 Once you get down the basics of tweeting, the various major aspects of Facebook and interacting on LinkedIn, what's the next step? How do you grow your personal brand and that of your company? PC World published five tips for your social media strategy in 2012 -- common-sense ideas that will help get you going this year. Most of these strategies and their tactics cost little or no money, just time and a little bit of advanced planning.
The first point couldn't be emphasized more: "Claim your name everywhere." Don't let a random person or a company with a similar name to take the best name for your brand on a social media platform. ACEC Virginia, moving on to Twitter, claimed @ACECVirginia. It's the easiest handle to use and the first assumption many would make when looking for us on Twitter. On Facebook, we used the dedicated URL "facbook.com/acecva."
Make it as easy as possible for your clients, potential clients and colleagues to find you online, and it'll give you that extra boost for which you're looking. Also, don't forget Google+ and LinkedIn -- they're just as important, for businesses, if not only for the reason that other businesses are flocking to these sites and taking advantage of what they have to offer.
PC World's Angela West adds, "Make sure you are taking advantage of any directories available on the websites of any professional associations you belong to, as these valuable links back to your website help build your credibility both with potential customers and the search engines."
She concludes, "Even if you can’t commit the resources to updating a Google+ or LinkedIn page, at least get them started so that you have the link and more relevant results for your company show up when a potential client is searching for you."
Claim your name everywhere [PC World]
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It's no secret that America is in desperate need of more engineers. Lacking a home-grown talent pool large enough, firms jockey annually for H-1B visas to bring in qualified associates from overseas. The question stands, how do we properly increase the amount of engineering graduates from U.S. colleges and universities? Intel, with the nonprofit Change the Equation, released a study on Dec. 6 that suggests the main problem is talented teens are unaware of the benefits of pursuing an engineering career.
"The results of this survey show the importance of providing teens with opportunities to gain knowledge about engineering," Intel chief information officer Diane Bryant said. Bryant previously served as Intel's director of engineering. "We need to offer teens real-world, hands-on engineering experience and interaction with engineers, like that found in robotics programs and science competitions, to improve the likelihood that they'll get hooked on the subject and pursue it in college."
Engineering has a reputation among college students for being notoriously difficult. While promises of high salaries and regular employment encourage people to become engineering majors, it's not enough to keep them motivated, and many students end up switching majors to a less taxing discipline. In fact, the study found 41 percent of teens chose "difficult" as the one word they most associate with engineering.
However, the potential for success is on display in any middle school shop class. Students with a wide variety of talents become engaged and excited about building model bridges with toothpicks, or constructing carbon dioxide-powered balsa wood race cars. When teens who considered engineering as a career were asked, "Which of the following interests you about a career in engineering," 74 percent chose "I think it would be interesting," beating out salary, job security, social impact and other factors.
To put these numbers into action, researchers suggested a number of methods.
- Focus on helping teens understand what being an engineer is all about. Improving understanding of what engineers actually do can increase consideration, so talk about how rewarding it is to be an engineer.
- Don't dumb down what engineers do. Try to reframe the difficulty of engineering as a positive challenge, a badge of honor to be worn proudly when successful.
- Make engineering feel less remote and more personal. Give a face to engineers to help inspire and create a sense that "if they can do it, I can do it."
- Up-weight the emotional appeal of engineering. The societal benefits of what engineers do, like preventing disasters or generating cleaner electricity, are particularly resonant with teens that have never considered engineering before.
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