Social Media Branding For Computing Professionals

Dr. Thomas LancasterBirmingham City Universityhttp://thomaslancaster.co.uk

What Turns A Successful Academic To The Dark Side?

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.wharfebankbrewery.co.uk/people/6/tony-jenkins/

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.fleece-otley.co.uk/

“Google It…”

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

These Are All Brands… (Sorry, Tony)

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Actually, If You Want To Be Amused…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.tony-jenkins.co.uk/project-commons/participants.html

www.tony-jenkins.co.uk

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

People Are Brands Too…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

My Brand?

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

My Background?

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

But, Branding Is Useful For…

• Academics – own career management• Academics – leading by example• Academics – teaching for students• IT Professionals – own career management• Freelancers – bring customers to own business• Freelancers – build an online showcase• Marketers – provide branding services for other IT

professionals

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

“I don't think I am an actress. I think I've created a brand and a business.”Pamela Anderson (Actress?)

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

“A brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”Jeff Bezos (CEO Of Amazon)

Protecting Your Brand…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Social Media Exists With Or Without You…

The Conversation Prism (v3.0)

http://www.theconversationprism.com

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Your Social Media Presence Is Part Of Your Brand…

• Traditionally, employers of our students would be looking for:– Their CV and Application Form content– Their degree results– Their performance during the Job Selection process

• But how do students stand out?

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

A Degree Is A Degree…

I call this the “So What?” factor

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Addressing The “So What” Factor…

• Some common methods with Computing include:– Work Experience– Industrial Sandwich Year Placement– Taking Part In Student Competitions– Portfolio Of Work– Freelance Experience– Interest In Computing Outside The Classroom– Participation Towards Open Source Projects– Evidence Of Entrepreneurship– Project Tailored Towards Employment

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.go2web20.net

But The Most Important Method…

A visible online brand…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.cvickers.co.uk/

Branding Gets Results…

“I've been recently offered a full-time place at a startup over in San Francisco, they've recently closed a big round of funding and are looking to build a great team. They approached me and asked if I could join them, fulfilling a design role. This isn't the only startup this has happened with. I've had a total of 5 offers over the last year.”Birmingham City UniversityBSc (Hons) Computer Science student

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

The End Of CVs?

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Jobs Through Social Media

• 1 in 6 American job seekers found their most recent job through social media– 40% attributed this to LinkedIn– 78% to Facebook– 42% to Twitter

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://techcrunch.com/2011/11/16/social-recruiting

“I wasn't scouted. I involved myself in a brand's Facebook page and a company which works with that brand took an interest in me and offered me a job.”Zachary Chastain

The Future Of Recruitment Is Through Social Media?

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.rolepoint.com/

Employers Know This…

http://mashable.com/2011/10/23/how-recruiters-use-social-networks-to-screen-candidates-infographic

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

What Does Google Think?

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

• “thomas lancaster” bcu• “thomas lancaster” “birmingham city university”• “thomas lancaster” birmingham• “contract cheating”

• And, direct searches on:• Facebook• YouTube• etc

Better Search Terms…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

They Are Not All Me…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Search Engine Control Is Vital…

• What does Google say when you search for yourself?• Can you be found?• Can your Facebook profile be found?(for people “of a certain age” not having a Facebook profile is often suspect)

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Taking Control…

• Computing professionals need– A professional web site that they control– A professional email address– A professional social media presence– High quality content

– It all comes down to personal marketing and branding

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

• Identify a name to go by (for branding purposes)• Prepare consistent material:

– Curriculum Vitae– Profile text (aka Advert)– Photos– Portfolio content (videos, pictures, examples)

First Step – Preparation

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

• Ideally:• FirstnameLastname.co.uk

– or

• FirstnameLastname.com

• Second Resort – Initials, Suffix or Prefix:• FirstInitialLastname.co.uk• FirstnameLastnameComputing.com• etc

Second Step – A Domain

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

• Ideally, based around the domain name:• john@jsmithcomputers.com

• Failing that, a Gmail address (or similar)

Third Step – An Email Address

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

• Google Account (Mail, YouTube, Google+)• Facebook Account (clean this up)• LinkedIn Account• Twitter Account• “Career Specific” Accounts• Github (and other “social coding” sites)• Online forums

• “Internal” Accounts?

Fourth Step – Defining Accounts

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

• All accounts should have a public view with information and a photo– Facebook account should be cleaned

• Account details should be filled out completely and sensibly

• Accounts should have some content to position the student as interested in their preferred field

• “Friends” and “Contacts” should be added• Groups and discussions should be joined• “Vanity urls” should be registered• Accounts should be linked together

Account Notes

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

• Simple website to direct employers to (include on CV)• Recommend production of this using the WordPress

blogging platform

• Contains:– Portfolio– CV– “Best” Content

• Again, crosslink to other Social Media presences(for searchability purposes)

Fifth Step – Professional Website

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

ThomasLancaster.co.uk

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

ThomasLancaster.co.uk/blog

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Simple WordPress Control Panel

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Social Media

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaslancaster

• Some ideas focused around students:– Short blog posts and tweets– Commentary on the technology news– Observations– Discussions – Articles– Examples of the work that they’re doing– Videos

Post To The Sites (Not Onerous)

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

• A new video =– Show it as a blog post– Tweet about it– Comment on Facebook– Comment on LinkedIn

• This can all be automated

One Post Covers Multiple Sites…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

• Join professional forums and add to the discussions– Can syndicate to blog

• Actively look for opportunities…

Contribute Elsewhere

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Guest Blog Posts…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://blogs.heacademy.ac.uk/stem/author/thomaslancaster/

Relevant Web Sites…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.contractcheating.com

The Gaming Dimension

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.thegamingdimension.com

@TheRyanGoodman

Or Be More Novel?

http://shouldidomywork.com/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/nov/04/data-recovery-deleted-coursework

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

For Computing Professionals

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.tubblog.co.uk/

For Computing Academics

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=lViA0GAAAAAJ&hl=en

And, Even Slides Can Have Value…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://www.slideshare.net/ThomasLancaster

But Also…

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

http://thomaslancaster.co.uk/blog/plagiarism-indicators-for-academics/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzneHOZTuX4

Other Resources

Enhancing The Employability Of Computing Students Through An Online Professional Presence Workshophttp://www.bcu.ac.uk/tee/events/previous-events/employability-workshop

Teaching Materials For Studentshttp://www.bcu.ac.uk/tee/events/previous-events/employability-workshop

Upcoming HEA Workshop “Professional Presences For Academics” (May 9 2013) http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/events/detail/2013/9-May-Birmingham-STEM

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013

Any Questions?

Social Media Branding - BCS 15/01/2013