The Evolving Rules of Social Media

How often should you update your social media profiles?  I just did a walk through our offices and reminded all the employees that they need to go to LinkedIn and update their profiles.  Several looked at me blankly, one even said to me, “Am I supposed to have a profile?” I nodded patiently and said in my normal, playfully acerbic tone, “Yes, you need to have a LinkedIn profile.” She looked at the others around the room as if I had chopped her head off.

It is easy for me to forget that not everyone has had a profile for five years.  Not everyone thinks regular updates and profile maintenance are necessary.  I do and my co-workers know that I do.  In a busy, growing company, LinkedIn and other professional networks have served as a great help in my efforts to recruit for or promote my company and understand everyone’s position and how I can help them, how they can help me.

LinkedIn is the ultimate professional networking tool, even with its constant updates and changes.  I also have a profile on Plaxo – which I like to describe as a cross-breed of Facebook and LinkedIn with some pretty cool tools built in – like their birthday calendar.  I love sending eCards to professional connections; it is a great way to let someone know you are thinking of them and another way to maintain inactive or passive relationships.  You never know when an inactive relationship will blossom into a full-blown active one.

And there are other online networking profiles floating around out there.  My personal social media philosophy has always been:  There are an awful lot of details available about you on the internet- take control of your online persona and have what YOU control be the dominating sources, the highest ranked listings in a Google search about you. I cannot stress enough the importance of knowing what is out there about you.  Go to pipl.com, type your name into the search bar and see what comes up about you.  The listings of personal information are all available on line.  Next go to Google and type in your name in the search bar, but search in “images.”  Other surprises await you.  Information you put out about yourself online is all cached somewhere and is retrievable.

Be careful and be in control.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have always been a huge proponent of having an open Facebook.  I use it for business and professional networking, so I want people to be able to find me and feel free to contact me.  But I also like feeling secure and until recently, I have always felt secure online.  That was no longer true after a few harassing emails and messages through Facebook and other networks.  I changed my privacy settings on Facebook and now avidly block followers on Twitter.  I have also closed my Facebook chat function.   Why? Because I want to continue to use social media in my work and just like any other tool, there are evolving rules regarding its use.

I choose to evolve with the rules.

by rayannethorn

Time Management: Be eActionary!

The best way to make you and your company stand out in a crowd is to exhibit time management skills that showcase your ability to handle crucial assignments and/or a large workload.

Be eActionary

One of the biggest drains of time is, interestingly enough, also one of the quickest ways to communicate in business today: electronic mail. Email first emerged in the late 1970s and was a part of everyday life by the 1990s. Its invention has allowed for the almost virtual elimination of other time-consuming, written ways that businesses communicate: “mail services, memos, and faxes, oh my!” This much quicker exchange of ideas, contracts, and proposals has also created a new type of traffic jam.

Set aside time early in your work day to read all new mail in your inbox, process the information received, and then act on it immediately. This eActionary approach will speed up the communication highway and move a current or pending clog along. With the vigorous onslaught of all things computer, a new approach to business, the green way, has been developing: going paperless, fewer keystrokes, and touching information only once.

Spend less time processing and exporting emailed information. Relay the information to the proper channels, act where necessary, and then, move on! It is easy and addicting to simply sit and scroll endlessly through an inbox, waiting for the next important email to drop in. Take control of your inbox and the time you devote to it.

Now granted, some emails will require more than one touch. When this is the case, create an eFolder or eList and move the item or task to be acted upon at a later time and then, schedule that time. Take advantage of the calendaring functionality of your email server and set reminders to complete tasks. Additionally, print as little as possible, the less paper to sift through, the better.

Consider a business twist to the old relationship adage of never go to bed angry, “Don’t leave the office until all email is read.” Habits take about two solid weeks to instill. Make being eActionary a habit: act quickly and move on. Establishing a daily routine is a giant step toward managing the time of which we never seem to have enough.

by rayannethorn

from Bonus Track by RT on recruitingblogs.com