No matter where you fall on the career spectrum, there is no ignoring social media and its impact on everything from building your brand and leveraging your visibility to garnering interest from recruiters and hiring authorities. Forbes magazine featured in its September “Entrepreneurs” column an article by Jayson DeMers that calls out what we should be anticipating in 2014 (his full article/contact info below). Buckle your seat belts, things are changing rapidly!
Recapped in the Nov. 4 issue of the Career Thought Leaders E-Bridge newsletter, www.careerthoughtleaders.com, here are DeMers picks for what to expect on the social media horizon next year:
1) Social Media: A Necessity (not a luxury)
The needle will move from “should have” to “must have” in 2014. Just as businesses have come to terms with the need to integrate social media efforts with content strategy and branding, so, too, have career strategists and savvy job seekers.
2) Google: A Major Factor
Facebook is #1 with respect to number of active monthly users (1.15B and growing), but Google+ has gained momentum, moving into 2nd place for highest number of monthly users (343M). It is expected that businesses will increasingly turn to Google+ as the closest contender for being a ‘one size fits all’ social network. With skyrocketing growth projected for Google+ (both business and personal use), DeMers recommends checking out Google+’s “How to Breathe Life Into Your Google+ Profile” (you can Google it :).
3) Pictures, Anyone?
Image-centric networks will see huge growth — with ever-growing importance of such sites as Pinterest, Slideshare, Tumblr, Path, and Mobli. These are opportunities to share image and video rather than text-based content. Businesses are paying attention to these portals; job seekers shouldn’t ignore them.
4) Micro-Video
Shorter attention spans and even 140-character tweets/3-minute videos becoming too tedious have led to micro-videos. To the forefront have come Twitter’s Vine and Instagram’s video-sharing feature — new ways to share instantly via Smartphones.
5) Decline of Foursquare
As other more popular social media networks include location-based features, it’s anticipated Foursquare will diminish in usage.
6) MySpace: Reinvigorated!
Many thought this site was dead — but DeMers describes a radical makeover and re-branding leading to a second wind that includes an iPhone app and reemerging popularity, especially among bands and music-lovers. Stay tuned…
7) LinkedIn: Incredibly Important
Of no surprise, LinkedIn will be “a major player for B2B business growth,” according to DeMers. The #1 social networking site for 238M professionals (including job seekers), LI continues to innovate with its influencers program and one of the largest sources of content creation/curation for professionals. The advantages of being connected via LI will continue to grow among B2B marketers, DeMers predicts. Read his full article at: http://onforb.es/1iFEeYR.
From my vantage point as a career coach and resume writer, more and more hiring managers and recruiters are sourcing candidates via LI, *then* reaching out with a contact that includes a request for the resume. Smart job seekers *must* have a strong, optimized, branded LI presence coupled with the ability to provide a cohesive, complementary, differentiating resume.
My take is that no job seeker can be without an integrated, branded strategy reflected in all career collaterals — and the critical three continue to be an accomplishment-rich resume, a targeted marketing cover letter precision-tailored to the opportunity of focus, and a well-branded, keyword-rich, SEO optimized LinkedIn profile. Where do you think 2014 will take us — and how can social media help propel interest in your candidacy?
– Jan Melnik, M.A., MRW, CCM, CPRW - President, Absolute Advantage