Why Online Marketing

Maybe you are looking for a job. Or, you are planning to keep doing exactly what you have been doing for years. You may be thinking about a completely new career and need to smooth the transition to your next big opportunity. Perhaps you are seeing the writing on the wall and deciding that starting a business-and hanging your own virtual shingle-is in the cards. You are a new graduate, an experienced professional, or somewhere in between. Whatever your current situation, and job goals, this book is for you. Social networking is also for you-and it can profoundly impact your career in many positive ways.

Related Posts:

• Social Networking Terminology
• Leveraging Social Networking for Success: What is a Social Network
• Leveraging Social Networking for Success: Personal Branding
• Leveraging Social Networking for Success
• Social Networking for Career Success Using Online Tools to Create a Personal Brand: Foreword

If you have not yet dived into the world of social networking and experienced how powerful it can be, you don’t know what you are missing. If you think LinkedIn is only for job seekers and Twitter for stalking celebrities, I have great news-these and other networks can change your life in ways you will never understand until you jump in with both feet and try them out.

You may be skeptical. I meet people who are all the time. Perhaps you don’t think sharing your personal or professional information online is going to help your career or business. Maybe you don’t have time and think social networking is for people who have noth- ing better to do all day. The truth is, social networking gets some bad press. Many think of it as a way to lose a job, not a tool for getting one! If this sounds like you, you are not alone. I challenge you to read this book, and to really engage in these online commu- nities. After doing so, I challenge you to tell me it’s not worth it. I’ve leveraged my own social network to write this book. It includes expert advice and opinions from over 100 of my colleagues and friends, other coaches, recruiters, human resource professionals, and others, all of whom I’ve met via Twitter or by reading their blogs. I share stories from people who have used social networking to get them where they want to go-and their advice can help you do the same.

This book is different from many you may have seen about social networking; I actively work with the tools I devote chapters to telling you about. I tell you that Twitter can keep you connected while I am watching my Twitter stream, which keeps me up-to-date regarding resources and information for this book. I am not researching this topic-I am living it! As a job search and social media coach, I teach entrepreneurs and job seekers how to optimize these tools, as I have done myself, for success.

When I started in social media, I was just one needle in a haystack, working alongside hundreds of thousands of career coaches. Today, reporters for major national newspapers and media outlets regularly contact me to provide expert advice. I created my online reputation and distinguished myself as a subject matter expert, and this book tells you how you can do the same thing (no, you don’t need to be a technical whiz to do it-I am certainly not one).

Recent economic changes have proven that everyone-whether they know it or not-is a job seeker. You can no longer count on doing the same work, in the same field, for the long term. However, you can take control of your career and reputation in a way that was not possible just a few years ago.

Social networking can empower you to grow your reputation beyond your office, and to create a cohort of people who know and respect you from all over the globe. The power of that exponential network-and having people who take an interest in your
professional expertise and insight-is invaluable when you need to decide on a next step. Whether it’s by your own choice (you decide to make a move) or someone else’s (maybe you were laid off), creat- ing a network of colleagues online can prove invaluable.

Source: Miriam Salpeter, “Social Networking for Career Success,” Learning Express, LLC, New York, 2011

Republished by Why Online Marketing