Why LinkedIn Matters

Have you ever Googled yourself? What’s the first thing that comes up? For most of us, it’s our social media accounts, specifically our LinkedIn profiles that first appear. Now pretend a prospective employee or your new project manager is Googling you. Would you be comfortable with them seeing your LinkedIn profile in its current condition?

A couple of weeks ago, I listened to a webinar by William Arruda about the power of LinkedIn and how companies could use it to recruit talent. I never paid much attention to my LinkedIn profile except for when I first graduated, but after this webinar, you better believe I updated my profile.

My results when I Googled myself

If you haven’t been on LinkedIn lately, the site has several new features, including the ability to customize your background and add documents to different roles you’ve listed. It’s not just your online resume anymore; it’s your personal website where you can create an online brand for yourself. Maybe you want to highlight a volunteer position that showcases other skills. You can do that and provide real examples for others. You can show the value you bring to your current organization and share pieces of thought leadership as well.

What Arruda said that I haven’t realized yet was that LinkedIn can be a competitive advantage for companies. Think about it: If your employees have strong profiles, where they share content about or related to your company or industry, they become brand ambassadors. In turn, these employees increase the visibility of your company and can engage others potential employees. It’s like a free mini recruiting system!

This is a mindset shift for most people. We are all used to our resumes in a tidy Word document that we can easily email to people. What we forget about is our online profiles like LinkedIn, which could reach more people daily. Companies also need to have an online presence and keep social media as a top priority. By strategically engaging their employees and sharing content on LinkedIn, companies can retain current staff and recruit even stronger talent.

When was the last time you updated your LinkedIn profile? Does your company have a strong online presence? How do they consistently engage employees? Share your thoughts below!

Doritos #BoldStage: A Dream Come True

From March 8-17, the South by Southwest Festival is taking place in Austin, Texas. The conference covers a multitude of topics ranging from emerging technology to original films. Attendees are sure to have a wide variety of interests but I’d assume most would utilize social media to share their experiences. Apparently, Doritos thought so too.

In honor of this year’s festival, Doritos created the #BoldStage that allows attendees to control different aspects of the show. The 6’2 venting machine-styled stage displays people’s tweets when they use the #BoldStage. What’s even more awesome is that by using the same hashtag, attendees can choose an opening act, their playlist and the special effects to be featured during the performance. The Mass Relevance Platform built into the stages reports how many tweets occur per minute based on the hashtag and other keywords. People’s pictures from Twitter or Instagram can be sent to the jumbo stage by using #BoldStage too. As an avid concert goer and social media user, this is a dream come true!

Doritos #BoldStage combines all positive aspects of social media. The tweets are shown in real-time and could potentially be responded to. Doritos and SXSW could gain up-to-date feedback about the performers and the show, among other things. Since people’s tweets are shown on the mega-stage, others can see the handles of attendees who might have similar tastes in music. Online connections could then be made. Most importantly, it benefits the customer (aka people attending the Festival). It engages people, excites them and has them energized about the show and the Festival. It is an original idea that embodies the purpose of social media: to engage users.

Another genius part of this idea is that Doritos is launching its new global campaign “For the Bold” on the stage. Not only do the stage name and campaign name match (yay branding!) but people will more than likely remember the ad because it was featured on an awesome, interactive stage.

Check out the infographic below to fully understand Doritos #BoldStage powered by tweets!

Image courtesy of Mashable.com