We’ve spoken about how your network will soon be a job qualification back in October. I think it’s even more than that now, taking the economic climate and the rise of social media as a mainstream vehicle into account. Your network, which is naked online and seen by employers and your management, will become one of the most important promotional items for your company or prospective company.
We should all have a marketing mindset now. If you don’t, it’s time to start reading this blog and acquire one!
3 different perspectives
The corporate perspective
Company’s are going to be cutting back on marketing budgets for 2009. Most company’s already have set their budgets and they are significantly lower than a year ago this time. Also, marketing departments are being downsized, which means there are less people to get the message out. The problem is that they still need to get their brand out there, in order for people to 1) remember them 2) think positively of them 3) have them in their evoked set (a top-of-mind product/service).
The employee perspective
Employees, especially in the marketing department, are in desperate need of support. With a slim budget, they are still forced to see a return on each dollar they invest in their marketing programs. Many employees aren’t accustomed to social media yet and are still resorting to investing every dollar they have into interrupting random people, hoping they decide to, at a minimum, visit their website. Employees are going to be very irritated and shocked that proving ROI next year is going to be difficult. Most have not taken the past year or two to build out their online network by developing lists that they can market to themselves.
The potential hire perspective
Over a million people have laid off, but how many have taken the time to build up their social lists? I bet very few. Most job seekers are still convinced that the old way of job seeking (how to get a job through social media) is the way to go and, sadly, most fail as a result. Sure, they create a LinkedIn profile and submit their resumes to corporate websites and traditional job banks, such as Monster and Careerbuilder, but they don’t understand that we’re almost in 2009! Attraction-based (or inbound) marketing is the best long-term strategy for never applying for jobs and getting job offers on your doorstep. The few potential hires that are socially-connected should be rewarded with job offers. They do have to fulfill the job requirements and be exceptional. That will never change.
Employees MUST BE the brand in 2009
There’s no doubt it my mind that each and every employee is a brand ambassador. There aren’t sign-up forms for employees. The second you accept your job offer, you hold the corporate brand for life. Management has to push their vision at you and make you love your work, despite economic uncertainties. If you meet someone for the first time and tell them you work for XYZ company, you better be able to articulate what the company does, what your role is and smile at the same time. If you commit a crime and do something dumb, at some level, it can hurt your corporate brand. This is the reason why company’s don’t like hiring people that have criminal records.
In 2009, you and your company can only succeed if you live and breath the corporate brand.
Benefits of hiring socially-connected employees
- Marketing from the inside out for free
- More connections equals higher productivity
- Stay ontop of trends
- Save money on hiring employees with quick and trusted referrals
- Free consulting, tips and resources from people in their network
Layoff marketers who aren’t socially-connected
This might sound harsh and many of you might get upset, but the reality is that there are many more job seekers (3.3) for every job now. That being said, it’s easy for a company, especially a small company, to add and remove workers on-demand. Unless the marketer has provided exceptional ROI over a long period of time, their job is in already in jeopardy. It doesn’t matter if you’ve put in 10 years or even 25 at your company either.
Marketers that are socially-connected can help you market for free, when you have almost no money. Wouldn’t you rather hire these individuals, than keep those who can’t help you do this?
Are you socially-connected?
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Dan -
This could be one of the most important posts you’ve written to date. Here, you’ve shown the value of (social) networks for both employers and job seekers. This may help a lot of my readers and in-person clients who shy away from social networking to actually start.
Well done, Dan! Excellent way to end 2008 with a bang!
- Mike
I had always intuitively thought that having a lot of connections was a good idea. I’d heard a long time ago that you’re more apt to get jobs from “friends of friends” rather than friends. But before this blog, I never thought of it the other way, that employers might be (and should!) be looking for people with large social networks, for all the reasons you’ve explained. And it never, until now, occurred to me this is something I could promote about myself. Thanks!
Lisa
Congratulations! Happy new year!
Business development and salespeople have known the value of social networks for years. We used to call it the rolodex
Web 2.0 social networks appear to have taken this to another level, although we really do need to consider quality vs. quantity.
Charles
Creator of Baywolf Project
http://zooq.zooqnet.com/zooq/group?groupEntityId=98100137876
You are so right, Dan. As 2009 takes its first baby steps, this is a huge boost of confidence for smart job seekers and savvy corporate recruiters out there! All the best in the new year, to you and all your readers…
cheers,
Graeme
Exactly. The trend in publishing has been to give book deals only to authors who have a following and can bring their own network of readers. It makes sense to hire people who bring their own network of connections.
Excellent post – Dan. It is important to have a powerful social network for all job seekers, but critical for those who are seeking marketing jobs. In working with many of my senior-level marketing clients on their personal branding, I have learned that they are all losing out on opportunities because of their lack of experience with social media. The best way to demonstrate your understanding of social media is to have a large and powerful social network yourself. The other benefit is the extra virtually visibility you gain from online personal branding. Thanks, Dan!
Best.
William
http://www.reachcc.com
What’s interesting to me here is how you pointed out how people who don’t have a personal network are at a disadvantage. Used to be that it was nice to have a large network, but it was more unusual to be connected. But now, it’s so easy to connect to others that people who choose not to do so are actually lessening their competitiveness.
And it’s so true that no one is safe. I’ve seen so many people who thought they had a job for life, who went to work one day to find that they didn’t. Many of them had dedicated their lives to that company, and defined themselves as an employee of X.
Now, we’re learning that we need to define ourselves according to our personal attributes… instead of just our employers. Quite a shift!
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