by Caroline Leach | May 27, 2018 | Learning, Social Media
My research about how people are using social media to boost their careers asked about do’s and don’ts.
Here are 10 do’s and 5 don’ts. While some of the don’ts are the flip side of the do’s, the don’ts add more perspective and context.
One of the best survey comments was this: “A twist on the Golden Rule, if you will: I try not to share something that I wouldn’t want to read from someone else.”
That sums it up in a nutshell. Read on for how to put that take on the Golden Rule into practice. And thanks to the people who generously shared their thoughts that inform this list.
DO
Share good stuff. Share content that will help people in your networks be better in their work and their life. Good content can come from anywhere – your experiences, your reading, your network, your employee advocacy program, and so much more. Good content is good content, regardless of where it’s from, as I shared in Part 4 of this series.
Be positive. Keep it upbeat and friendly. Somewhat surprisingly, positive stories get shared more often than negative ones.
Be authentic. Be yourself. Share your experience. After all, no one is exactly like you. That is your strength and your opportunity.
Be reciprocal. Engage with content you like that’s aligned with your areas of focus. Ask questions. Post comments. Share relevant content with your networks.
Be social. Have conversations with people, just as you would in real life. Engage in dialogue, rather than making statements.
Be kind. Everyone is struggling with some kind of burden, whether you can see it on the outside our not. Act with kindness and compassion.
Post content that reflects well on you and your employer. What do you want your carefully curated network to see? What do you want your current or future boss and colleagues to see? What do you want your customers to see?
Consider these questions every time you share content. Ensure it will reflect well on you as well as your employer. You are a brand ambassador of your organization. Take that responsibility seriously. (Note: opinions shared in this blog are my own.)
Keep your social profiles updated. Spend a few minutes each month refreshing your profiles, especially LinkedIn. Did you complete an important project? Win an award? Get quoted in an article? Give a speech? Add it to your profile and include media and links.
Try new things. Keep experimenting. Observe how others are innovating. Try posting at different times than you normally do. Experiment with new forms of content, especially video. See what a new app can do for you.
Provide context for your reason for connecting with people. This will help people quickly understand why you want to connect. It’s why you should always personalize your LinkedIn invitations. You’ll stand out among the sea of unpersonalized invites. And you’ll forge a stronger relationship right from the beginning.
DON’T
Post too frequently. What is too frequently? Anything that makes the reader wonder how the poster has time to do their job. In general, one post a day in each of your social platforms is fine. Are there exceptions? Sure, a few examples are if it’s a big news day in your world or if you’re live tweeting an event.
Be too personal. What’s too personal? Pictures from a medical procedure. Posts about personal conversations with your significant other. Saying you don’t plan to be with your employer at your next service anniversary. Yes, I’ve seen people post all of these things.
Post political statements. There is no upside here, and there’s plenty of downside. Wharton professor Adam Grant recently shared that “when solving a problem with money on the line, people ignored the advice of experts with different political views, even though the task had nothing to do with politics.” Sharing your political views limits your audience and your influence. It’s best to keep political discussions among your family and friends.
Post anything that reflects poorly on you or your employer. This includes not sharing any confidential or proprietary information of your employer. Be sure to read all links you share, essentially looking before you link. Don’t share if there’s anything in the least bit disparaging about your employer or your industry.
Immediately spam new connections. Don’t. Do. This. Ever. Establish a relationship first over time, before you even think about pitching new business or asking for a meeting in someone’s busy schedule. Instead, take the time to understand what’s important to your new contact, and how you may be able to help.
Thanks to Tim Ferriss and Maria Popova, I no longer feel compelled to respond to every message. “Sometimes, the best ‘no’ is no reply,” Tim subtitled a section in his book, Tools of Titans. It’s about the “tactics, routines and habits of billionaires, icons, and world-class performers.”
In interviewing BrainPickings.org founder Maria Popova, Tim shared these words of wisdom: “Why put in the effort to explain why it isn’t a fit, if they haven’t done the homework to determine if it is a fit?” she asks.
“Maria could spend all day replying to bad pitches with polite declines,” Tim notes. “I think of her policy often. Did the person take 10 minute to do their homework? Are they minding the details? If not, don’t encourage more incompetence by rewarding it.”
Indeed. Hear, hear!
What would you add to this list?
by Caroline Leach | May 29, 2017 | Marketing & Analytics, Social Media
It’s almost the end of my month-long experiment of posting an update every weekday on LinkedIn.
There’s a growing spreadsheet of data ready to analyze for conclusions and implications. I’ll share them in an upcoming blog post.
In the meantime, I found an interesting data point in a book released this month.
It’s Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz.
Seth got his Ph.D. in economics from Harvard, worked as a data scientist at Google, and writes for the New York Times.
He makes the case that “we no longer need to rely on what people tell us” in things like surveys or social media or casual conversations.
He provides compelling data telling the story that big datasets of how people search for information online reveals what’s really on their minds.
Seth writes about “text as data” and how sentiment analysis can identify how happy or sad a piece of content is.
He shared the most positive 3 words in the English language: happy, love and awesome. The 3 most negative? Sad, death and depression.
And what content gets shared more often? Positive or negative stories?
If you agree that “news is about conflict” – summed up by the journalistic sentiment “if it bleeds, it leads” – you might conclude that negative content gets shared more often.
But it’s actually the reverse, according to a study by professors at the Wharton School, Jonah Berger and Katherine L. Milkman. They looked at the most shared articles for the New York Times.
And what was shared the most?
Positive stories.
As the professors said, “Content is more likely to become viral the more positive it is.”
My first reaction was happiness that my “positive comments only” philosophy for social media savvy had some data supporting it.
The second reaction was to turn to my own data from this month’s LinkedIn experiment to see if it held true.
Here I’m measuring engagement by the number of views, rather than by the number of shares.
Why?
I’m fairly new to this daily posting routine, so the first change I’ve seen over the past 4 weeks is an increase in views of my content, rather than any significant shares. And I’m finding shares more challenging to measure so far.
What were my most-viewed posts?
The first 2 posts make sense to me as highly positive content. The third made me pause. On the face of it, it seems like a negative that our brains are limited in the amount of focus they can handle.
But as I thought about it and revisited the comments on the post, I realized that many people might have found this information to be happy news. In other words, it’s okay and even desirable to NOT focus your brain all the time.
How about the least-viewed posts?
The first has to do with a fabulous new book by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant on what the research and practice say about bouncing back from adversity.
But since it began from Sandberg’s husband’s death, one of the saddest words in the English language, that puts the topic in the negative zone. (I still recommend reading the book, because it’s full of uplifting advice about grit and resilience.)
The second was a special report in The Economist about how “data are to this century what oil was to the last one: a driver of growth and change.” Because “change” is not something many people eagerly embrace, perhaps this story was seen as more negative than positive.
The third was a Harvard Business Review article about what distinguishes goals we achieve from those we don’t. My takeaway here? Maybe thinking about goals we haven’t achieved brings up negative thoughts.
Could other factors have impacted which posts were the most and least viewed? Perhaps. Day of the week would have been the most likely. However, the top and bottom views were each for the most part posted on Mondays and Tuesdays.
Another factor could have been posts during the beginning of my daily posting experiment vs. those closer to the end. This certainly could be a factor. Posts later in the month are getting more views in general. From the first week of May to the last, views of my posts have increased more than 6 times.
One conclusion could be that the consistency of posting daily is increasing engagement with my content. Of course, it’s still a small dataset at this point. In the months to come, I’ll continue tracking it and adjusting my strategy. (Opinions expressed in this blog are my own.)
How are people engaging with your LinkedIn content? What’s attracting the most interaction?
by Caroline Leach | Apr 30, 2017 | Social Media
If a LinkedIn status update every weekday is ideal, how do you come up with enough engaging content?
Here are 11 simple content ideas. They can be tailored to reflect your goals for LinkedIn and your professional interests, as well as be easy to integrate into your day.
When you share content using these ideas, you can add your point of view. And you can engage your network by asking questions about their perspectives.
Here goes . . .
Your company’s employee advocacy program. More companies are enabling and empowering employees to share company news in their own personal social media through an employee advocacy program. If your company offers this, it’s an easy way to provide valuable content and be a brand ambassador for your employer.
Your professional associations. What organizations do you belong to? Where do you look for training and development? You’ll often find the latest thinking in your field that you can share with your network. A few of my favorites in corporate communications are the International Association of Business Communicators, the Public Relations Society of America and the Forum-Group for communications leaders.
Your favorite industry and career news sources. What are your go-to sources for news about your field or the world of work? On the top of my list are Harvard Business Review and Fast Company.
Your alma mater. Colleges and universities are helping their alums be lifelong learners. Have you checked out yours lately? As an alumni ambassador for the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, I’ve shared information about event content and information such as the Relevance Report.
Your colleagues’ content. What are people in company and your network posting? Keep an eye out for articles posted to LinkedIn that align with your goals and share those. A few of my favorites are by Carlos Botero, Rachel Ybarra and Jennifer Van Buskirk.
Books you’re reading. What’s on your Kindle or your nightstand that has a business and professional focus? Share what you’re reading and what you’re learning. For me it’s Option B: Facing Adversity, Building Resilience, and Finding Joy by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant. It has two daily practices that would probably benefit everyone – note 3 things you did well and 3 moments that brought joy.
Conferences and events you’re attending. What virtual or in-person development activities are you involved in? What are you learning? Share your key takeaways in a status update. Include photos of the event and people you’re meeting.
What you’re learning. What’s your development plan to learn new skills this year? Are you taking online courses, pursuing a nanodegree or listening to podcasts and TED talks? Share status updates about what you’re learning and how you’re preparing for the future. Include your perspective on why these skills will be critical to the future of work, your industry and your employer.
Speaking engagements you’re doing. Anytime you’re speaking, whether it’s a conference or a webinar, it’s a great opportunity to post an update. Share your big idea or interesting questions people asked after your talk.
Key holidays. Look at the calendar each month and identify key events. May and June, for example, are big graduation months. You could share the best career advice you got at graduation or the most important thing you’ve learned since graduation. One of my posts that got great engagement was a leadership quote and a beautiful photo from iStockPhoto on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Keep an eye out for hashtag holidays – like #NationalMentoringMonth in January #GetToKnowYourCustomers day in July – and create posts about them.
Your blog. Do you have a blog about your profession and your industry? LinkedIn is a perfect place for a status update each time you post new content. If you’ve been blogging for a while, look through the archives to see what’s still timely. Your status update could include fresh information or a new take on the original post.
For the month of May, I’m going to conduct an experiment. I’ll further test these content ideas by posting a status update to LinkedIn on every workday of the month. That’s 22 status updates.
In future posts, I’ll share what I learn in the process about creating an editorial calendar, responding to comments, evaluating analytics, increasing engagement and more.
In the meantime, what would you add to this list of content ideas?
by Caroline Leach | Dec 29, 2016 | Social Media
It’s that time of year. It’s when we all take stock of how we did and make plans for the future.
How do you know if you won social media? Here are 5 questions to ask yourself.
- What platforms are you on and why?
Be clear on which platforms you’ll be on, why you’re there and how much time you’ll allocate to each.
Here are my reasons for being in these social networks:
LinkedIn is all about work. It’s for connecting with other professionals, learning from others and sharing knowledge. And after attending an event, I send personalized LinkedIn invitations to stay in touch with people I’ve met.
Twitter is mostly about work. It’s for news and real-time information. It’s how I share what I’m reading and thinking about. It’s endlessly entertaining during big events. Think Super Bowl, Academy Awards and favorite TV shows.
Instagram is mostly about friends and family. It’s a way to experiment with images and learn more about visual communications. This is especially important as the world becomes ever more visual.
Facebook is all about friends and family. It’s about how you connect with the special people in your life for personal Facebook accounts. Just remember that some of your work colleagues may be in on it too. Keep it professional.
Snapchat is all about fun. It’s for learning to express yourself in new ways. My daughter keeps me endlessly entertained with her story and her snaps. It’s a way of lightening up about the world and having fun.
Blogging is about learning and discovery. It’s about writing until the “a-ha” moment, says career blogger Penelope Trunk. She’s right.
On that road to discovery and some professional twists and turns, my blog has evolved from corporate communications to lifelong learning to social media.
- How did you perform against your goals?
You did set goals, didn’t you? If not, this is a great time to think about your goals for the coming year.
One data point to help with the process is the analytics on each of your social media platforms to see which posts created the most engagement.
My goals were to blog twice a week, continue building a presence on Twitter and LinkedIn, and develop visual skills in Instagram.
How did I do?
With blogging, I posted more frequently this year than last year, although the average was just under 1.5 per week. That’s progress, though, and there’s more to be made in the new year.
With Twitter, I’m still attracting followers, but not as quickly as I’d like. I learned some things noted below that I’ll apply in the new year.
In Instagram, I posted more photos this year than last year. And more people commented this year. So that’s one way to show improvement in my photography and editing skills. And I’m ever thankful to a former colleague Joe Szopa for giving me a photography tutorial.
From blogging, I learned that the area I most want to explore is social media.
From Twitter, I learned that tweeting during company and professional events with the right hashtags and @mentions increases engagement and followers.
(Here’s where I remind readers that opinions expressed in this blog and other social media are my own.)
From Facebook, I learned that the personal and nostalgic wins the day.
From Instagram, I learned to use as many relevant hashtags as possible. Each post can have up to 30, so I keep lists on hand by topic that I can easily cut and paste. I also learned how to regram posts.
From Snapchat, I learned that I have a lot more experimenting to do!
Here I’m inspired by Wharton’s Adam Grant and his philosophy of helping others.
Social media is a great place to share good content. In the process, you can help others get their content to reach a broader audience.
As an example, a colleague Carlos Botero has been posting great insight about people and HR in LinkedIn.
- What would you do differently in the year ahead?
Here’s my short list:
- Keep up with changes, since social media is constantly changing, writes Guy Kawasaki in The Art of Social Media.
- Create a more efficient social media calendar for professional and personal posts.
- Blog more frequently about social savvy for professionals and better share it.
It’s also important to think about what will change in social media for professionals in 2017 and how to factor that into social media goals. These will be the topics of upcoming posts.
How did you win social media this year?
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