As I work on my own social media skills, I have been a member of Linked In for a few years and started actively participating in various communities last March when I recognized I would have an eventual lay off from my job.
One such board really has my head scratching because there are nearly 10,000 comments on “The Unemployment Experience” where the original poster was looking for stories to write an article about unemployment. The is mostly productive input giving resume tips, sharing interview techniques, and other helpful hints that make it a positive environment. Knowing people first hand that have been on extended unemployment and even exhausting their benefits I have seen a lot of similarities and trends.
A lot of my colleagues, and more recent friends are calling me crazy for taking the bull by the horns and using direct sales as the opportunity it is meant to be and prevent myself from becoming psychologically distressed while searching for a traditional job with benefits, and preparing for the potential of long term unemployment. Although hopeful another job will happen, it may very well take some time given the reality of this economy. My family and closer friends who saw me invest a few thousand dollars into a business and be out of the red in just three months, are the only people who see me as brilliant. They saw my results when the banking industry collapsed and everyone was essentially booted out the door.
Sales is not for everyone, that is the reality. There is one guy I actually feel for because he handled his opportunity presentation very wrong. He was adversarial with other folks and even though he was obviously excited about his “opportunity” he wasn’t forthcoming, he gave absolutely no information, and essential ostracized a lot of folks by essentially calling them stupid and/or lazy for not looking at this website. A few skilled net-workers got to the root that this guy was struggling.
In my opinion, you need that 30 second elevator speech for social media marketing to answer the burning question quickly - What’s in it for me? No one has time for people who beat around the bush.
“You should check out the rates for electric with North American Power on my website and see if they are lower than what you are already paying.”
“How many people do you know who use electricity? How many of them do you think would like to pay less money for their service?”
Networkers that beat a dead horse, don’t make any money… let the prospect go and move on.
Who else is trolling on these discussions? Recruiters are out there looking for people to represent. Employers are out there checking references and public profiles to see if you are the person your resume reflects.
Why is it that some people don’t understand that their own words are putting themselves on the elimination deck. Specifically one gentleman was complaining about his previous employer calling him a criminal who violated some laws and was looking for justice. What an employer sees is a disgruntled employee trying to cause a problem for his previous employer. He may actually be right about the illegal activities he published on-line about the former employer, but being right is not going to have a prospective employer who may read the diatribe hire him.
Another woman was bad-mouthing her town because they closed two local unemployment centers and eliminated free faxes and phone service for job seekers. She said the only way to get a job was to “know someone” or “lay down with someone”. She is obviously upset that the cut services are affecting her, but to make wild accusations is not going to ingratiate her to a potential employer.
While social media is a powerful tool, it is also an eye into who you are and what you are all about.
No comments:
Post a Comment