In this era of easy online access to information about any individual or service, it is essential for those working in the computing trade to professionally present and promote themselves on the World Wide Web. Dr. Thomas Lancaster from Birmingham City University teaches his own computing students how to increase their employability prospects by building themselves into their own professional online brand. He also runs workshops on social media marketing and branding aimed at academics. This case study led presentation is intended to demonstrate the necessity for professionals and academics within the computing field to engage with online branding. More importantly, it is designed to show people how they can make themselves both findable online and branded using their own web sites and social media properties such as Facebook and LinkedIn. The presentation will be useful both for those computing professionals looking to construct their own web presence and those wanting to build up online professional brands for co-workers and clients. This presentation was delivered to the Cheltenham and Gloucester branch of the British Computer Society on 15 January 2013.

1. Social Media Branding For Computing
Professionals
Dr. Thomas Lancaster
Birmingham City University
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk

2. What Turns A Successful Academic To
The Dark Side?
http://www.wharfebankbrewery.co.uk/people/6/tony-jenkins/
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3. http://www.fleece-otley.co.uk/
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4. “Google It…”
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5. These Are All Brands… (Sorry, Tony)
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6. Actually, If You Want To Be Amused…
http://www.tony-jenkins.co.uk/project-commons/participants.html
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7. www.tony-jenkins.co.uk
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8. People Are Brands Too…
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9. My Brand?
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10. My Background?
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11. But, Branding Is Useful For…
• Academics – own career management
• Academics – leading by example
• Academics – teaching for students
• IT Professionals – own career management
• Freelancers – bring customers to own business
• Freelancers – build an online showcase
• Marketers – provide branding services for other IT
professionals
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12. “I don't think I am an actress. I think I've
created a brand and a business.”
Pamela Anderson (Actress?)
“A brand is what people say about you
when you’re not in the room.”
Jeff Bezos (CEO Of Amazon)
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13. Protecting Your Brand…
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14. Social Media Exists With Or Without
You…
The Conversation
Prism (v3.0)
http://www.theconversationprism.com
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15. Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

16. Your Social Media Presence Is Part Of
Your Brand…
• Traditionally, employers of our students would be looking
for:
– Their CV and Application Form content
– Their degree results
– Their performance during the Job Selection process
• But how do students stand out?
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17. A Degree Is A Degree…
I call this the “So What?” factor
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18. Addressing The “So What” Factor…
• Some common methods with Computing include:
– Work Experience
– Industrial Sandwich Year Placement
– Taking Part In Student Competitions
– Portfolio Of Work
– Freelance Experience
– Interest In Computing Outside The Classroom
– Participation Towards Open Source Projects
– Evidence Of Entrepreneurship
– Project Tailored Towards Employment
http://www.go2web20.net
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19. But The Most Important Method…
A visible online brand…
http://www.cvickers.co.uk/
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20. Branding Gets Results…
“I've been recently offered a full-time place at a
startup over in San Francisco, they've recently
closed a big round of funding and are looking to
build a great team. They approached me and
asked if I could join them, fulfilling a design role.
This isn't the only startup this has happened with.
I've had a total of 5 offers over the last year.”
Birmingham City University
BSc (Hons) Computer Science student
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21. The End Of CVs?
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22. Jobs Through Social Media
• 1 in 6 American job seekers found their most recent job
through social media
– 40% attributed this to LinkedIn
– 78% to Facebook
– 42% to Twitter
“I wasn't scouted. I involved myself in a
brand's Facebook page and a company
which works with that brand took an
interest in me and offered me a job.”
Zachary Chastain
http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/16/social-recruiting
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23. The Future Of Recruitment Is Through
Social Media?
http://www.rolepoint.com/
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24. Employers Know This…
http://mashable.com/2011/10/23/how-recruiters-use-
social-networks-to-screen-candidates-infographic
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25. What Does Google Think?
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26. Better Search Terms…
• “thomas lancaster” bcu
• “thomas lancaster” “birmingham city university”
• “thomas lancaster” birmingham
• “contract cheating”
• And, direct searches on:
• Facebook
• YouTube
• etc
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27. They Are Not All Me…
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28. Search Engine Control Is Vital…
• What does Google say when you search for yourself?
• Can you be found?
• Can your Facebook profile be found?
(for people “of a certain age” not having a Facebook profile
is often suspect)
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29. Taking Control…
• Computing professionals need
– A professional web site that they control
– A professional email address
– A professional social media presence
– High quality content
– It all comes down to personal marketing and branding
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30. First Step – Preparation
• Identify a name to go by (for branding purposes)
• Prepare consistent material:
– Curriculum Vitae
– Profile text (aka Advert)
– Photos
– Portfolio content (videos, pictures, examples)
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31. Second Step – A Domain
• Ideally:
• FirstnameLastname.co.uk
– or
• FirstnameLastname.com
• Second Resort – Initials, Suffix or Prefix:
• FirstInitialLastname.co.uk
• FirstnameLastnameComputing.com
• etc
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32. Third Step – An Email Address
• Ideally, based around the domain name:
• john@jsmithcomputers.com
• Failing that, a Gmail address (or similar)
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33. Fourth Step – Defining Accounts
• Google Account (Mail, YouTube, Google+)
• Facebook Account (clean this up)
• LinkedIn Account
• Twitter Account
• “Career Specific” Accounts
• Github (and other “social coding” sites)
• Online forums
• “Internal” Accounts?
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34. Account Notes
• All accounts should have a public view with information
and a photo
– Facebook account should be cleaned
• Account details should be filled out completely and
sensibly
• Accounts should have some content to position the
student as interested in their preferred field
• “Friends” and “Contacts” should be added
• Groups and discussions should be joined
• “Vanity urls” should be registered
• Accounts should be linked together
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35. Fifth Step – Professional Website
• Simple website to direct employers to (include on
CV)
• Recommend production of this using the WordPress
blogging platform
• Contains:
– Portfolio
– CV
– “Best” Content
• Again, crosslink to other Social Media presences(for
searchability purposes)
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36. ThomasLancaster.co.uk
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37. ThomasLancaster.co.uk/blog
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38. Simple WordPress Control Panel
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39. Social Media
http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster
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40. Post To The Sites (Not Onerous)
• Some ideas focused around students:
– Short blog posts and tweets
– Commentary on the technology news
– Observations
– Discussions
– Articles
– Examples of the work that they’re doing
– Videos
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41. One Post Covers Multiple Sites…
• A new video =
– Show it as a blog post
– Tweet about it
– Comment on Facebook
– Comment on LinkedIn
• This can all be automated
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42. Contribute Elsewhere
• Join professional forums and add to the discussions
– Can syndicate to blog
• Actively look for opportunities…
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43. Guest Blog Posts…
http://blogs.heacademy.ac.uk/stem/author/thomaslancaster/
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44. Relevant Web Sites…
http://www.contractcheating.com
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45. The Gaming Dimension
@TheRyanGoodman
http://www.thegamingdimension.com
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46. Or Be More Novel?
http://shouldidomywork.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/0
4/data-recovery-deleted-coursework
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47. For Computing Professionals
http://www.tubblog.co.uk/
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48. For Computing Academics
http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lViA0GAAAAAJ&hl=en
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49. And, Even Slides Can Have Value…
http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster
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50. But Also…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzneHOZTuX4
http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog/plagiarism-indicators-for-academics/
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51. Other Resources
Enhancing The Employability Of Computing Students
Through An Online Professional Presence Workshop
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/tee/events/previous-events/employability-workshop
Teaching Materials For Students
http://www.bcu.ac.uk/tee/events/previous-events/employability-workshop
Upcoming HEA Workshop “Professional Presences For
Academics” (May 9 2013)
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2013/9-May-Birmingham-STEM
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52. Any Questions?
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