Social media has become an integral part of the personnel sourcing and job hunting process. Today, more and more companies rely on the Internet to research the candidates (including outside consultants) they plan to hire. This makes it important to take a strategic approach when it comes to building your online reputation. Effectively leveraged, social media can help you create a strong personal brand and widen your reach across a wide array of job markets, industries, and organizations.

While there are many social media platforms that can help you build your network, there are two that all professionals should definitely consider and keep up to date – Google+ and LinkedIn. While the latter has now become synonymous with job search / hiring, the former can help you establish a strong online presence that you can leverage to enhance your reach. These two platforms alone can help you build a relevant network, and create and exchange information and ideas to give shape to your personal brand as a professional.

Linking Via LinkedIn

LinkedIn has become the most popular professional network in most parts of the world. Clearly, it has several advantages over traditional job portals thanks to its social media strengths and the fact that it is primarily driven by quality content.

LinkedIn allows its members to connect with each other. You can connect with like-minded individuals from the same profession and explore available job opportunities through this network.
It is a handy research tool. Most companies worth their name are present on LinkedIn with specialized digital marketing teams continuously generating content or strategizing to make their presence felt online. You can utilize this content along with inputs from your network to research a potential employer and their business before an interview.
You can identify the people that matter. Within minutes, LinkedIn can offer you insights into who the key persons in your area of interest are at a company you want to work with—as an employee, as a vendor, as a business partner, and so on. You can connect and engage with them to explore the possibility of a potential opportunity in their company.
You can build credibility. Your profile provides details about the people in your professional network, the companies you have worked with, and the capabilities you bring to the table, among other factors. Features like endorsements and recommendations add even greater credibility to your profile.

How To Make The Most Of LinkedIn?

Develop your LinkedIn profile like you would your resume. Highlight your strengths and capabilities early in your profile page.
Create interesting content and share it with your network. This will help establish you as a subject matter expert. The more original content you post the greater the benefits, including search engine rankings.
Build your network. Identify people within your industries of interest and connect with them. Join relevant groups and make your presence felt within these micro-networks.
Post regularly on various forums and comment on topics that can demonstrate your expertise and show that you have a unique perspective on matters of interest to your network.
Use the right keywords while building your profile and even while posting in forums. This will help both, your search engine rankings and your association with certain specific skills and capabilities.
Let’s connect Luke Middendorf – LinkedIn

Enhancing Your Online Presence With Google+

Where do we all go when we want to search for information?

Google. Where else? No other search engine today comes even close. A strong presence on Google+, is therefore, a definite advantage. However, as Google says, Google+ is now more than a social media platform. It has integrated various other offerings from the Google stable such as YouTube, Google+ Communities, Hangouts, Google Local and Reviews, Google Analytics, Google+ Ripples, and Google Mobile to provide a single window platform that can have a significant impact on your SEO.

How can you take advantage of Google+?

Build a profile page on Google+ to let Google know of your existence. While there is no stated preference, there is enough evidence to show that Google does favour content hosted on its products when throwing up search results.
Create backlinks to your blog, website, and LinkedIn pages using Google+. Also ensure that these links can be shared by those who visit your profile.
Upload content and make it shareable on Google+. The more shares you can manage the better it is in terms of SEO for your profile.
Build the right connections. The Circle function offered by Google+ helps segregate your contacts. This is a valuable tool you can use to employ targeted messaging and relevant communications.
Let’s connect Luke Middendorf on Google+, WSI Connect 0n Google+

Contact WSI Connect to help you plan and leverage social media for businesses. WSI Connect is a digital marketing agency located in Concord, CA. We service the San Francisco Bay area and help our clients grow their profits through strategies such as search engine optimization, online advertising, website optimization and social media.

A Beginners Guide to LinkedIn

LinkedIn has become one of the more popular social networks out there today. Sure, Facebook and Twitter – and even Google+ – have gotten quite a bit of notoriety when it comes to public press and media attention, but LinkedIn has developed into the top social networks for business professionals. It provides powerful insight into your network as well as those that you connect with.

Here are just a few things you can think about when it comes to getting the most out of your LinkedIn profile in a simple but effective way:

Post A Picture

Sounds simple, right? You wouldn’t believe how many people miss this point. We are visual creatures, and your picture goes a long way to help establish credibility and trust.

Fill It Out!

The worst thing about poor LinkedIn profiles is that they aren’t fully filled out. Use yours to fill everything out, and display your professional history proudly, from college education to job experience, to extracurricular activities and various interests.

Connect In Your Industry

It’s important that you connect with people who are in your industry when you get online. After all, doing so can help you make connections and network with people when it comes to getting the most out of interacting with those around you. In turn, you can not only make sales but improve your business by pushing through the right type of connections.

Have Contact Information Readily Available

It’s important that your contact information is out there and available, so there is no question about who you are and how people can contact you. That way, you can be sure that you are getting the most out of your profile and allowing other people easy access to contact you if they ever have any questions or concerns, or anything ever comes up about various topics that you may be of assistance.

Give More Than You Get

Finally, the key to solid social networking online or in person is to give more than you get. Go out of your way to help people, and in time you will find that people not only want to be around you more, but they want to help you in return and assist you with what you want and need. Doing so will provide for you the perfect opportunity to build your brand and reputation on LinkedIn – and more importantly, build yourself up as somebody who can be trusted and depended on for others around you.

Overall LinkedIn is a phenomenal way to do business, improve your networking and outlook in your industry – especially when done correctly. Need a little more help with your profile, feel free to reach out via LinkedIn.