Why do you need to keep an eye on the social networks? You could be losing 30 customers a day!

STATS: Each Negative Social Media Comment Costs 30 Customers.

Research by Convergys Corp. has shown that a negative customer review on YouTube, Twitter or Facebook can cost a company about 30 customers.

Here’s the math:
Each remark/comment would be viewed by an average of 45 people and about two-third of them would avoid the brand that was being criticized (45 x 2/3 = 30 customers).

Source: Bloomberg

We saw how social media has transformed the way we communicate and consume information. Marketing is no longer in a company’s full control. It is now largely dependent on what people say about it; especially with the rise of social media.

You can lose but you can also gain!

30 customers are lost when a company gets a negative comment on social sites. But would a company gain 30 customers if it earns a positive comment instead?

I would probably think so. It just highlights the importance of tracking the social media buzz surrounding your brand.

So what can you do to make sure you are on top of what people are saying about your company on the social media sites. Well aside from searching on each individual social network, a good place to start is by setting up a free and simple tool known as Google Alerts.

Check my previous two article on Google Alerts to learn how it works and also how to easily set up your company with an account.

***Don’t do it yet though, finish this article first then come to the links for the other articles ***

How it works

http://marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/who%E2%80%99s-talking-about-you-your-recruitment-agency-online-find-out-for-free-reputation-management-using-google-alerts/

How to set it up

http://marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com/2009/09/29/how-to-%E2%80%93-use-google-alerts-for-online-reputation-management/

Once you’ve got yourself set up on with the google alerts monitoring you’ll start receiving emails about mentions of you and your company online. Start with Google Alerts and then consider searching Twitter and Facebook to keep up to date with online mentions of your brand. Look out for future articles from me teaching you how to automate this next phase of online reputation management.

Cheers,

Kohlben Vodden

Marketing4recruiters

Email: Marketing4recruiters@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marketing4recs

LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2317988&trk=hb_side_g

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/CH2bz

Could Google Be Your Next Phone Provider?

Google is set to become your new phone company, perhaps reducing your phone bill to zilch in the process.

Google has bought Gizmo5, an online phone company that is akin to Skype but based on open protocols and with a lot fewer users. TechCrunch, which broke the news on Monday, reported that Google spent $30 million on the company.

It’s a potent recipe — take Gizmo5’s open standards-based online calling system. Add to it the new ability to route calls on Google’s massive network of cheap fiber. Toss in Google Voice’s free phone number, which will ring your mobile phone, your home phone and your Gizmo5 client on your laptop. ÿþ
Meanwhile you can use Gizmo5 to make ultra cheap outgoing calls to domestic and international phone numbers, and free calls to Skype, Google Talk, Yahoo and AIM users. You could make and receive calls that bypass the per-minute billing on your smartphone.

Then layer on deluxe phone services like free SMS, voicemail transcription, customized call routing, free conference calls and voicemails sent as recordings to your e-mail account, and you have a phone service that competes with Skype, landlines and the Internet telephone offerings from Vonage and cable companies.

That’s not just pie in-the-sky dreaming.

Though still in invite-only mode, Google Voice has about 580,000 active users and nearly 1.5 million registered users, according to a Google filing with the FCC.

All I’m saying is watch this space. Google will end up being a dominant player in the telephone communications area.

Cheers,

Kohlben Vodden

Marketing4recruiters

Email: Marketing4recruiters@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marketing4recs

LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2317988&trk=hb_side_g

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/CH2bz

Hilarious cartoon video about LinkedIn!

Very funny short cartoon film about LinkedIn and how useful it really is.

USE THIS LINK

http://current.com/items/91503521_linked-in-to-what.htm

Cheers,

Kohlben Vodden

Marketing4recruiters

Email: Marketing4recruiters@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marketing4recs

LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2317988&trk=hb_side_g

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/CH2bz

7 Things Businesses Should Avoid On Facebook

If you are marketing your recruitment services on Facebook or considering doing so, read on for some important points that you should avoid if you want to be taken seriously.

1. Incomplete Profile/Fan Page.

An incomplete profile or fan page does not give enough insight of who you are and what you do. It makes you and/or your business appear insincere about your activities on Facebook.

2. Focusing on the Numbers of Fans.

We all want a lot of fans but we need to be able to engage and build a relationship with them. So rather than focus on the number of fans you have, focus on the quality. You only want fans that are part of your target audience. There is no point having uninterested fans they will take up your time and worse still may start making negative comments about your activities on Facebook. Lots of people accept page recommendations before even checking what the page is. Then when they start getting updates they realise the content isn’t relevant and either leave the page or start making negative comments about the business behind it.

3. Using Personal Profile for Commercial Gain.

Facebook has updated the Terms as recent as August 2009 and this is a violation of their Terms. Fan pages are for marketing, not personal pages.

4. Advertising/Selling via Wall Post.

Profile pages are cluttered up enough with Mafia Wars and FarmVille – trying to sell by interrupting someone on their wall with a post screams spammer!

5. Improper Event Invitations.

This is becoming more and more frustrating as events that people want to see are being overshadowed by poorly targeted event invites. No-one says it better than Peter Shankman.

6. Bulk Messages.

Not every fan or “friend” fits into the same category of your message. Take a minute to know your fans/friends and target the right ones with the right message. Just because they are single does not mean they want a dating service. Nor does it mean that if they happen to work in the sector you recruit within, that they want to hear about the latest jobs. Trust me on this one!

7. Being Non-Responsive.

Same rule applies as it does to blog comments. Be the most frequent voice on your fan page. The best conversations and friendships are born from responding and talking.

If you make a mistake – fix it and apologize. People will appreciate it greatly and respect and learn from you. Social media marketing is about learning and sharing – the good and the bad. No-one has all the answers and those that are the most respected have made mistakes but correct and apologize.

Most of all enjoy this amazing media and have fun

Cheers,

Kohlben Vodden

Marketing4recruiters

Email: Marketing4recruiters@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marketing4recs

LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2317988&trk=hb_side_g

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/CH2bz

Understanding the Different Types of Tweets on Twitter

Hi everyone, I’ve written this article to help you understand and use the different types of Tweets you can use on Twitter. Hope you enjoy.

1. Classic Tweets.

“What are you doing right now?”

This type of Tweet is simple and describes what you are doing. Don’t described what you are eating. Too many people do this because they can’t think of anything else. It’s boring!

You can make the most basic Tweet interesting by saying what you think about what you are doing or explaining why you are doing it. Don’t just say “Going into a meeting” or “Taking a siesta”. Instead try “Going into meeting to present our new product” or “Need a siesta. Worked all night on this new product presentation”. You get the idea.

2. Opinion Tweets.

Keep your opinions focused on topics that impact your industry. Don’t avoid these types of tweets for fear of causing conflict. People without opinions look impersonal, companies without opinions look impartial and plain BORING!

From a public relations perspective, I would recommend that you keep your opinion Tweets supportive of positive topics. Tell the world your thoughts about news items and general current affairs are good. Lots of people search twitter for keywords surrounding current news items. Talking about these in your Tweets can help you gain followers.

3. Mission Accomplished Tweets.

Tell people about what you’ve just done. When you announce that you’ve just completed a project or action, you are basically saying to your followers “What do you think of this?” Try to keep a blend of personal and business “Mission Accomplished Tweets”.

4. Entertainment Tweets.

People follow people they find informative. They also follow people they find entertaining. This type of Tweet furthers your personality, lightens the mood and makes you a fun person to hang out with on Twitter.

5. Question Tweets.

Can you help me do something?

Simple or complex questions requiring technical experience are fine. They allow you to engage with your followers. They can also be great conversation starters. “What do you think about this topic or problem?”. Using these types of Tweets every now and then is a great way to check how engaged your followers are. If you get people responding, you’re on the right path. If you don’t get people responding, it’s time to look at your approach to Twitter and the type of followers you have.

6. Picture Tweets.

Contrary to popular belief you can share pictures on Twitter. There is a ‘catch’. You have to have your pics stored online (like flickr or picasso). Try twitpic. Open an account, choose the image to upload, describe it and tag it, then add your message. This will then be broadcast as a tweet. It will appear in your timeline with your message and a link to your pic. Nifty hey?

Try getting a good mix of all types of Tweets. You’ll soon see which work best for your followers. Make up your own types of Tweets as well. Have fun with Twitter, that’s what’s there for.

Cheers,

Kohlben Vodden

Marketing4recruiters

Email: Marketing4recruiters@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marketing4recs

LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2317988&trk=hb_side_g

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/CH2bz

Copywriting Secrets Of Writing Amazing Job Advertisements (Part 1)

When it comes to writing, Recruiters are like PR consultants!

They are taught a formula for how they write their job advertisements (or press releases for PR consultants) when they first start their careers.

Unfortunately for both of these groups of professionals, what they are taught is normally ineffective and dead boring. But no one challenges the status quo, because “that’s the way it’s always been done” or “I don’t have the time spend on writing interesting advertisements” or the most common excuse “I get results why should I change what I do”.

That last excuse really concerns me.

Yes, you obviously get candidates responding by writing advertisements the same old way you always have.

But, what about the candidates who overlooked or dismissed your advertisement?

How do you know who you are missing?

Well, a lot of the job boards will give you stats on how many times your advertisement appeared in the search results, how many people viewed it and how many applied. My point is that when a recruiter actually bothers to look at these stats they will no doubt find large differences in the stats. Most recruiters I know don’t even look at these stats. The ones that do, merely pass off the large volume of candidates who viewed the advertisement but didn’t apply as “we ruled them out by the criteria we placed in the advertisement”. Does this account for 100% of the people who viewed it but didn’t reply?

No it doesn’t, I’ve read so many advertisements that have really made me cringe. Here are a just a few of the reasons why:

Some are just position descriptions that have literally been copied into the advertisement.

Many don’t give essential decision-making information like location, salary range, size and reputation of the company.

A lot of recruiter advertisements are 50% about the recruitment company and not the clients company. Worse still this “corporate fluff” about the recruitment company is at the very beginning of the advertisement.

Some are just plain boring.

It’s time to change the way you think about your job advertisements.

This article is the first part of a series I will write about using copywriting and advertising techniques in your job advertisements to get more responses, better quality responses, improve brand awareness and get people talking about your recruitment company because of the amazing advertisements you write.

I’ll give you easy to follow and implement techniques in the coming articles in this series. In the meantime, I want you start asking yourself the following questions the next time you go to write a job advertisement:

Do you really know your target audience? What are their buying motivators?

What aspects of your company, your client and the job is appealing to this target audience?

How will working for your client improve the readers life?

That’s all for now. If you have any particular questions about writing job advertisements please get in touch and I’ll be sure to cover these topics in the upcoming series.

Cheers,

Kohlben Vodden

Marketing4recruiters

Email: Marketing4recruiters@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marketing4recs

LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2317988&trk=hb_side_g

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/CH2bz

New LinkedIn & Twitter Deal – Making Your Life Easier

Twitter and LinkedIn are announcing a deal tonight that will allow LinkedIn users to publish status updates to their Twitter profiles and pull in some or all Twitter updates to their LinkedIn accounts.

In the announcement video recorded by LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman and Twitter’s Biz Stone, both talked about how Twitter is great for business. What did they mean, though? They meant it’s a marketing platform, a way to get your message out further, etc. If you have something you want to say to everyone on LinkedIn, why not say it on Twitter too?

What does this mean for Recruiters? A hell of a lot!!! Most recruiters are very well versed with LinkedIn and many still shy away from Twitter. This deal means that once you set your LinkedIn account to feed to a Twitter profile, you don’t have to worry about learning Twitter. This is what a lot of people are saying and yes at one level it means you can simply push your LinkedIn updates on Twitter. But unless you make the effort to learn Twitter, become part of the community and build a strong following, it will be fruitless.

Check out some of my previous article on Twitter to learn how to make the most out of this up and coming networking force.

Cheers,

Kohlben Vodden

Marketing4recruiters

Email: Marketing4recruiters@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marketing4recs

LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2317988&trk=hb_side_g

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/CH2bz

Facebook VIRUS WARNING

Facebook Warns of New Viruses [Alert]

Today, Facebook has warned users of two different viruses that users should be aware of.

The company writes “Watch out for two new viruses that are spreading across the web. They involve emails made to look like they are from Facebook telling you to take some action on your account. Remember that we will never send you a new password as an attachment.”

The company also advises users to visit its Security page for details on how to protect yourself and what do if you’ve been infected.

Have you been receiving fake Facebook emails? Follow this link (don’t worry it’s real) to facebooks security page to learn more about this threat.

http://www.facebook.com/security?v=app_10442206389

Cheers,

Kohlben Vodden

Marketing4recruiters

Email: Marketing4recruiters@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marketing4recs

LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2317988&trk=hb_side_g

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/CH2bz

The 7 Commandments Of TWITTER (Twitter etiquette explained for the rest of us)

THE 7 COMMANDMENTS OF TWITTER

Hi Everyone, I thought it was time I explained some of the ‘do’s and don’ts’ of Twitter to you (my recruitment friends).

So here are my 7 commandments for succeeding with Twitter.

1. Thou shalt not SPAM. Members of Twitter who only use the service to push their product (for you guys it’s jobs and promoting your recruitment services) don’t build followers. Any that they do get stop reading their tweets and most of the time stop following. This is not to say you can’t promote your services, just don’t do it more often than not. Try to mix your tweets up. Tweet about what you are doing, any interesting blog posts or websites you think your followers would be interested in, news in your sector, then throw in a tweet about a new job. Give your followers valuable information before pushing your agenda.

2. Thou shalt use real words instead of SMS style language. People do this to save space due to the 140 character restriction. Even though most people use the SMS style when sending texts, you have to remember Twitter has a broad demographic of user and there are still many people who do not understand the SMS language.

3. Thou shalt not use all capital letters in their Tweets. This might get attention but it also looks like you are yelling. Do you really want your followers to think you’re yelling at them?

4. Thou shalt only use universally recognised symbols in Tweets. Symbols such as @, =, £ or $ are fine. They are considered universally recognised because they are common symbols on computer keyboards. Try not to use scientific or uncommon mathematical symbols.

5. Thou shalt give credit for Retweets. Information on Twitter has the potential to go viral very quickly (hopefully it’s some of yours). Say you see a tweet of mine that says “Amazing CV ideas at http://www.careersexpo.com”; if you thought your followers would appreciate it you would need to retweet it using the following format “@kohlben: Amazing CV ideas at http://www.careersexpo.com”. Starting your retweet with @theoriginalpersonsname is giving the original Tweeter credit and acknowledging you are using their content. It’s simply good manners and please do it. I’m sure you’d like to see your Tweets given credit.

6. Thou shalt stick to 140 characters. Obviously you don’t have any choice about this. But some people try to get around it, by breaking up their long tweets in to 2 or 3 consecutive tweets. Doing so on Twitter is considered terribly bad manners. It’s like when you talk over someone you are supposed to be having a conversation with. Just don’t do it.

7. Thou shalt follow people who follow you. It’s an unspoken rule on Twitter that you will automatically follow people who follow you. After all, it’s how most users build up their following. I say STUFF THAT. If you follow everyone who follows you, you will end up with endless SPAM and a bunch of useless Tweets that have nothing to do with your sector. Having said that, I recommend following this commandment when you first start out (you don’t want to be seen as a rule breaker when you first join twitter and are trying to gain a following). I also suggest that you follow people that you are targeting as followers. You want to know what you “candidates” or “clients” are doing and saying, so that you can start conversations with them and develop these twitter relationships.

I hope this helps you to better understand the etiquette of using Twitter. There are loads and loads and loads of people out there saying “do this”, “don’t do that”, but I believe these are the rules to follow when you’re in the recruitment business.

Cheers,

Kohlben Vodden

Marketing4recruiters

Email: Marketing4recruiters@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marketing4recs

LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2317988&trk=hb_side_g

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/CH2bz

7 Tips To Gaining Followers On Twitter

Well Hello………

Welcome to the fourth part of the Twitter series. The aim of this series is to get you recruiters up and running with Twitter in the quickest and smartest possible way. Before you read the rest of this article. I highly recommend that you read the previous three in this order:

1. http://marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/twitter-4-recruiters-read-this-now-before-someone-else-takes-your-businesses-name-on-twitter/

2. http://marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com/2009/10/14/how-to-set-up-your-recruitment-company-account-on-twitter/

3. http://marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com/2009/10/22/135/

Right, now you should be up to speed and ready to learn seven ways to building your army of followers on Twitter.

1. Search for people you already know! Hit the “Find People” link at the top of the page. Then click the “find on other networks” tab. You will then be prompted to enter your web based email details. By web based I mean the likes of Gmail, Hotmail and Yahoo. Twitter then searches the contacts in your email account and provides a list of those who are already using Twitter. You can then follow any of these that you wish and more than likely they will follow you back, because you already know them.

Special Tip: Unfortunately Twitter does not have a provision for sourcing contacts from Outlook. I realise most recruiters use outlook, so here’s a special tip to get around this lack of functionality on Twitters behalf. Open a new Gmail, hotmail, or yahoo account. You’re only going to use it for this exercise, so don’t be too particular about the name, etc. Your new web based email account should then ask you if you want to import contacts from elsewhere. Use the outlook option and import all your outlook contacts into this new email account. Then repeat the search described above and you’ll get access to all your outlook contacts.

2. Follow the followers of people you follow! Once you follow someone you can see who they are following and who is following them. You can simply browse through these lists and follow people who you think will be interested in your Twitter topics. Most of the time they will follow you back.

3. Tweet on your blog or Website! Display your Twitter feed on your blog or website. That way anyone visiting your blog or website will be able to follow you on Twitter. Ask your web developer how to go about incorporating this function on your site.

4. Reward your existing followers! Reward your existing followers with something that costs your nothing or very little, but means a lot to your followers. Whitepapers, EBooks, etc are perfect. The followers your reward will most likely retweet about the great reward they received from you. They will reference you in their tweet that all their followers will see. This will entice their followers to follow you so they can obtain the same reward. Do you see how this can have a massive follow on effect?

5. Respond to the questions and opinions of your followers! A lot of your followers will use Twitter to ask for help or advice about a particular topic. Respond to these cries for help and you will look like a thoughtful expert in your field. The followers of the person your respond to will see your response and some will follow you.

6. Spread the word using social media! Place your tweets on your other social and professional networking sites. Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Bebo, etc.

7. The simplest of all! Put your Twitter name in your email signatures and on your business cards. Simples!

Cheers,

Kohlben Vodden

Marketing4recruiters

Email: Marketing4recruiters@gmail.com

Blog: http://www.marketing4recruiters.wordpress.com

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/marketing4recs

LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2317988&trk=hb_side_g

Facebook Page: http://bit.ly/CH2bz