Using LinkedIn to Get Ahead

Posted on November 7, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

On November 7, I served as a guest speaker in the professional development lecture series at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.

As an alumna, I was very pleased to have been extended an invitation to discuss the benefits of LinkedIn with the young minds at Cheyney and thank Rev. Elisha Morris of the University College program for inviting me to share my expertise with the campus community.

My one-hour “Using LinkedIn to Get Ahead” session identified the differences between the “big three” social media platforms i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter, and suggested various techniques young professionals could utilize to promote a professional presence online.

The session focused on three main points: The Who, The What, and The Why. If you keep these three items in mind as you build your professional presence online, you should be able to utilize LinkedIn’s networking options better than your competition (i.e. other current college students looking for internships or entry-level positions) and increase the worth of your network without ever having to pay a dime.

Initially, I started my LinkedIn account as a means of networking with public relations and marketing professionals in the Philadelphia area. A junior in college, my goal was to hopefully meet someone who worked for a good PR firm and get tips on how to advance my young career. At first, I gave my profile little attention. I copied the information from my resume into fields and sent connection requests to every professional I could find online. Many accepted my uniform and often haphazard invitation–many more declined.

It wasn’t until I came to understand that that LinkedIn is a give-and-take environment that my network truly started to grow. My network grew from only being a few colleagues and communication professionals in Philadelphia, to become 500+ connections across the U.S. who interact with me in almost 50 different groups that cater to individuals interested in public relations, small business, marketing, and entrepreneurship.

All of my suggestions are based on my personal experiences, articles from respected websites, and the LinkedIn’s company blog (links are provided below and in my previous LinkedIn post). I’m writing this blog post to not only share the PowerPoint presentation from my session at Cheyney, so undergraduate students that missed the live session can still benefit from the material, but to also share this information with any young professional who is currently in college, has recently graduated, or is in the transitional stage of their career and is interested in using LinkedIn to network with influential professionals in their industry.

If you read my previous post on how to make your LinkedIn account “recruiter-friendly,” the following presentation and YouTube video should build upon the knowledge you gained by offering additional statistics and tips for standing out on LinkedIn.

Yasheaka Oakley

Yasheaka Oakley is an independent consultant specializing in public relations, social media, and online marketing via her website, YOakleyPR.com. You can keep up with her on social media by following on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. You can also subscribe to her e-newsletter by clicking here.

Interview: Social Marketology with Ric Dragon

Posted on July 19, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

Ric Dragon has extensive experience in graphic design, information architecture, web development and online marketing. A speaker, writer, and search marketing strategist, Ric is CEO and co-founder of DragonSearch as well as the author of The DragonSearch Online Marketing Manual and Social Marketology.

On July 19, I participated in a webinar and “multilogue” via Twitter on the topic of social marketology and what successful processes one should implement into their social media strategy to optimize results. As the field of social media marketing grows, opportunities for a new age of professionals in the areas of community relations, community management, social media analysis, and social media marketing are rising in popularity on the corporate level.

If you’re looking to get your feet wet in the social media marketing arena, here are a few suggestions from a seasoned professional on how to become an influencer in your B2C community.

Interview with Ric Dragon

Micro-segment Your Community: Use the same keyword research you use to create SEO strategies to help you identify what communities, a.k.a. untapped target audiences, you are missing with your current social media strategy. Ask yourself, “Who should give a sh*t about this?” and let the brainstorming begin!
Figure Out How You’ll Engage: Part of the challenge of engaging your communities is identifying how to do it, but the key is to remember that where the people go…you should follow. Dragon says, “If my communities are all hanging out on Pinterest, that’s where I’ll be. B2C usually needs a strong presence on FB.”
Distribute Your Efforts Across Social Media: You may think that the most important thing to do right now is to grow an audience on Facebook, but you should actually create a distribution plan that not only strategically plans your posts, but how much time you will devote to each platform. Ric suggests that you, “Blog first. Get that strong” and then divide your cross-media efforts into whatever segments work best for your communities. Perhaps blogging 14% of the time, engaging on Facebook 60%, Twitter 10% and putting aside 10% of your time for other platforms?
The 4 Elements of Social Media Marketing are…“creating profiles with a brand voice and presence; cultivate connections through Likes, Followers, Circles, etc.; create compelling content; and engage your communities in conversations.”

BONUS: Check out Ric Dragon’s “Social Marketology Pyramid” to get a better understanding of communities and the relationships B2C companies build on social media platforms.

EXTRA POINTS: To download a free preview of Chapter One of Social Marketology: Process in Social Media Marketing (courtesy of Awareness, Inc.) please click here. To purchase the full Social Marketology book, please click here.

To read more of Ric’s work, please visit his page here.

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Yasheaka Oakley

Using LinkedIn in Your Social Media Job Search

Posted on June 21, 2012 by Yasheaka Oakley

Every college student knows that once commencement is over, it’s time to spruce up your resume, put on your best suit of armor, and join the ongoing battle against job seekers vying for positions in your field.

Despite the fact that you won’t end up using a sword, today’s job market truly is a battleground. You will fight to triumph over hundreds of candidates competing for positions that, for some, are a final hope in conquering the evils of student loan debt and living on an air mattress eating Maruchan beef ramen noodles.

A well-crafted resume has always been the traditional weapon of choice, but you may want to bring your job search into the 21st Century by using social networks like Linkedin.

LinkedIn and Your Social Media Job Search

According to Miriam Salpeter, owner of Keppie Careers, “LinkedIn is the best designated professional network and the first social network job seekers should consider using to find opportunities.” This is supported by an infographic recently released by CareerEnlightenment.com and published in Job Searching with Social Media for Dummies (displayed below).

CareerEnlightenment.com’s survey showed that 1 in 5 employers are using social networking sites to research potential candidates. It also revealed that 56% of hiring managers/recruiters have hired someone via social media and, of the companies using social media as a recruitment tool, 80% are finding talent on LinkedIn.com.

That being said, less than 11% of job seekers include a social media link on their resume and many college graduates just made a LinkedIn account because someone “told them to.” I encourage recent graduates to get ahead of the competition and make their LinkedIn profiles recruiter-friendly with the following tips:

Use a title with industry keywords or an engaging headline (This will help raise your profile’s prominence in searches)
Identify your metropolitan area (Recruiters often search by metro area / zip code)
Professionals want to see a professional-looking profile photo (You don’t have to hire a photographer, but a business casual head shot goes a long way)
Get your profile to 100% completion (Profiles that are 100% complete are 40x more likely to get found in a LinkedIn recruiter search)
Join at least 10 LinkedIn Groups that cater to your university alumni, professional organizations, and professionals in your industry (Groups feature job posts only visible to members and you can join up to 50!)
Start making valuable connections with local and group professionals in your desired field or those who work for your target company (People with more than 20 connections are 34x more likely to be approached with a job opportunity than people with less than 5)
Try jump starting your job search with LinkedIn’s Student Portal
Stand out from 89% of the competition by including a link to your LinkedIn profile on your paper resume

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