A presentation I gave today (30/6/10) at the Futurising Conference in London on using social media for 'self promotion' or more specifically how you can use social tools to further your career. Note, most of the images click through to web pages.

1. Promoting yourself via social media
Dirk Singer, Twitter - dirktherabbit

2. Promoting yourself online? Here is one way of doing it

3. The results?
• $6 in Google Ad Words for five
creative directors, resulted in:
• Four job interviews
• Two job offers
• 700k+ YouTube views
• Countless blog and online
coverage

4. My Google search profile
I’ve got an extensive digital
footprint, as you’d expect - I’m
also easily found due to an unusual
name. But I could do better, over
half the links on here point to
things from my previous job 6+
months ago
However, I’ve won at least one
piece of business when someone
Googled me (and a colleague from
Rabbit) to make sure we really
were active in social media

5. Where to find me
• Twitter - twitter.com/dirktherabbit
• Blog - liesdamnedliesstatistics.com
• LinkedIn
• Netvibes - netvibes.com/dirkthecow
• Slideshare - dirkthecow
• Flavors.me/dirktherabbit
• (Also Foursquare, Gowalla)
• I am on Facebook...but have enabled all the privacy settings, and encourage
anyone using social media professionally to do the same!

6. From Rabbit - we generally hire via social media
Two people we hired via social media - @louisedoherty (account director and founder Rabbit),
@zoewithdots (consultant, starts tomorrow and found when we were looking for a graduate -
our starting point was to go through our existing Twitter lists). We took people we already
knew online - and will probably continue to go so going forward

7. And we’re not alone...
Challenger, Gray and Christmas did a
survey on the most effective way of
getting a job among HR managers.
Bottom came the old school methods
of classified ads - classifieds having
once been the lifeblood of regional
papers - and turning up at a job fair.

8. And we’re not alone...
• A US survey from careerbuilder.com:
• 45% of employers will research a candidate via social media: 29% use Facebook, 26% use
LinkedIn and 21% use MySpace, the survey found. One-in-ten (11% ) search blogs, while 7%
follow candidates on Twitter
• 53% of survey respondents rejected candidates because they posted provocative or
inappropriate photographs or information.
• 44% passed on a candidate because they saw content related to the person drinking or
using drugs.
• 35% rejected candidates because they bad-mouthed their previous employer, co-workers
or clients.
• 24% rejected a candidate because that person lied about his/her qualifications.
• 20% did not hire a candidate because social media revealed that person had shared
confidential information from a previous employer

9. Why is a good online footprint important?
• It gives an idea of your personality - much more than a CV (or printed
document through the post) ever will
• It shows how you communicate and your interests
• It’s convenient - click through links to find out more
• If a job seeker - it shows you are proactive
• It protects your search engine reputation (which is your reputation)

10. (When looking at an online profile or website): “Customers make a decision within
50 milliseconds about whether or not they trust the firm, and want to do business
with them...or not.”
(Brandflakesforbreakfast)
But it’s important to get what
you say absolutely right

11. A look at different tools to
use

12. Social aggregators and individual
networks

13. Flavors.me Chi.mp Netvibes
Examples of aggregators

14. Using Flavors.me

15. Using extendr

16. Using individual social tools

17. Blogger and
Posterous - Light,
Tumblr - Online wordpress -
easy to use
scrapbook blogging tools
blogging platform
Blogging tools - good for expressing ideas, showcasing
expertise...but update at least once a week

18. Unlike Facebook,
Disproportionately acceptable and Use of lists - a very
used by so-called normal to connect powerful
‘influencers’ with strangers networking tool
Using Twitter

19. Starting a Twitter profile
• Create a biog and profile that tells people a bit about yourself with link
• Select 50 people you’d like to follow - mix of industry influencers (use lists)
and people you know
• Grow your follower / following list organically - don’t (e.g.) follow 500, and
only have 50 following you back
• Listen but say something too - people won’t follow back a blank page
• Start by responding to what people are saying (means they will see you),
then move onto to posting links / interesting news

20. LinkedIn
• Bottom line - make sure you have a profile. It can serve as a substitute CV
(send out the link)
• Fill in all the career information, find people from previous jobs / companies
• If a small business, claim it on LinkedIn
• Don’t be shy to ask for recommendations - what people say can be used in
future job applications
• Link to blogs, presentations etc on LinkedIn
• Join the special interest groups

21. In a word - don’t.
By all means, like
Facebook fan pages, or
create your own. But
when it comes to yourself,
think about ticking all the
privacy settings
Go to http://
www.reclaimprivacy.org/
to check your Facebook
settings
And what about
Facebook?

22. Contact me - email dirk at therabbitagency.com
Thank you for your time!