marshall Loeb of MarketWatch titled Improve Client Relationships Through Social Media.
In this article, Loeb discusses the growing popularity of social media platforms like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn, and how all types of businesses are embracing these tools to build community and strengthen consumer interest.
Loeb then highlights the co-founder of ThePort Network, Dan Backus. ThePort Network is a firm that focuses on creating software tools for virtual communities. Below Backus outlines the following four tips on how to use the power of social media to support your company's advantage when dealing with consumers:
- Know your audience. The tools you will want to invest in should be directly related to the online behavior of the people you are trying to reach. Ideally, you will want to conduct audience research to determine how often potential customers are online, what other sites they visit and how comfortable they are downloading podcasts or setting up RSS feeds.
- Align organizational objectives with social media tools. Different tools are better at accomplishing specific goals. For example, blogs are a great way to get feedback on potential programs from large groups of readers, while photo-sharing programs are useful for building a sense of community and excitement around new programs.
- Establish procedures. Social media require companies to have a higher level of trust in their publics than other communication tools. At the same time, it is important to retain some oversight to ensure communications remain appropriate and continue to focus on your company's key goals. You might want to begin by identifying forum moderators and establishing rules for posting.
- Identify resources and bring everybody on the same page. A successful social-media strategy requires participation from many constituents, as well as from the organizational leaders themselves. Before initiating, make sure the internal personnel support the idea and are willing to integrate social media functions into outreach activities. Ideally, those same leaders will want to participate in the online communities themselves – both to learn more about their customers and to use that knowledge to shape future goals.
These are great tips on how to harness the world of social media to your company’s and/or your client’s advantage.
In this article, Loeb discusses the growing popularity of social media platforms like MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn, and how all types of businesses are embracing these tools to build community and strengthen consumer interest.
Loeb then highlights the co-founder of ThePort Network, Dan Backus. ThePort Network is a firm that focuses on creating software tools for virtual communities. Below Backus outlines the following four tips on how to use the power of social media to support your company's advantage when dealing with consumers:
- Know your audience. The tools you will want to invest in should be directly related to the online behavior of the people you are trying to reach. Ideally, you will want to conduct audience research to determine how often potential customers are online, what other sites they visit and how comfortable they are downloading podcasts or setting up RSS feeds.
- Align organizational objectives with social media tools. Different tools are better at accomplishing specific goals. For example, blogs are a great way to get feedback on potential programs from large groups of readers, while photo-sharing programs are useful for building a sense of community and excitement around new programs.
- Establish procedures. Social media require companies to have a higher level of trust in their publics than other communication tools. At the same time, it is important to retain some oversight to ensure communications remain appropriate and continue to focus on your company's key goals. You might want to begin by identifying forum moderators and establishing rules for posting.
- Identify resources and bring everybody on the same page. A successful social-media strategy requires participation from many constituents, as well as from the organizational leaders themselves. Before initiating, make sure the internal personnel support the idea and are willing to integrate social media functions into outreach activities. Ideally, those same leaders will want to participate in the online communities themselves – both to learn more about their customers and to use that knowledge to shape future goals.
These are great tips on how to harness the world of social media to your company’s and/or your client’s advantage.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Can We Do It? Yes We Can.
In a recent marketing survey in PR Week, I came across an interesting quote. Clark Caywood, professor of integrated marketing communications at
Perhaps the industry can take this skepticism as a call to arms and rise to the challenge of utilizing new media.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
MySpace Continues to Grow in Leaps and Bounds
MySpace Continues to Grow in Leaps and Bounds
Joseph Menn of the Sydney Morning Herald tells us that MySpace and Photobucket struck a deal last week for $250 million. After Photobucket was banned from the most popular social media site, MySpace purchased Photobucket “which draws more than 30 million monthly visitors who view and store billions of digital photographs, videos and slideshows.”
Menn says, “Like MySpace, both Photobucket and Flektor are set up to make most of their money through advertising.” Now Fox Interactive adds these to their suite of services.
Fox Interactive president Peter Levinsohn said, "We now control the single busiest social media site, the single biggest personal media destination, and what I think is the coolest set of tools that exist today," referring to MySpace, Photobucket and Flektor respectively.
This is yet one more reason why MySpace continues to lead the pack in social media.
Joseph Menn of the Sydney Morning Herald tells us that MySpace and Photobucket struck a deal last week for $250 million. After Photobucket was banned from the most popular social media site, MySpace purchased Photobucket “which draws more than 30 million monthly visitors who view and store billions of digital photographs, videos and slideshows.”
Menn says, “Like MySpace, both Photobucket and Flektor are set up to make most of their money through advertising.” Now Fox Interactive adds these to their suite of services.
Fox Interactive president Peter Levinsohn said, "We now control the single busiest social media site, the single biggest personal media destination, and what I think is the coolest set of tools that exist today," referring to MySpace, Photobucket and Flektor respectively.
This is yet one more reason why MySpace continues to lead the pack in social media.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Digital dark ages. Are you still asking, "What are widgets and who are Slide and RockYou!?
Business Week department editor Heather Green reports in this blog that
For those who are still in the digital dark ages, you may be asking, "what are widgets, and who are Slide and RockYou!?"
So to add a little insight:
Slide helps you publish and discover personalized Slide Shows of photos and other digital content. Launched in 2005 by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, Slide lets you use photos and other digital content to publish and discover the people and things that matter to you. Slide can be embedded onto any website, viewed on your desktop or shared with your friends or fans.
RockYou! creates and distributes the most popular self-expression widgets on the web. RockYou!'s viral accessories can be used to enhance the look and feel of any blog, personal website, and are used on social networks like MySpace, Bebo, or Facebook. RockYou! widgets include photo slide shows, glitter text and voicemail accessories that enable people to stand out on social networks.
Widget: (As per Wikipedia since this definition hasn't hit Merriam-Webster's yet) In computer programming, a widget (or control) is an interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box. Widgets are sometimes qualified as virtual to distinguish them from their physical counterparts, e.g. virtual buttons that can be clicked with a mouse cursor, vs. physical buttons that can be pressed with a finger. Widgets are often packaged together in widget toolkits. Programmers use widgets to build graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Another definition can be found at dict.die.net.
Bottom line: These are all tools to help you communicate more efficiently and effectively in the digital age. How can attorneys use them ethically? That's yet to be discovered.
Business Week department editor Heather Green reports in this blog that
With 150 million daily slide shows served, Slide is claiming to be the biggest widget
company. Impressive numbers, but I was speaking with RockYou yesterday and they say that they're serving 100 million widgets a day. Of course, as folks start claiming big numbers, we're going to need outside ways of verifying them.
For those who are still in the digital dark ages, you may be asking, "what are widgets, and who are Slide and RockYou!?"
So to add a little insight:
Slide helps you publish and discover personalized Slide Shows of photos and other digital content. Launched in 2005 by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin, Slide lets you use photos and other digital content to publish and discover the people and things that matter to you. Slide can be embedded onto any website, viewed on your desktop or shared with your friends or fans.
RockYou! creates and distributes the most popular self-expression widgets on the web. RockYou!'s viral accessories can be used to enhance the look and feel of any blog, personal website, and are used on social networks like MySpace, Bebo, or Facebook. RockYou! widgets include photo slide shows, glitter text and voicemail accessories that enable people to stand out on social networks.
Widget: (As per Wikipedia since this definition hasn't hit Merriam-Webster's yet) In computer programming, a widget (or control) is an interface element that a computer user interacts with, such as a window or a text box. Widgets are sometimes qualified as virtual to distinguish them from their physical counterparts, e.g. virtual buttons that can be clicked with a mouse cursor, vs. physical buttons that can be pressed with a finger. Widgets are often packaged together in widget toolkits. Programmers use widgets to build graphical user interfaces (GUIs). Another definition can be found at dict.die.net.
Bottom line: These are all tools to help you communicate more efficiently and effectively in the digital age. How can attorneys use them ethically? That's yet to be discovered.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
MySpace to Launch Video Channels
The Wall Street Journal reported today that MySpace
communicators seek ways to disseminate their messages to the masses. According to a recent Hitwise study indicated that MySpace is the most popular Web site in the US, commanding 4.46 percent of all visits. That's a greater market share than Yahoo's email service (4.42 percent), Yahoo's home page (4.25 percent), and Google (3.89 percent). Did you know that 100 million users live on MySpace?
The Wall Street Journal reported today that MySpace
This is important to keep in mind as the world of social media continues to expand and asis launching video channels that will feature news and lifestyle video from partners including the New York Times and National Geographic. . . . The channels will include programming created for the Web and comes as MySpace, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's media conglomerate News Corp. (NWS), is rapidly expanding its video offerings.
communicators seek ways to disseminate their messages to the masses. According to a recent Hitwise study indicated that MySpace is the most popular Web site in the US, commanding 4.46 percent of all visits. That's a greater market share than Yahoo's email service (4.42 percent), Yahoo's home page (4.25 percent), and Google (3.89 percent). Did you know that 100 million users live on MySpace?
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Online Rants, Raves and Resumes: The Digital Dirt You Leave Behind
Online Rants, Raves and Resumes: The Digital Dirt You Leave Behind
Every few months I’m asked to speak at a university regarding job placements for soon-to-be graduates. My opening question remains the same: “How many of you have a MySpace, FaceBook or Friendster profile?” And as more than half the students begins to raise their hands, I say, “my question is rhetorical, I really don’t want to know!”
I tell them that, if they, like many of today’s well-educated Gen Y’ers, have an online social profile, personal digital page or blog, they need to start analyzing the digital dirt they’re leaving behind.
Digital dirt is the information about you that is available on the Internet. Digital dirt can be a posting to someone else’s Web site, information about your likes and dislikes, your hobbies, photos, profile, rants, raves, resumes, and the list goes on. And the trail of information that you leave is usually in plain view for others to see, including prospective employers and future clients. When was the last time you typed your own name in Google?
Dishing dirt can create a dilemma . . . .
It is becoming more and more common for employers and recruiters to look to these sites to qualify job prospects before being called into an interview.
I served on a panel recently were we met with more than fifty graduating seniors from a Philadelphia-area university. When I brought this very subject up, one of my male colleagues said that he researched a prospective employee before conducting an interview and found some indecent spring break photos of her posted on an online profile. Because the interview was already scheduled, he asked a different colleague to conduct the interview because he felt uncomfortable addressing the young lady after seeing her undressed online. Needless to say, she didn’t get the job.
In fact, a higher education institution that I know of dedicates a portion of their Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications’ time to surfing enrolled student’s online profiles on sites like MySpace and FaceBook. The assistant director has found disturbing photos, blogs and other information that has lead to the expulsion of several students.
Another human resource employer told me that she compares resumes submitted to her company with those posted in online forums such as monster.com, jobs.com and careerbuilder.com. She looks for inconsistencies so she can be sure the interviewee is on the up and up.
A 2006 Wall Street Journal article by Jared Flesher states, “According to a 2005 survey of 102 executive recruiters by ExecuNet, an executive job-search and networking organization, 75% of recruiters use search engines to uncover information about candidates, and 26% of recruiters have eliminated candidates because of information found online.” Just think: this number has likely increased since the survey was conducted.
But I’m already employed . . .
The problem with digital dirt doesn’t only apply to those seeking employment. It also applies to those who are already employed. Human resource directors and supervisors are watching what you’re doing online as a way to monitor business productivity. According to a recent Gallup poll, the average employee spends more than 75 minutes per day using office computers for non-business related activities.
According to Neen James, an international productivity expert, “Employees waste valuable company time with inappropriate Web behavior including social networking, sending and receiving personal email, instant messaging, and personal blogs.” These activities cost American companies billions of dollars per year. “But those who embrace business productivity are really cracking down.”
And those who embrace productivity are watching their employees’ moves. Some employers are just blocking the ability to access certain social and consumer sites. Others monitor usage and reprimand employees when the behavior is inappropriate. Even others will shadow employee computer usage and watch everything they type, email, access and instant message.
A relative of mine manages more than fifty people in an International company. He told me that one of his employees has been cautioned several times for inappropriate online activities – including the use of MySpace. He then proceeded to do some digging and found rants and raves about their company and its management using the “F” word and other foul language – all of which were posted during normal business hours. As I write this article, the employee’s employment future looks grim.
Five steps to creating clean dirt . . . .
I’ve always been intrigued when I pass work sites with signs that say “wanted – clean dirt.” What an oxymoron. Right? So think about it, how do you get clean digital dirt? It’s not as easy as one may think!
Step one: Narcisurf. Search for your name on the Internet to find your "digital dirt." Search yourself every way possible. Go to Google, Yahoo!, MSN, AOL, Dogpile, and every other search engine imaginable. Type your name in quotes and see what comes up. Then, type in your phone number, your online aliases, your first initial and last name, your full name with your middle initial, etc.
Step two: Clean your profiles. Go to every site on which you have a profile that you can control and clean it up. Make sure that everything on that profile is 100% accurate. Then make sure that if you have posted something, you would forward it to your grandmother or future employer to read or see.
Step three: Ask to be removed. If you have a posting on a site that you cannot control, contact that site’s webmaster and ask that your post be removed. If you can’t get through or if the answer is “no,” make sure you are able to address any question that may arise in an interview or by your employer regarding the matter.
Step four: Fill in with clean dirt. Sometimes, the irremovable dirt can be covered up a bit with clean dirt. Crowd your Internet profile search with positive information about you or your studies. For example, create a blog based on an academic subject, business area of expertise or hobby for which you have an interest. Keep it neutral.
Step five: Monitor yourself. Set up a Google Alert with your name included. Be sure you know what’s being said by and about you.
It’s important to remember that every nugget of information that you post on the Internet or that someone posts about you can last for many years to come. I recently searched archive.org for my company and found archived postings from 2002. The information is there for any current or future client to see. The good thing is that I have nothing to hide. Do you?
About the author: Owner of Furia Rubel Communications, Inc. (www.furiarubel.com), a public relations agency in Doylestown, Pa., Gina Rubel is a strategic public relations expert, attorney publicist and client advocate. With more than 15 years experience, her legal, nonprofit, healthcare and education clients have received everything from national prime time television placements to cover stories and features in consumer and trade magazines. Gina teaches public relations programs to corporations and universities throughout the U.S. and is regularly published.
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