LinkedIn and Branding: The Significance of Professional Networking

 

Keeping a current LinkedIn profile and using it to sell yourself is key to a successful professional digital footprint. Looking for a job or just wanting professional connections in this digital age? LinkedIn is an excellent professional social networking site which offers an environment you can use to reach out and expand your connections. 

Launched on May 5th, 2003, it was reported that LinkedIn has become the world's largest professional network.  There
are currently 230 million LinkedIn users in 200 countries and territories.  The network has 3 million business pages and 1.5 million groups. This increasing popularity can be a key to your success.

Users can build a contact list to develop relations and gain recommendations which could lead to getting an employer's attention.  A company is more likely to hire someone who has been recommended and/or has a positive relationship with one of its employees.  You could also have secondary and tertiary connections with your immediate contacts. Users can also join interest groups (the majority of them being employment related) to gather information about what is going on in their field of interest.  LinkedIn also provides Job listings. A user can research a company and find out stasticics like the ratio to male and female employees and a list of present or former employees.  Companies can include a "Apply with LinkedIn" botton on their listings page.

QR Codes: using them to promote your business.

Have you noticed those scrambled checker board looking things popping up everywhere?  They look like a complex bar code or something.  Well that is exactly what they are!  Those complex matrices are called QR Codes or Quick Response Codes.  Since its introduction in 1994, the QR Code has gained popularity for its diverse uses in industries such as the automotive, health care, and transportation. The Cleveland Museum of Art placed QR Codes next to exhibits to direct visitors to online video tours or linking them with more in-depth information through their smart phones.  That matrix looking thing in the upper right side of this page is a QR Code for this blog. 

One of the newest and most innovated uses of QR Codes are in the marketing and advertising MyToys.de built QR codes using Lego bricks to drive customers to their online store.  Users were then able to buy the bricks used to make the QR code.  While it is a very creative use of QR codes, the execution wasn’t perfect as it linked to a desktop site.  It was still a huge success, as 49% of visitors to MyToy.de came via the QR codes while the campaign was live, and twice as many brick boxes were sold for the Lego models included in the QR adverts. 

In 2011 Heinz put QR codes on ketchup bottles in US restaurants to promote its industries.  You can use a QR Code to direct someone to your web page, "like" your Facebook page, or take them to an online offer or coupon.  A German retailer
new environmentally friendly packaging.  It linked to a mobile site where users could win prizes by answering a green knowledge trivia question.  Heinz reported that more than 1m consumers scanned the codes.




There are many tools to help construct a QR Code and customize it to your liking.  Web Applications like Unitag and Maestro will create a QR Code that can be your phone number, URL, or a Google map to your business. You can even color your QR Code and have a logo embedded in it.  I created my QR Code you see in the upper right of my blog page at a site called goqr.me and manipulated it using Adobe Photoshop. With a little creativity QR Codes can help get the word out and improve your business.




This is a McDonald's QR Code that takes you to the Meal Builder section of their web site where you can look at the menu.



Social Networking Security or Lack of When Promoting Your Brand

Social media advertising has become a major asset in brand promotion.  Just a few years ago social media was regarded as a hub for high school and college students.  Now it is a major influence on how people of all ages around the world get and share information. Social media channels such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are drawing millions of people a day who want to check messages from friends, share their views on and issue, read the news, and comment on a product.  The spread of information has transformed to be on much more of a personal level due to the ability to interact with what is being said.  Promoting your brand through social media is almost a must do in order to have a successful business.


So what are you waiting for?  If you haven't already, with a little research and thought you can use this cost effective way to promote your business. Who is your target audience? Which media sites do you want to focus on and when?  Have you established your "Brand" or handle on these social media sites? Here is a Beginner's Guide to Social Media Branding you can use to start building your brand's reputation. There is a plethora of tools such as hootsuite which you can use to help reach your target audience and keep track of what your customers are saying about you.

With personal data comes personal risk. Whether you are using social media for personal use or for promoting your business, security is an important issue. A few mishaps of having your account hacked into can have a major impact on your customers and reputation.  In Febuary of 2013 Burger King's twitter account was hacked into and its logo was replaced with a McDonald's logo. Announcements that Burger King had been bought out by one of its competitors began to appear. There were also other posts that were unprintable! This New York Times article talks about the Twitter hackings and brand security.

There are simple steps and tools you can use to protect your security.  This Guide to Facebook Security has many useful tips to keep your Facebook account secure. There are also many toolkits and browser add-ons which can be used to strengthen your security.