Global Cleantech Entrepreneur Bryan Guido Hassin shares why and how social media marketing best practices should be used for your own professional branding. This presentation was originally given 2010-08-07 to the IMD Business School MBA class of 2010 and has been updated and re-presented to the classes of 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. A video of this presentation is available at http://youtu.be/y3NvVDVBhuA

1. Leveraging Social Media for
Executive Careers
Bryan Guido Hassin, IMD MBA 2008
@guido23

2. Houston
Austin
Houston
Lausanne
Lausanne
Nairobi
Houston
I am a global cleantech entrepreneur with
Web technology background
2

3. Social Media is a very powerful
marketing tool for careers
3
• Social Media is a very
powerful marketing tool
• Social Media marketing best
practices work for careers
• Specific tactics for using
LinkedIn

4. Social Media is a very powerful
marketing tool – why?
Low Cost /
High Return
Risks
4

5. Social Media is a very powerful
marketing tool – how?
Social Media Marketing Best Practices
• Target audiences with appropriate media
• Tell a story
• Be transparent, open, honest
• Don’t just talk; listen
• Measure, measure, measure
5

6. You may already know the SICK
criteria for social media success
• Segmented - Objectives, Customers,
Applications
• Implementation - Kenneth Cole #fail, United
guitar #fail, Nestle orangutan #fail
• Critical Mass – 5,000 followers, 100
active/engaged community members
• Knowledge Integration - Measurement,
Analysis, Action
6Dr. Michael Wade, IMD

7. Social Media marketing success
stories - Zappos
7
Targeting, transparency, storytelling
http://mashable.com/2009/02/06/social-media-smartest-brands/

8. Social Media marketing success
stories - Blendtec
5x increase in sales!
8http://mashable.com/2009/02/06/social-media-smartest-brands/

9. Social Media marketing success
stories - Starbucks
9
Transparency, listening for brand loyalty
http://mashable.com/2009/02/06/social-media-smartest-brands/

10. Social Media marketing success
stories - Comcast
10
Exceptional customer service from a utility??
http://mashable.com/2009/02/06/social-media-smartest-brands/

11. Social Media marketing success
stories – Old Spice
Increased sales 107% in one month!
11http://mashable.com/2010/07/27/old-spice-sales/

12. Social Media is a very powerful
marketing tool for careers
12
• Social Media is a very
powerful marketing tool
• Social Media marketing best
practices work for careers
• Specific tactics for using
LinkedIn

13. Social Media marketing best practices
work for careers – why?
13
Low Cost /
High Return
Risks

14. You must take control of your
professional brand online
• We live in a connected world; don’t try to hide
• Google exposes lots of information about you
• But you can control what appears at the top of
search results for you
• Professional brand SEO:
– Maintain updated, on-brand public profiles
– Generate relevant, on-brand online activity
14

15. Example: Googling me reveals my
professional brand
15
Blog
Profile
Profile
Blog
Profile
Profile
Presentations

16. Social Media marketing best practices
work for careers – how?
16
Social Media Marketing Best Practices
• Target audiences with appropriate media
• Tell a story
• Be transparent, open, honest
• Don’t just talk; listen
• Measure, measure, measure

17. Social Media marketing for careers:
this is not targeted!
17

18. Social Media marketing for careers:
target with appropriate media mix
18
Personal
Networks
Professional
Networks
Content
Publishing
Content
Sharing
Media
Publishing
Example
Career:
Industry Technology Entertainment

19. Social Media marketing for careers:
Tell a story
• Paper CVs are static, boring
– They are seen once and kept or [usually] discarded
– This is a direct sales push marketing tool
• Your online professional brand is dynamic,
engaging
– It tells an ongoing story of your goals, successes
– People can follow, share, and even participate in
your story
– This is a brand pull marketing tool
19

20. Social Media marketing for careers:
Tell a story
• Use content publishing media
• Use status updates on social networks
20

21. Social Media marketing for careers:
Be transparent, open, honest
• Share failures as well as successes
• Share vulnerabilities, fears as well as goals
• It makes you more human, believable
• It makes your story more engaging
• People will line up to help you out!
21

22. Social Media marketing for careers:
Don’t just talk; listen
• Your brand is interactive; participate in
communities and discussions
– Increases your brand’s credibility
– Keeps your finger on the pulse of your area
– Subtly promotes your brand to target market
• Research hiring managers, execs, potential
business partners in advance (Tool
recommendation: rapportive)
22

23. Social Media marketing for careers:
Don’t just talk; listen
• Retweet relevant articles, tweets
• Comment/like/share relevant posts on social
networks
• Join relevant groups on social networks
• Tool recommendation: Quora
23

24. Social Media marketing for careers:
Measure, measure, measure
• You can’t manage what you don’t measure!
• Choose meaningful metrics that align with
your career objectives, for example:
• Personal website/blog
• Twitter Followers
• LinkedIn Connections
• Facebook Friends
24

25. Social Media marketing for careers:
Measure with Klout
25

26. Social Media marketing for careers:
Measure with PeerIndex
26

27. The SICK criteria apply to your own
professional branding too
• Segmented - Objectives, Customers,
Applications
• Implementation - Kenneth Cole #fail, United
guitar #fail, Nestle orangutan #fail
• Critical Mass – 5,000 followers, 100
active/engaged community members
• Knowledge Integration - Measurement,
Analysis, Action
27Dr. Michael Wade, IMD

28. Social Media career marketing
success stories: Justin Bieber
28
Professional branding on YouTube
led to discovery and lucrative
recording career
Rebecca Black may be a success
story too (170M YouTube views)
but the jury is still out!

29. Social Media career marketing
success stories: Alec Brownstein
29
• Job seeker bought Google Adwords for names
of five top advertising execs
• Whenever they googled themselves they saw
his ad:
• He got four interviews and two job offers!

30. Social Media career marketing
success stories: Bryan Guido Hassin
• Goal: establish “global cleantech entrepreneur” brand
30
There I am =>
And there =>
And there =>
And there =>
And there =>

31. Social Media career marketing
success stories: Bryan Guido Hassin
• Result: completed a fundraising round via
social media branding
• Posted fundraising opportunity on twitter,
facebook, LinkedIn
• Investors were already familiar with my story
=> very little selling necessary
31

32. Social Media career marketing #fail
stories: Jacqueline Howett
32
Author gets catty on blog that
gives her a sub-par review
Career suicide
Author engages in flame wars
with other blog readers /
commenters
http://booksandpals.blogspot.com/2011/03/greek-seaman-jacqueline-howett.html

33. Social Media is a very powerful
marketing tool for careers
33
• Social Media is a very
powerful marketing tool
• Social Media marketing best
practices work for careers
• Specific tactics for using
LinkedIn

34. First things first: establish a strong
brand destination with your profile
34
http://topdogsocialmedia.com/linkedin-marketing-infographic/

35. Step 2: Build up your existing network
• Be selective about your relationships –
Quality > Quantity
35

36. Step 3: Ask for recommendations
36

37. Step 4: Join targeted groups
37

38. Step 5: Search by industry, company,
geography, and more
38

39. Step NEVER: Send default connect
requests
39

40. Step 6: Use “Introduce Me” for best
results
40

41. Step 7: Use LinkedIn for Market
Intelligence
41

42. Bonus: a new tool for graphically
displaying your LinkedIn profile
http://vizualize.me/
42

43. Leveraging Social Media for
Executive Careers
Bryan Guido Hassin, IMD MBA 2008
@guido23