S.M.A.R.T. Blog

Dressing for Success in Cyberspace: Giving Yourself a Digital Make-Over

You pride yourself on your professional appearance and demeanor. You strive to create and maintain a strong identity and reputation within your organization, with your clients and peers, and in your industry. But are you as diligent a custodian of your professional brand in cyberspace as you are in the physical world? If not, you probably need a digital make-over… This post provides guidance for critiquing, updating, and maintaining your digital presence to convey a positive professional identity in cyberspace throughout your career.

===//===

I continue to be amazed by the number of anemic profiles there are on LinkedIn, how easy it is to access Facebook activity that’s not intended for the public, how many people have no filter and/or no sense of time and place when they post on Twitter, and how uncivil people can be when commenting on news articles and blog posts. Not much surprises me anymore, but the opportunities to wonder “What were they thinking?” seem never-ending…

Given my focus on digital rookies, I’m particularly intrigued by people who are so fastidious about their personal appearance and “real world” reputation but show virtually no regard for their appearance or reputation in cyberspace. They seem oblivious to the fact that they have a digital identity whether they want one or not – and more importantly, that in many respects their digital identity and brand are much more public and powerful than how they’re known and perceived in the physical world.

Lately, to drive home the point of how important it is for professionals to take responsibility for their digital presence, I’ve started using analogies like leaving the house without any pants on; wearing torn, stained, disreputable, or inappropriate clothes; being unkempt; and having a hairstyle, glasses, and other accessories that are out of date. And to address the frequent lament of “I don’t have time,” I highlight the time we make to do things that are important to us, like going to a hair stylist or the gym, or shopping for clothes and shoes. The point is that if we can make the time to take care of our physical appearance and put our best foot forward on earth, we should also be able to make the time to take care of our digital appearance and put our best foot forward in the cloud.

In this post I extend those analogies by laying out the basic steps and tasks in a digital make-over. Although the recommendations are primarily targeted to rookies, the suggestions should be useful to people who are more digitally sophisticated and engaged as well. We can all benefit from a little closet cleaning… 

Even if you don't need a digital make-over, you probably know someone who would benefit from these recommendations. : )

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. What did I miss? What would you add?

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

 

Step 1: Review and Critique

Conduct internet searches on yourself.

• What to do:
  • Conduct searches via major search engines like Google and Bing.
  • Use different combinations of your name and aspects of your professional identity (e.g., organizations you’ve worked for, positions you’ve held, industries you’ve worked in), as well as nicknames you may have used when engaging in digital activity (e.g., sharing or liking an article, commenting on a blog post). It's also a good idea to include a spouse/partner's name and to search on particular aspects of your personal life (e.g., political donations, church affiliations).
• What to look for:
  • Publicly available information and activity that you thought was private
  • References to and/or information about you shared by others
  • Potentially embarrassing or misunderstood images and/or content
  • Personal activities, affiliations, and perspectives that may impact your professional life (rightly or wrongly)
  • Potential cases of mistaken identity

Evaluate your public profile on social media platforms.

• What to do:
  • Find and review your public profile on networking platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Plus to see how your profile appears to people to whom you’re not connected.
  • If you have a Twitter account, a blog, and/or an account/channel on public platforms like YouTube, SlideShare, Box.net, VisualCV , Quora, Klout (it’s a potentially long list!), access your public profile on that account. Don’t forget to look at accounts you don’t use anymore too!
• What to look for:
  • Content that is incomplete, out of date, and/or inaccurate
  • Typos and grammatical errors
  • Broken links
  • Potentially embarrassing or misunderstood images and/or content,as well as those that could undermine your professional brand
  • Publicly-displayed information that you’d like to keep private

Get someone else to critique specific accounts/activity.

• Whom to ask: Identify someone you trust to give you an honest opinion, even if that opinion might make you a bit uncomfortable or hurt your feelings. Finding someone with whom you could do a quid pro quo exchange is not only mutually beneficial, but you’re likely to get a better sense of what you should/shouldn’t do based on your review of their accounts/activity in addition to their feedback on yours.
• What to do: Identify the platforms/activity you want them to concentrate on. For most people that would be LinkedIn and Facebook. People who are more digitally engaged may also want to include platforms like Google Plus, Twitter and blogs.
• What to look for: Basically they’re going to look for the same things you did in the previous step, only they can be more objective and are likely to spot things you miss. They can also better identify things that might be viewed as questionable by people who don’t know you.

 

Step 2: Make-Over

Delete risky content when/where you can.

• If it’s something you can control (e.g., a blog comment made via Disqus or using your Twitter account, or a photo you uploaded to Facebook), access the content and delete it.
• If it’s not something you can control (e.g., a Flickr photo in which you’re tagged, or a reference to you in a blog post), contact the person who created the content and ask them to either remove the content or unlink it from your identity.
• In some cases (e.g., reports on contributions to political candidates, newsletter articles) you won't be able to delete the content or unlink it from your identity, but at least you'll be aware of what is publicly available and can be prepared to discuss it if necessary. 

Board up digital properties you no longer use.

• If you don’t plan to ever use a specific platform again, shut down your account. Check with the provider to see if your public data will still be available, or if it effectively disappears from cyberspace. If you can’t completely erase it, try to add information that redirects people to a new platform/account.
• If you think you may use the platform again, clean up your account and add some kind of a “we’ll be back” sign. You may also want to redirect folks to a new platform/account.

Lock the doors that need to be locked.

• If you don’t want everyone to see certain Facebook albums or wall posts, change the settings on those items. Do the same with activity you consider private on other platforms like blogs, Flickr, and YouTube.
• Similarly, you may want to cull through your friends, connections, and followers on various platforms and disconnect from people with whom you don’t want to be connected/engaged on that platform (e.g., unfriending work colleagues and/or people you don’t know very well).

Make sure your front porches are presentable. Update your public profiles to address all the problems you identified during your review.

Direct people to the “right” you, and make yourself easy to find. Designate a hub or home base for your digital identity (e.g., your LI profile or a website). Make sure that hub includes current contact information (i.e., email address and/or phone number) and links to all your relevant digital presences.

 

Step 3: Maintenance

Think before you tweet, comment, update, blog, etc. The best way to manage a strong positive digital reputation is to not put anything out there that you will later regret. And the best way to do that is to be mindful of what you share and where you share it, to choose words and images carefully, and to remember that even though most digital activity is fleeting, it’s also permanent.

Set up internet search alerts at regular intervals. Using an engine like Google, set up regular alerts using the same criteria you used in your initial review.  This way, you’ll be notified whenever some cyber activity is connected to your identity. Keep in mind, though, that these automatic searches aren’t perfect, so you should plan to supplement them with periodic manual searches.

Keep a current inventory of your digital properties. Create a list of all the places you have accounts and update it whenever you join a new platform. This list may not be necessary for the accounts you use all the time, but it is vital in helping you remember the accounts you set up but never return to or stop using. It’s amazing how many digital stakes you can put in the ground and then forget about…

Review and clean up your digital inventory periodically. At least once a year, determine whether you want to continue to maintain specific accounts, especially those you rarely/never use. Doing so will minimize the digital detritus you leave behind.

Review and update your public profiles. Even if your professional circumstances haven’t changed, it’s worthwhile to take a look at your public profiles at least once a year to make sure you continue to be satisfied with how you’re presenting yourself in cyberspace – and to take appropriate action when you’re not.

Choose your friends wisely. We all have different rules about whom we connect with, but it behooves us all to be discriminating about the company we keep in cyberspace. Develop a set of connection rules and adhere to them consistently.

 

Related Resources

7 Simple To Dos for LinkedIn Rookies to Enhance Their Profiles

Enhancing Your LinkedIn Profile II: 7 More Tasks and 21 Tips

Improving LinkedIn Groups Part 3: Recommendations for Group Members

LinkedIn “Company” Pages: An (Undervalued) Gem for Organizations of All Types

Unlucky 13? Twitter “Worst Practices” for Rookies (and Others) to Avoid

Twitter Cross-Posting to Linkedin: Stop the In-Spam-Ity!!!

Recruiting in the Digital Era: Updated Guidance for Employers, Recruiters, and Candidates

Social Screening: Candidates – and Employers – Beware

Please share other resources on Digital Dos and Don’ts you have found valuable. Thanks!

Think Before You Dial: 3 Reasons Unplanned Phone Calls are a Poor Practice

In the Digital Era, new definitions of acceptable and unacceptable behavior have to address not only new ways of communicating, but  traditional forms as well. This post offers three reasons why unsolicited, unplanned phone calls are a generally a poor practice and reinforces the idea that we must constantly think about the best ways to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of our communications, for both ourselves and others.

===//===

As the Digital Era continues to evolve, so do our definitions of rude and inconsiderate behavior and the necessary rules of etiquette to address them. And just as we must develop normative expectations associated with new methods of communication (see related resources below), we must also redefine the boundaries of acceptable practice for traditional methods, like the phone. In addition to thinking before we “hit send” or “post that status update” or “tweet,” we should also think before we “dial.” The key to effective communication is to select the right medium for our messages, to focus on the target of our message more than ourselves, and to consider the consequences (for both ourselves and others) before we act.

I admit I’m not a big fan of the telephone. I don’t mind talking on it, but I think it’s a terrible way to initiate dialogue – especially in a professional context, and especially when there are so many better alternatives. In the Digital Era, it’s equivalent to the unexpected drop-by.

Lately, however, it seems more people are just picking up the phone and dialing rather than arranging calls in advance. As a recipient of those calls, I can’t say enough about what a pain it is. I know that part of my frustration stems from three critical factors – I’m an introvert, I need to concentrate on what I’m doing when I work, and I’m trying to be more disciplined with my time – but even if those things weren’t true I still believe out-of-the-blue phoning is a poor practice. Here are three reasons why:

 

1. It’s not Mutually Convenient

People phone when it’s convenient for them, but they don’t necessarily consider whether it’s convenient for the person they’re calling. Sometimes they ask, “Is this a good time to talk?” but more often than not they just dive into the reason for their call. And when they do remember to ask, they put the receiver in the awkward position of seeming rude or unfriendly if the answer is “no.” Plus, the receiver then has to spend time trying to reschedule, either in the moment or later (see #3).

 

2. It’s Disruptive

We hear lots of talk about how people are distracted by newer forms of communication like email and texts and instant messages, but phone calls can be more disruptive because they’re harder to mute. Even when a person decides to not take any calls, the ringing alone is enough to interrupt his or her train of thought and impair concentration.

 

3. It’s Time Consuming and Inefficient, especially for Asynchronous Communication

It may only be seconds, but it takes much more time to process a voicemail message than it does a text-based message of some sort. This is especially true when the call comes from someone you’ve never heard from before or don’t know very well. You have to dial into the mailbox, listen to the message, find a pen, write down the contact information... And if the message isn’t clear, you may have to listen to segments of it over (and over). What was that last name? What that a 9 or a 1 in that phone number?

Plus, the contact information is often incomplete. People may leave one or two phone numbers, but they don’t usually offer their email address. I started writing this blog post on a Sunday morning, out of aggravation. I had a note from someone who phoned me, and I wanted to message her back. She left a phone number in her voicemail, but I can’t call her. And I wasted at least 10 minutes trying – unsuccessfully – to find an easy way to contact her via LinkedIn or email. Now my only option is to try to find time to call her back next week, and run the very real risk of continuing the game of phone tag she started. Grrr….

Finally, there’s the risk that the note we write the message on gets lost, or we forget about it. Yes, that can happen with emails and texts too, but those methods are less vulnerable to oversight.

 

Please Think Before You Dial

I’m not saying that all unplanned calls are bad or wrong – or even unnecessary. Current and prospective clients and customers, as well as bosses, don’t really need to be concerned about whether they’re calling at a mutually convenient time, and professionals who provide services to others need to be prepared to have their time and concentration disrupted when those calls come in. And of course there are emergency situations, emotionally-charged circumstances in which text-based communication can be misconstrued, and times when a quick phone dialogue is more effective than the unproductive back-and-forth of email.

What I’m really talking about is the practice of calling people out of the blue rather than sending them a text-based message first. Especially when the communication is between peers, from a service provider to a current/prospective client, and/or to a current/prospective business partner, the unsolicited, unplanned call is a relatively poor method of reaching out that can cause more harm than good.

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s just a pet peeve. Perhaps, but the results of this related LinkedIn poll, as well as this one, seem to indicate that I’m not the only person who generally prefers text-based communication to phone calls. In our dynamic, time-challenged, and over-committed lives, we’re all striving to maximize efficiency and effectiveness – and choosing the “right tool for the task” is one way we can all help each other do that.

Food for thought…

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

PS - As I was finalizing this post, the phone rang. I didn't know the caller, but I could tell from caller id it was a prospective client. I answered the call. : )

 

Related Resources

Digital Era Etiquette

• Etiquette for Using Personal Technology at Work (NY Times)
• Unlucky 13? Twitter “Worst Practices” for Rookies (and Others) to Avoid
• Twitter Cross-Posting to Linkedin: Stop the In-Spam-Ity!!!

Creating and Managing Your Cyber Calling Card

• 7 Simple To Dos for LinkedIn Rookies to Enhance Their Profiles
• Enhancing Your LinkedIn Profile II: 7 More Tasks and 21 Tips

Putting Email in Perspective

• The “End” of Email: Reflections from a Digital Era Thinker

 

Private Social Networks: Why Every Organization Needs Them

This post highlights the risks associated with public platforms and describes how private social networks (aka private digital networks) can reduce those risks while also enhancing communication and collaboration among organizational stakeholders. It counters the main points of resistance offered by organizational leaders and articulates the importance of being prepared to establish a social/digital presence across the privacy spectrum.

===//===

Public social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn can help organizations of all types enhance their marketing, public relations, and other external communication efforts, but they may not be the best choice for facilitating more private interactions.

This post provides an overview of the risks associated with public platforms and describes how private social networks (which I prefer to call private digital networks) can reduce those risks while also enhancing communication and collaboration among organizational stakeholders. Private social networks are also referred to as enterprise social networks, intranet 2.0s, social intranets, enterprise 2.0 platforms, social business platforms, digital communities, and similar labels. The basic idea behind them is to provide 2.0 or social media functionality within a private or secure environment, using a proprietary platform rather than one of the publicly-available social networks. To better understand how social media can be used internally (and between organizations), check out Part 2 of the Social Media Primer (and its updates). My previous post, The “End” of Email: Reflections from a Digital Era Thinker, also helps make the business case.

I prefer to use the term private digital network for several reasons:

• The term “social” can cause a negative reaction among people who think the platform will be too “Facebook-like” and cause people to play rather than work.
• The term “digital” helps reinforce the notion that these networks are about hardware as much as software. Mobile access (e.g., on smartphones and tablets) is an increasingly critical component of their design and effectiveness.
• The terms “enterprise” and “intranet” imply intra-organizational usage only. Private digital networks can be used both internally and externally.

Future posts will introduce different options for creating a private digital network and offer guidance for evaluating the options and selecting the best solution. Subscribe to the blog to be notified when those posts are published.

As always, questions and comments are welcome. I’m particularly interested in hearing other reasons why organizations need to consider establishing a private digital network sooner than later. Thanks!

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

 

Public vs. Private Platforms

Recognizing the value of leveraging social media, organizations have been establishing and building their presence on public social media platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn, as well as semi-private platforms like Ning. These platforms can be very powerful for external applications like marketing, branding, and public relations, but they present a number of risks and challenges, including:

• Sharing information about organizational stakeholders (e.g., employees, business partners, board leaders, members) without their express permission.
• Exposing minors (a special risk for private clubs, schools, religious groups, health care and non-profit organizations). See this post for a more in-depth discussion of this risk.
• Being held responsible for unofficial presence/activities that appear official.
• Limited ability to monitor/control communication between staff and other stakeholders.
• Challenges maintaining relationship boundaries.
• Seeing things that may require taking unwelcome (but legally necessary) action.

Recognizing these risks, some organizations have attempted to create private spaces on public platforms, but there are downsides to many of these solutions as well. For example:

• Closed Facebook groups (vs. Pages): tend to be personally oriented, which may not be appropriate for professionally-oriented interactions.
• Closed LinkedIn groups: tend to be professionally oriented, which may not be appropriate for personally-oriented interactions. LinkedIn is also not a viable platform for organizations working with minors.
• Private Twitter handles: tend to have a relatively low number of users, and generally only enable one-way communication between an organization and its stakeholders.
• Private Flickr accounts and blogs: tend to present challenges in terms of driving traffic to them and promoting engagement.
• Ning communities: create yet another account for people to manage, and the platform is not completely private.

These issues are compounded by a more general set of challenges, including:

• Some people strongly dislike platforms like Facebook and Twitter and will refuse to set up accounts and engage on them.
• Each platform has limited functionality, and organizations have limited control over their design and features. More importantly, they have virtually no control over – or even warning about – platform changes.
• Privacy on public platforms like Facebook is kind of an illusion. Even if other users can’t access certain information/activity, the platform provider can – and does.
• There is no easy way for an organization to integrate activity in the various platforms, either within a platform or across platforms.
• Managing a presence on multiple platforms is challenging for both organizations and their stakeholders. People have different preferences for platforms and features, and are inconvenienced by having to manage multiple sign-ons.  And managing multiple platforms requires a lot of time and effort from organizational staff.
• Trying to accommodate multiple objectives and preferences on public platforms often results in cannibalization of an organization’s digital engagement efforts. When individuals/groups carve out their own spaces on public platforms, the organization loses control. In addition, to the extent these spaces are publicly known, the organization’s brand – as well as its goals and objectives – can be compromised.

Establishing a private digital network can alleviate the risks and challenges associated with using public social media platforms for communication and collaboration among organizational stakeholders. It can also produce other benefits, including:

• Organizations can create a digital community/space to correspond with their physical community/space(s).
• Rather than having relevant digital interactions spread out across a variety of platforms, they can be contained in a single shared space.
• The private digital network can be connected to the organization’s website and other digital platforms, which facilitates access and increases the likelihood of engagement. Increased digital engagement can lead to increases in other forms of engagement.
• With its own digital network, organization-related interactions among staff and between staff and other stakeholders occur in an official, sanctioned, private environment, which helps create and maintain proper boundaries.
• A digital network promotes better communication and collaboration by enabling people to interact in various ways (e.g., via wikis, blogs, chats, forums) in addition to direct messaging (i.e., email).
• Private digital networks not only maximize flexibility for both individuals and organizations, they offer more control over the design and features of the digital platform through which people interact.

For more thoughts on private digital networks, check out my End of Email post.

 

It’s a Question of “When” not “If”

In spite of the very real potential benefits private digital networks offer, many organizational leaders are still hesitant to pursue them, for a variety of reasons. Here are some of the most common reasons offered, and counterpoints for each:

• We can’t afford it. The costs of enterprise social software vary widely. In addition to large, relatively-expensive, enterprise-oriented solutions like SharePoint and Jive, there are also free (e.g., Yammer and Salesforce.com’s Chatter) and relatively low-cost (e.g., 37 Signals, Intranet Connections) solutions. Many of these products/services are designed to be “out-of-the-box” solutions, which means they require relatively little customization and can be implemented fairly quickly and without significant IT support. Social software does not have to be a budget buster.
• Our people won’t use it. Time and again organization leaders have found that individuals are far more ready to use social software than they think. Managing enthusiasm has proven to be a far bigger challenge than managing resistance. In addition, a well-designed platform will be user-friendly and easy to use, which will increase both the speed and extent of adoption.
• People will waste time socializing rather than working. Performance management is a leadership issue, not a technology challenge. If people want to avoid work, they’ll find a way – with or without technology. In reality, one of the biggest benefits of social software is that it can enhance efficiency and effectiveness. It can also increase engagement and boost morale in a variety of ways.

As the Digital Era continues to evolve, leaders will increasingly recognize the need for their organizations to establish a social/digital presence across the privacy spectrum. Each type of platform has a role to play in achieving an organization’s goals and objectives. To wit:

• Public spaces like Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, LinkedIn Company pages, Google Plus pages, and YouTube channels support externally-oriented objectives like marketing, branding, PR, and recruiting.
• Semi-Private spaces like Ning communities, Facebook groups, and LinkedIn groups enable communication and collaboration among individuals who have shared interests (but aren’t in the same organization).
• Private spaces promote secure, confidential, and regulated communication and collaboration among individuals who are linked by a common organizational identity/interest.

Choosing the right tool for the task (or in this case, the right social technology), should be driven by an organization’s strategy and a clear understanding of what each tool can help the organization achieve. For more guidance on how to optimize the effectiveness of digital investments, check out:

• Social Media: From Novelty to Utility
• Social Media Engagement: 7 Rules for Working Smart, not Just Hard
• Social Media Engagement: 5 Guiding Principles
• Social Media Engagement: Accepting and Coping with Time and Information Management Realities
• Social Media Primer, Part 7: The SAPLING Approach to Leveraging Social Media

And stay tuned for upcoming posts in the Private Digital Networks series…

Social Media: Coping with Time and Information Management Realities

In our overcommitted, busy lives, lack of time is a common lament. The time challenge is exacerbated by information overload and the speed with which digital technology continues to change. For social media rookies in particular, these challenges can be overwhelming. This post highlights certain immutable realities of the world in which we live and work and offers guidance for how to cope with them. 

===//===

When thinking about the digital engagement of active social media users, rookies generally alternate between wondering (often enviously or wistfully) “How do they find the time?” and scoffing (often dismissively and disdainfully) “How do they have so much ‘free’ time?” In our overcommitted, busy lives, lack of time is a common lament. Many people are so challenged to manage the things they feel they have to do, they can’t imagine how they’re going to find time to engage in activities – like social media – they still perceive as peripheral rather than core to the pursuit of their goals and objectives.

The time challenge is exacerbated by information overload and the speed with which new platforms and tools are introduced, all of which combine to create an overwhelming and scary proposition for people who prefer a slower, more methodical pace and/or more traditional forms of communication and collaboration.

I speak to social media rookies all the time, both formally and informally. I could sugarcoat reality for them, telling them that social media and other new digital technologies are short-lived phenomena we’ll eventually abandon. Or I could reassure them that even though these changes are permanent, everything’s going to settle down and they’ll be able to catch up when it does. But I would be lying. Instead, I choose to show them a little tough love by highlighting certain immutable realities of the world in which they live and work and offering guidance for how to cope with them.

The truths inherent in these realities apply to both individuals and organizations and are not bounded by factors such as industry, organizational size or type, or individual age or career stage. And although the degree to which they’re applicable may vary, they are relevant regardless of the type of involvement an individual or organization elects to have. When it comes to time and information management, the challenges faced by everyone – from social media listeners and lurkers, to commenters, content curators and creators, and community managers – are fundamentally the same.

This post addresses the six time and information management realities I generally highlight, as well as some of the coping tips I offer. What other realities and tips would you add? As always, questions and comments are welcome.

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

 

Reality 1:

Constant change, lightning speed, and high volume are the “new normal”

Though I am not a tech person myself, I spend enough time following the industry – particularly the start-up community – to say with certainty that new tools, technologies, and platforms will continue to be introduced, often at a dizzying pace. And the more new ways we have of communicating and collaborating, the more information we create, share and reshare. It’s a relentless onslaught, and there’s no end in sight. As I discuss in 10 Digital Era Truths, Part 8a of the Social Media Primer, and elsewhere, it’s a brave new world – even if you want the old one back!

 

Coping Tip:

Should you follow every fad, jump on every bandwagon, and learn how to drink from a firehose? Of course not. What you need to do, which I discuss in posts like Social Media Engagement: 7 Rules for Working Smart, not Just Hard, is have a clear sense of  your goals and objectives and let them guide your decisions about when, where and how to engage. Additional guidance can be found in Social Media Engagement: 5 Guiding Principles.

 

Reality 2:

You’re never going to find the time – you need to make the time

Many people think – or should I say, naively hope – that one day their schedules will open up sufficiently to allow them to climb the necessary learning curves and become more digitally sophisticated. But the longed-for time never materializes… and it never will, at least not on its own.

The only way to find the time you need to more effectively leverage new technologies is to make it a priority, which means that you want and value new ways of communicating and collaborating more than traditional approaches. That’s why other people are able to spend seemingly endless amounts of time on social media. They’ve made it a priority because they derive value from it and perceive the time spent as an investment rather than an expense. They’ve also found a way to integrate it into their personal and professional activities rather than layering it on top of them.

 

Coping Tips:

• Think about what less-productive activities (relative to your goals) you’re going to give up to make time for strategically-valuable social media activities.
• Schedule time for social media on a regular basis, as part of your professional activities. Start by working it into your week (one hour on one day should be manageable), then graduate to two-three times a week, striving to commit to daily engagement.
• Build habits and routines for ongoing activity to fully integrate social media into your professional life. Remember to be disciplined and proactive rather than reactive, however. Don’t let yourself be interrupted by technology’s incessant demands and resist the temptation of the black hole/time suck.

 

Reality 3:

Large (initial) investments of time are unavoidable

If you’re a true digital rookie, then there’s no getting around the fact that you need to prepare yourself to devote relatively significant chunks of time to learning how to function more effectively in the Digital Era. Both in general and with respect to specific platforms/tools, the beginning part of the learning curve can be extremely steep.

Some people think they can avoid the personal learning curve by outsourcing social media activities, but I don’t think that’s in anyone’s long-term best interests. Even if you are able to delegate specific tasks, you shouldn’t completely abdicate leadership or responsibility for your own brand to either junior associates or outside parties. And as digital technologies and social tools become more widespread, they will increasingly be integrated into organizational operations of all types. So although people may be able to delay the learning process, most won’t be able to avoid it altogether. Learning how to use new technologies is a question of when not if – and the sooner you start, the easier it will be.

Even social media sophisticates face ongoing challenges to expand their knowledge and skills, as new platforms and tools emerge (e.g., Pinterest) and existing platforms and tools make substantial changes (e.g., Facebook’s Timeline). In the new normal, the only constant is change – and that requires a commitment to continuous learning…

 

Coping Tips:

• Immersion is the best way to learn and is ultimately more efficient/ effective than trying to tackle a new platform/tool in small chunks.
• Don’t be afraid to seek assistance – and be willing to pay for it. Even though it’s your mountain to climb, having a Sherpa can help you get to the top more quickly and with much less risk than trying to venture out on your own. For more thoughts on “social media experts,” check out Social Media Experts: Yes, they Exist. Yes, You Should Hire Them. But do Your Due Diligence.
• Be patient with both the technology and yourself. Don’t give up before you can truly assess the potential value of a particular platform/tool. Although the learning process can be very frustrating in the beginning, once everything falls into place and you “get it,” the learning curve levels off immediately and the platform/tool becomes infinitely more manageable.
• Plan for periodic re-immersion to familiarize yourself with changes to specific platforms and update your presence and engagement accordingly. You’ll also want to make changes based on the experiences you’ve had and the lessons they’ve taught you.

 

Reality 4:

Digital engagement is a marathon, not a sprint

Getting started with a specific social media platform or tool is relatively quick and easy. With most it takes mere minutes to open an account and lay a basic foundation. As people become more skilled, they can complete the necessary set up in a few hours (or less), depending on the complexity of the platform/tool. Novelty, determination and enthusiasm can drive and sustain an initial burst of activity, but soon enough it becomes evident that effective digital engagement is a grind. It requires ongoing attention, persistence, discipline, and hard work. The prevalence of “digital ghost towns” throughout cyberspace offer silent testimony to the harsh reality of the challenges of following through on relatively easy initial commitments.

 

Coping Tips:

• When deciding whether to establish a presence on a particular platform or engage in a given community, think realistically about what it will take to maintain your presence/engagement, not just what it may take to get started. If you don’t feel confident that you can maintain a longer-term commitment, it’s probably best not to start.
• And remember some of the earlier tips to integrate digital engagement into your professional life: build time into your schedule, develop habits and routines, plan for periodic (re)immersion.

 

Reality 5:

It’s impossible to “have it all,” “do it all,” or “know it all”

I’ve been fully immersed in the applications and implications of digital technology for the past three years, and I can personally attest to this reality! Even if I spent all day every day keeping my eyes on the digital horizon and my ear on the cyber ground, I still wouldn’t be fully aware of the latest technologies, tools, and trends. And even if I were aware, I still can’t judge with certainty what will be a “flash in the pan” or “the next big thing” – no one can.

If a presumed social media expert confesses to the challenges of trying to keep up, what hope does a social media rookie have? It’s tempting to just ignore everything or do nothing, but letting yourself act like a deer caught in headlights or an ostrich is not in your best interests.

 

Coping Tips:

• Learn to embrace the uncertainty and chaos of the world in which we live and accept that you would drown if you tried to drink directly from the firehouse of information every day.
• Don’t let your fear of missing something make you become addicted to staying tuned in or following the latest craze.  
• When it comes to information, emphasize quality over quantity and allow yourself to be selective. You can manage the flow of information by:
  • Limiting yourself to a few news sources and thought leaders that consistently offer valuable content
  • Relying on content curators whose judgment you trust
  • Unfollowing people whose content and activity have too much noise and not enough signal
  • Investing the time to set up an aggregator (e.g., Google Reader, TweetDeck, or NetVibes) or other techniques that allow you to control how, when, and where you receive information
• When it comes to technology, don’t feel pressured to jump on the latest bandwagon or be a fad follower. Let yourself take a “wait and see” approach and only consider committing to a new platform or tool after it demonstrates it has staying power. There’s little risk in being part of the second, or even third, wave of users.

 

Reality 6:

Technology and tools can help, but they can’t replace good judgment

As new social media platforms emerge, opportunistic developers start working on creating new platforms, tools, and techniques to help people manage them. That’s terrific, but we have to remember that social media engagement is fundamentally a human endeavor. Although “high tech” tools can help us, they are a poor facsimile of the “high touch” interactions that are necessary for success.

In a similar vein, we have to remember that although sharing content created by others is an efficient engagement tactic, it should not be the only tactic you employ. Your voice needs to be authentic and convey a sense of who you are as an individual or organization. Excessive parroting of the information and ideas of others can cause people to tune you out, thereby undermining your goals.

 

Coping Tips:

• You can schedule posts on Twitter and other platforms using a tool like HootSuite. Although not everyone agrees, I think it’s fine to queue up posts on a regular schedule. But you should still stay attuned to the activity and be prepared for real-time interaction when circumstances warrant it.
• Avoid excessive posting/reposting, as well as automatic cross-posting on multiple platforms. Although it’s appropriate to share the same content in different places, the posting norms and language used in each varies significantly. For more on what not to do, check out my Twitter Worst Practices and LI-Twitter In-spam-ity posts.

 

Conclusion

This post is the fourth in a series of social media engagement posts targeted primarily to rookies and folks who are looking to optimize the effectiveness of their initial investments. Previous posts include:

• Social Media: From Novelty to Utility
• Social Media Engagement: 7 Rules for Working Smart, not Just Hard
• Social Media Engagement: 5 Guiding Principles

I will round out this series with a future post on communication and engagement principles. I’m also working on pieces on digital communities and private social networks, a couple Social Media Buyer’s Guides and the final installment in my series on LinkedIn profiles (click here for Part I and here for Part II. Subscribe to the blog to make sure you’re notified when these posts (and more!) are published.

Demanding Access to Individuals’ Social Networking Accounts: A Digital Era Worst Practice

Asking individuals to provide their login credentials and/or allow access to their accounts during job interviews – or requiring them to friend people in positions of authority in organizations – constitute Digital Era worst practices that need to stop. Fortunately, the practices aren’t widespread, but they should be nipped in the bud before more organizations act on the mistaken belief that it’s okay to engage in extreme invasions of privacy in a misguided attempt to manage their risks.

===//===

Did you hear the one about employers and universities asking candidates and students to provide access to the private areas of their Facebook (and other social networking) accounts? Yeah, I wish it were a joke. Unfortunately, it’s all too true. Some employers are asking candidates to provide their login credentials and/or give them access to their accounts during job interviews, and coaches at some colleges and universities are requiring student athletes to friend at least one coach.

These practices aren’t new, but there’s been a renewed interest in them over the past few days, probably because some states have proposed legislation to outlaw the practices. Stories have been bouncing around cyberspace, and the reactions to them have been swift, universally negative and passionate. Often in cases like this the passion is born of misunderstanding rooted in a misrepresentation of the issue/facts, but this time the reality is pretty clear and the “are you kidding me?”s are based on truth.

If you haven’t seen any of the articles, here’s one from MSNBC that provides a nice summary of the practice and issues: Govt. agencies, colleges demand applicants' Facebook passwords. I added a comment to this piece and others that began as follows:

I can't believe employers continue to engage in these kinds of practices. They offer the wrong solution to understandably important problems (e.g., gang affiliated corrections officers). Even for public safety positions, accessing private social networking activity is a dubious (at best) practice. I wrote about the ACLU/MD case last year in the following post: 

Digital Era Employment Practices Under Fire – Again!

I continued:

Even if states or the federal government don't make it illegal, it's an ill-advised tactic. And I think most employers and academic institutions will realize that it's not in their best interests, especially if they want to be an employer or school of choice. 

I then added the following PS:

PS - Let me reiterate one critical component of why this is such a bad idea. This is not just about the employee or student's privacy - it's also about the privacy of everyone they're connected to, none of whom has given their permission to allow their activity to be accessed.

Helping both individuals and organizations understand their relative rights and responsibilities, I’ve written extensively about this and related issues over the past year and a half, beginning with this white paper: Social Screening: Candidates - and Employers – Beware. Here are links to additional posts:

• Social Media Policies: Necessary but Not Sufficient
• Social Media Data "Ownership": Recommendations for Employers
• More Nominees for the Digital Hall of Shame … And How to Avoid Becoming One Yourself
• Social Screening of Job Candidates: Focusing on the Facts
• Can We be Friends? In Cyberspace, "No" may be the Right Answer

As always, I welcome your comments and questions. And because I think education is critical to creating the knowledge and understanding we need to address Digital Era issues like these properly, I appreciate your sharing this post with others in your networks. Thanks!

-  Courtney Shelton Hunt, PhD

Enhancing Your LinkedIn Profile II: 7 More Tasks and 21 Tips

Building on an earlier post - 7 Simple To Dos for LinkedIn Rookies to Enhance Their Profiles – this piece offers additional guidance to help professionals upgrade their LI profiles incrementally. It describes seven tasks that can be tackled in one sitting or over several sessions. These tasks include adding digital links, creating a summary and adding specialties, selecting representative skills and expertise, and customizing one’s public profile. Each task includes specific tips that reflect best practices and/or maximize the profile’s potential effectiveness.

===//===

About a month ago I published 7 Simple To Dos for LinkedIn Rookies to Enhance Their Profiles, the first in a three-part series that offers a “crawl-walk-run” approach to helping folks upgrade their LinkedIn (LI) profiles from anemic to impressive and effective. The first post focused on a handful of basic things people should do to make sure they have created a respectable presence on LI that also lays a solid foundation to build on. Its popularity underscored the fact that many professionals have barely begun to establish themselves properly on this professional network. If you haven’t read that post yet, I encourage you to check it out before proceeding with this one (be sure to read the comments too, which offer additional suggestions).

The intent of the first post was to enable people to enhance their LI profiles in as little as an hour – or at most, one half-day session. The seven intermediate tasks described in this post are a little more involved, but they should still require no more than a half-day to tackle. If you don’t have that much time to devote in one sitting, you can complete each task separately. They’re presented in sequential order.

The next post in this series will focus on advanced tasks. If there’s a specific topic you’d like to see addressed, please add a comment or question. I also invite folks to share their recommendations, in case I may have overlooked something.

- Courtney Shelton Hunt

PS - If you want to receive Part III in this series as soon as it’s published, be sure to subscribe to the blog.

===//===

Caveat: This series provides general guidance that may not reflect best practices in specific instances. If you’re currently on the job market, for example, you will want to set up your profile to maximize the likelihood it will be found – and found attractive – by recruiters. This post by Matt Kerr identifies some of the unique considerations you should address. If you know of other specific guidance, please provide a comment and/or link to the resource. Thanks!

 

#1: Review, Correct, and Expand Basic Information

Let’s assume you’ve already done the basic tasks outlined in 7 Simple To Dos for LinkedIn Rookies to Enhance Their Profiles a while ago. Your first order of business should be to review what you’ve already created to identify and fix typos and grammatical errors. No matter how hard we scrutinize things when we first create them, it’s almost inevitable that we’ll miss something. You also want to make sure that what you’ve written makes sense, and look for ways to further streamline your presentation.

If you haven’t fully fleshed out your job history, do that now. Remember that the information for jobs that are less connected your current/desired opportunities can – and should – be brief. Jobs that are more closely connected should focus on core strengths and accomplishments rather than simple descriptions of duties and responsibilities. See Task #4 from the first post for additional details and recommendations.

Whenever possible, ask someone you trust to take a look and offer constructive criticism. Unlike a traditional resume, your LI profile is something anyone can see at any time, so the need for it to be flawless is even more critical. Don’t let pride get in the way of perfection…

Tips:

1. Keep your name simple. I suggest just including your first name, last name, and primary credential. Adding nicknames, middle/maiden names, and multiple credentials can make your name too busy and hard to process – by both people and computers. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but make sure that complicating your name is vitally necessary before you do it. Also be sure to follow acceptable naming conventions by capitalizing the first letter of your first and last names (in other words, don't use either no caps or all caps). And remember, adding an email address and/or phone number as part of your name is a violation of LinkedIn’s terms of service… and is tacky to boot!

2. Make sure your job title is easily understood. Rich Czekanski offered this tip on the first post: "Unique" job titles that may be company/industry specific can be modified in your profile to match with a more recognized title. For instance, a "Business Associate" title handles inside sales activities, so your LinkedIn profile could show "Inside Sales" as your title. Use current searches to see what titles are being used and tailor accordingly. (my note: if you can't change the exact title due to company guidelines, you can probably modify your headline and/or use the Skills section to connect your profile to more commonly used terms.)

3. Put multiple current positions/roles in order. A surprising number of people have multiple current positions/roles, especially if they include significant volunteer roles (e.g., board memberships). You can easily put multiple roles in proper order by moving the “boxes” for each job to create the desired display. Your primary position/role should always be listed first.

4. Customize your public profile url. LI allows you to create a customized extension after www.linkedin.com/in/. Take advantage of it by changing your unique identifier to something that’s shorter and easier to remember and share than the LI default. I use “cshunt312,” which is a common handle for me throughout cyberspace.

 

#2: Add Digital Links

LI allows you to include up to three websites and multiple Twitter handles on your profile. Take advantage of that by including links to relevant digital properties that extend, complement, and/or enhance your individual/organizational brand.

Tips:

5. Include blogs in the website links. This can include either blogs you own exclusively, organizational blogs, or other blogs to which you contribute regularly.

6. Focus on professional activity rather than personal activity. Any website, blog, and/or Twitter handle you include should be heavily weighted toward your professional activity or should reflect your professional skills and expertise. Don’t include a personally-oriented account that doesn’t relate to your professional identity in some way.

7. Don’t misrepresent your relationship to a website, blog or Twitter account. The digital links you include on your profile should reflect your individual activity and identity in some way. You should not include a link to an organization you’re affiliated with but have no substantial role in (e.g., a professional association). Giving people the wrong impression of your relationship and role – even innocently or unwittingly – is likely to backfire on you. Be sure to request permission to link to any website, blog or Twitter account you don’t personally own.

8. Customize the website link. Rather than using the defaults like “Personal Website,” “Company Website” and “Blog,” select “Other” and then type in the name you’d like to appear on your profile.

9. Don’t automatically link your Twitter activity to your LI account. Make sure you click on the box next to “Share only tweets that contain #in (#li also works) in your LinkedIn status” so that your tweets aren’t automatically cross-posted to LI. (See Twitter Cross-Posting to Linkedin: Stop the In-Spam-Ity!!! for why automatic cross-posting is a bad practice.)

 

#3: Create a Summary and Add Specialties

Depending on how current your resume and/or professional bio is, crafting a Summary could be quick or time consuming. It’s an important element of your LI profile, however, so don’t give it short shrift. Think of it as your written elevator speech... There’s also a free-form section for adding specialties that you can use to highlight some of your professional credentials.

Tips:

10. Limit the “fluff.” As with other aspects of your LI profile, less is more. Avoid unnecessary descriptive information. Make sure every word is relevant and contributes in a meaningful way to the picture you’re trying to paint.

11. Focus on you, not your organization. As I noted in Part 1 of this series, company information should be included in the Company Page, not your individual profile. If the two are linked, there’s no need to repeat the information.

12. Highlight what you offer, not what you want. Summarize your unique competencies and how you add value to others, not what you’re looking for from them.

13. Make your summary and specialties keyword rich. Identify the terms people may use to look for people with your skills, experience and expertise and be sure to include those terms in your summary and specialties.

 

#4: Select Representative Skills & Expertise

Skills & Expertise is a relatively new feature of LI. In addition to specialties, it’s a great way to highlight your unique credentials and competencies.

Tips:

14. Use the defaults. Although the feature will allow you to create your own skills, it’s better to select from the pre-defined terms since that is what other people are likely to search on.

15. Don’t go for the maximum. LI will allow you to identify up to 50 skills. That may be useful for a search engine, but it’s overwhelming for a human being. Be very selective about what you include.

16. Put the terms in order. Once you’ve selected the skills, you can easily rearrange them so the most important and relevant skills are listed first. Also make sure there’s some kind of logical order to the presentation by grouping similar skills.

 

#5: Complete the Additional Information Section

In this section you can add Interests, Groups and Associations, and Honors and Awards. This section is a great way to showcase some of your accomplishments and can also serve as personal connectors and conversation starters. The sections are optional, however, so don’t feel compelled to complete them if you can’t think of something meaningful or relevant to add.

Tip:

17. Demonstrate personality, but don’t get too personal. Highlighting your extra-curricular involvements and interests can help people get a more well-rounded sense of who you are, but make sure that whatever you include is a positive reflection on your professional identity.

 

#6: Customize Your Public Profile

Once you’ve completed your profile – at least for this round of enhancements - customize your public profile by clicking on “edit” next to the Public Profile link (as noted in the first post, your profile should be public) . That should take you to this page, where you can “control how you appear when people search for you on Google, Yahoo!, Bing, etc.” by selecting/deselecting specific elements.

Tip:

18. Be selective about what you include. As a general rule you should probably select every top-level item you’ve completed in your profile. But you should only include the second-level items you think are most relevant for an initial review of your profile. Keep in mind the “less is more” adage and encourage people view your full profile if they want to learn more.

 

#7: Request Recommendations

For a host of reasons, I’m not enamored of the recommendations feature of LI profiles, but unfortunately it’s necessary to have at least three before LI considers your profile complete.

Tips:

19. Play the numbers game. Steve Dembo said it well in his comment on the first post: Email your colleagues, people you've worked with in the past, anybody that can speak on your behalf and ask them to submit a few sentences recommending you. This doesn't need to be three paragraphs, and most people are more than willing if you ask. But that's the key. You have to be bold and actually request that people write a recc (sic) for you. And you have to ask ALOT of people. Only a small fraction of the people you ask will likely follow through. So play the numbers game and ask 20 people, hoping to get 5 people to respond and take action.

20. Use reciprocity. Another effective way to get recommendations is to give them. A “quid pro quo” offer is a lot easier request to make – and accept – than a one-sided one.

21. Don’t be afraid to request edits. You don’t want a recommendation that doesn’t reflect positively on you or the person recommending you. Though you should respect that the sentiments expressed by the other person are theirs and you shouldn’t micro-manage their message, don’t hesitate to request corrections to typos, grammar, facts, etc. before approving a recommendation. Given the public nature of recommendations, doing so is in both your best interests.

 

Related Resources

To access additional posts on LI, check out this Spotlight on LinkedIn email blast from last fall.

If you’re currently on the job market (or hiring), you may also be interested in my post Recruiting in the Digital Era: Updated Guidance for Employers, Recruiters, and Candidates, which provides additional guidance and resources about managing one’s professional presence in cyberspace.