Social Media..Should You Care??

Are you a Social Butterfly?

Do you drink the social butterfly kool-aid?? Even more important, why should you be drinking it?? Well, lets take a stroll down the warped thinking of my mind again.

Maybe you remember this post?

http://www.configuration-workgroup.com/node/287

Yeah, it's older..I wrote it about a year ago...Time for an update..

If you aren't using social media in your life for something by now, I'm surprised...I would think at least 50% of you are using it..Maybe Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Digg, or any of the many, many other tools that are out there...And I would think that most of you say something like..."Hey, that's my personal life, it has nothing to do with my professional life"..I got news for you...It has a lot more to do with it than you may think..

You see, many employers now believe that if you DON'T have an online presence that they can find, and if they find you, you have nothing but personal info on it, that YOU are not a good candidate for employement..

Granted, the percentage of employers screening in this manner is small right now, but it's a growing trend..So personally, my advice is to "blur the line" between personal and business...You are anyway...

And if you are running a business involved in VC, should your business have a presence?? And if so, what should you do with it and expect from it??

In my opinion (which I know doesn't count for much with some of you) it's even more critical for business...Why??

Who are you hiring?? Old farts like me??? Probably some of the time, but in most cases, you're looking to attract new, younger talent. Where does that talent "hang out"? What do they expect from an employer?

Well, they "hang out" online more and more..And they expect their employer to not only allow them to, but to be fully engaged in the online hangout..

But here are some bullet points about why you, as a business, should get involved;

  • Promote your brand awareness
  • Promote your brands culture
  • Attract prospective workforce
  • Express New Thinking
  • Accept New Thinking
  • Develop Business Relationships

What type of activities can you as a business do that leverages those items?

  • Provide commentary on the industries you serve and how those different industries solve similiar problems differently
  • Show your Corporate culture by providing pictures of events, both purely business and social natures
  • Post your available jobs and career development methodologies
  • Post links to different technologies that may be "fringe" examples of VC related items
  • Offer a discussion forum that allows "free form" thinking on a subject matter

I could go on, but I think that's enough for now..

One CWG member company that I know of is currently engaging in this type of endeavor...If you're on Facebook, you can find them here;

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/eLogic-Group/341575047692

Oh yeah, while you're on Facebook, look for the group dedicated to VC. Search groups for SAP Variant Configuration. It's been around for quite a while..Not a lot of activity, but that's directly related to the guy that manages it...

Should the CWG have a Facebook page?? Heck we already have a LinkedIn page. Why Facebook versus something else?? Well for one reason, it's the largest and continues to grow...But maybe Twitter as well..We simply need to think about how to "spread the workload"...

Let's have a conversation about the social media aspects......Bring on the comments!!

Till next time,

Steve