Advertising and the Art of War: Part 2

Guest blog from Kelly Joffe of Cliff Ross - Advertising - Web Design. Originally appears at cliffross.com/blog

“Use the orthodox to engage, the extraordinary to attain Victory” – Sun Tzu

In Advertising and the Art of War Part 1, we talked about how the advertising and marketing world is a battle field – and only the strong survive. It is important to keep that in mind as you move forward with your advertising and marketing efforts. This week, we talk about the difference between engaging your customers and attaining victory.

In the Art of War, Sun Tzu said we should use the orthodox to engage, and the extraordinary to attain victory. The same is true with your marketing efforts – lets take social media for example. Through the use of social media, you want to engage your fans and followers in order to nurture your current customers and to gain new ones. Using social media as a tool to leverage your business is a very general, orthodox approach to engaging your current and potential customers. By utilizing different social media platforms, you are putting your business out in the social landscape to get recognized.

The goal, however, is to do more than engage. Engagement is just one step on the road to victory. Victory is attained when these social media fans and followers turn into repeat customers and new business. As Sun Tzu said, use the extraordinary to attain victory. Now that you have your fans and followers engaged, you must know and master the capabilities of each individual social media platform to bring in business.

It’s more than just making posts. That’s ordinary. Everyone does that. Your efforts need to be extraordinary. That’s where Cliff Ross comes in. We know what it takes to turn orthodox customer engagement into extraordinary use of social media that leads to new business and victory. Sometimes, to truly attain victory in this advertising and marketing war – you need an ally. That is where we come in.

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Advertising and the Art of War: Part 1

Guest blog from Kelly Joffe of Cliff Ross - Advertising - Web Design. Originally appears at cliffross.com/blog

The General is knowledge, courage, strictness, and trustworthiness.

As we begin this series of Advertising and the Art of War, it is important to note the purpose. The advertising and marketing world is a battle field. Brands across the world are competing for the attention of consumers. Only the strong survive. How you position yourself, plan your attack, and approach this Advertising war will determine if you stand out from the competition and gain the attention of your customers.

In the Art of War, Sun Tzu said that the most important traits of the General are knowledge, courage, strictness, and trustworthiness. You are a business owner, your brand is the general, and there is an army of consumers out there looking to be guided in the right direction. In all your advertising and marketing efforts, your brand must display the same characteristics as Tzu’s general. Here is how:

Knowledge: In all aspects of marketing and advertising, your brand must know-all. A good brand knows how their customers feel, what they want, and what they need. You must do your research and find out what makes your customers tick. You must use your knowledge about your product to guide consumers in your direction. A nutritionist, for example, will appeal to mothers by sharing factual information about healthy choices for their kids. This will make a mother (the consumer) feel as if the nutritionist really understands what she needs for her family.

Courage: your brand must be willing to take certain risks, and have the courage to fight for what you believe in. If you are a nutritionist selling a healthy life style, you have to stand up for what you believe in. It might be risky to criticize fast food restaurants, but you believe it’s hurting people. By having certain morals and beliefs – and sticking by them no matter what – consumers will respect you. Have the courage to take advertising and marketing risks, to step outside of “what’s normal.” You have an opportunity to lead the way – so take it. What is the opposite of courage? Fear. Do not fear your opponents (the competition),  but know that if you stay true to your brand standards – you will come out on top.

Strictness: Stay firm with your beliefs and be consistent with your advertising approach. Your brand represents your business or product that you wholeheartedly support – do not let there ever be any doubt about that. If you make a decision to start some marketing efforts via social media – stick with it and be consistent. Write a blog every week, consistently interact with your customers, send a monthly newsletter – be strict with your advertising schedule and people will have no choice but to notice. Your consistent and disciplined message will strongly position your brand in their mind.


Trustworthiness: You always want people to trust your brand and the products you sell. Always be honest and sell the facts. People are more likely to purchase products or services from a brand they trust. These days, advertising and marketing is not all about the hard sell. You have to share information that people can relate to – reach your customers on a personal level. This humanizes your brand and makes people trust you.

Guest blog from Kelly Joffe of Cliff Ross - Advertising - Web Design. Originally appears at cliffross.com/blog
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5/9/2013: IBM: 64% of global CMOs want to approach customers as individuals

Since 2009, IBM Institute for Business Value has been surveying C-level executives around the world to  assess the development of digital economy.

Recently, IBM released some headline numbers for the forthcoming (October) survey for 2013:

• 64% of CMOs want to approach customers as individuals
• 71% of CIOs see communication moving towards more social/digital collaboration
• Majority (55%) of CHROs foresee increasing organisational openness
• Just 34% of organisations have an in-depth understanding of their customers
• But 78% expect their organisations to have an in-depth understanding of their customers by 2017
• Only 1 in 5 organisations has the capacity to use Big Data with just 40% intergating internal and external data sources, just 18% using Big Data to identify new products and services
• 77% of all CFOs support products and services innovation

Handy info graphic (you can click on it to enlarge):

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Top Website Design Mistakes - by Borelli Designs

Guest Blog post from Borelli Designs, a Chamber member who specializes in Website Design, WordPress, Social Media, SEO. 

Top Website Design Mistakes

With more and more companies advertising that you can design your own website with their easy to use tools, it is easy to believe that following a couple of steps and inserting a few plug-ins will solve all of your website design quandaries. While that may provide a website for your company, it does nothing to help you be found by potential clients. Designing an effective website is much more than a few images and a couple of lines about your business. Here are the top website design mistakes that are made when people choose to skip professional website design services.

Not User Friendly

Making a website user friendly is difficult. The main obstacle that must be overcome is the short attention span of the average visitor. You have an average of eight seconds to capture their attention. Many people strive to capture their readers with unusual fonts or vivid colors. Neither is effective. Your most effective tool is well written content that is delivered in a scannable, or easy to read, way. That means effective bullet points and subheadings.

Lack of Optimization

Nearly everyone has heard of search engine optimization(SEO), but few understand every aspect of it. The ins and outs of on-page, organic, and white-hat SEO techniques are every changing. It is nearly impossible to keep on top of current trends unless website design and SEO are your profession.

Not Cross-Browser Compatible

In general, the average person does not know what it means to have a website that is cross-browser compatible until they see a little window telling them that the website can not be displayed in Explorer, Firefox, or some other browser they are using. That window may not always appear. Instead, the content and images may display in some oddball way that makes your website appear unreliable to a new visitor.

Over Stimulating

This covers a lot of ground. A professional website will not be full of flash, pop-ups, in-line links that are not well defined, Javascript, animation, and a long litany of issues that users have been known to complain about.

The only way to avoid making many of the common website design mistakes is to consult a professional website design company. In the Allentown, PA area that company is Borelli Designs. The talented team at Borelli Designs will help you conquer the search engine rankings locally and anywhere in the world that you do business.

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On the Edge: What Your Facebook Page is Missing

Guest post from Kelly Joffe of Cliff Ross Design

The Facebook news feed is customized and constantly updated to show information that is most meaningful to the user. It includes likes, status updates, app activity, photos, videos, and links. The news feed is there to make the most out of the time we spend on Facebook. On average, 40% of the time people spend on Facebook is spent browsing their news feed.

Did you know that only about 10% of the people who like your page actually see your posts in their news feed? It’s true. In Facebook’s effort to improve the quality of user experience, they only show us stories in our news feed that we find meaningful. Facebook determines this based on their algorithm called “Edge Rank.” To market yourself successfully on Facebook, the goal is to improve your edge rank so that your posts show up more frequently in your fans’ news feed. Edge Rank is based on these three scores:

Affinity: this measures how strong your relationship is with a fan based on interaction. The people who are frequently commenting, liking, or sharing your posts are going to have a stronger affinity score – and they will be the people who are more likely to see your posts in their news feed.

Weight: this refers to the weight of the interaction your posts gets. For example, a share is the best type of interaction you can get on a post, the next is a comment, and the last is a like. So if your post is getting a lot of comments and/or shares it will be shown to more people in their news feeds.

Time Decay: the older a post gets, the less relevant it becomes, which means that it will appear less and less in the news feeds of fans over time. However, if you posted something yesterday and it is still getting a lot of comments and likes, it will stay fresh in the news feeds of your fans.

Producing quality posts is what it really comes down to. If you are sharing content that your fans care about, information that is relevant to them, and things they find interesting – they are more likely to engage by sharing, commenting, or liking. The more people who that interact with you, the more you show up in news feeds, and the more exposure you get! You really have to pay attention to who your audience is and what they care about. Remember, social brands just don’t share – they deliver value.

The problem that many business owners face is that they just don’t have the time to create this quality content that will boost their edge rank. What good is having 1,000 likes if only 100 people see your posts? Here at Cliff Ross, we specialize in social media marketing – especially for Facebook. We know exactly what it takes to produce quality posts with engaging content. If you are ready to take your Facebook page to the next level and increase your visibility, contact us for more information about how we can help.

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My top free social recruitment tools

For a number of years I have focused my resourcing activity around social media.  I believe it is a truly fantastic medium that allows a level of engagement that very few other channels can rival.  However, one of the main benefits of social media is the cost.  If you are a large corporate you can spend a fortune on it, but equally if you are a smaller business you can achieve many of the same results for free.  As someone who is often referred to as having short arms and deep pockets it is the low cost or free routes that appeal to me most! 

If you’re reading this you will have come via some social media route, so the chances are you know something about the medium, therefore I am not going to preach to you about the power of LinkedIn or Twitter; instead I want to discuss the tools that make such mediums effective.  Below is a list of the tools I use most frequently to recruit via social media.  It is not intended to be a definitive list, but just my favourites.  If you have any to add please do so; we’re all still learning about social media, so let’s share the knowledge!

• Google – This sounds a rather strange one to start with, but Google (or other search engines) are massively underused.  In particular Google is a wonderful tool to aid your LinkedIn searches.  If you conduct a search in LinkedIn you are limited to the results you receive by the type of account you hold and the number of people you are connected to.  However, if you conduct a search via Google you can gain access to everyone!  If you not sure how to conduct Boolean searches, then an easier option is to use Google’s advanced search tool to avoid having to be too technical.
• TweetDeck & Hootsuite – I personally prefer TweetDeck, but only because I am more used to it.  Both sites provide you with the ability to manage your various social media accounts, so rather than having to log into all of them you can do so in one fail swoop by using these sites.  They also provide an easy method to search Twitter.
• Followerwonk – The names of these sites are truly great!  Followerwonk allows you the ability to search peoples’ biographies on Twitter.  As many people will provide information about their location and career in their bios, this is an invaluable tool to reach out and engage with potential new hires.  You can also pretty much guarantee not many other organisations are doing this.
• TweetLevel – another useful tool to search Twitter, particularly if you are searching for a niche skill. An alternative site is Tweepz (I did say the name’s were great!).
• Socialmention – I have found this site useful if I am searching for a niche skills or trying to research a particular topic.  The site will search all of “the Universe” for mention of the topic.  As a tip, make sure you don’t have too broad a search otherwise you’ll have to wade through lots of unwanted information!
• FindPeopleonPlus – I will admit I am still relatively new to this site, but it is the best tool I have found to date that allows you to search Google+.  It may not need to be your central focus when resourcing, but you shouldn’t ignore Google+ as it has real potential to be an excellent sourcing channel.   But don’t take my word for it, instead you should take the far more credible word of Andy Headworth in this post who explains how to use Google+ and with some insight on Pinterest thrown in for good measure!

You will notice that there is a lack of information about Facebook.  The reason for this is that I have yet to find an app or site that allows you to use it for recruitment purposes that doesn’t charge you.  If you wanted to invest you could use sites such as Bullhorn Reach of BranchOut. 

Finally, there is an app or Google Chrome extension that will be released soon that will be invaluable when using LinkedIn.  Shane McCusker will be releasing an app soon that will allow you to see all the information of a 3rd degree connection on LinkedIn.  So this is definitely one to look out for.

Before you spend a fortune gives these routes a try.  Good luck!

Ed Scrivener

Has this inspired you to discuss HR?  Or actually discuss recruitment! Let us know about your favourite ways of using social media to recruit.

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#Hashtag - You're It!

Guest post from Kelly Joffe of Cliff Ross Design

Hashtags: we know that you have seen them all over the place, and maybe you use them yourself. They have played a significant role on Twitter and now they are starting to pop up all over Facebook. But what does it really mean to use a hashtag – what purpose does it serve? Far beyond #BeiberFever, hashtags are now playing an important role in online branding  for companies.

Hashtags originated as a conversation creator for specific topics on Twitter. Lets say someone was at the beach, enjoying the day with their family and posted a Tweet about it. If they used the hashtag #family or #BeachDay, it would start or join a conversation that has already been created about those topics. So when the hashtag is clicked on, you can view all the other “tweets” about that subject. Maybe other people in your area are enjoying a day at the beach with their families. Hashtags are just another way to connect people who are doing or talking about similar things. Now Facebook is utilizing hashtags as an additional way for people to connect and share information.

Recently we’ve been seeing how hashtags can play a key role in promoting a brand online. Similar to the way people use hashtags to connect with one another, hashtags can be used as a way to connect people to a brand. Lets use Red Lobster as an example. If someone is out to eat at Red Lobster and they post a status or Tweet about being there, they could use #RedLobster in their post. Now anytime #RedLobster is searched, everyone who has made a post about it will show up. This starts to create a buzz around a brand, and becomes a way for people to connect to the brand and help share the brand’s message.

Brands can also develop their own hashtags that are specific to their business. For example, McDonalds uses the hashtag #ImLovinIt – this is their brand slogan, which they have also developed into a hashtag. Now anytime that hasgtag is used, it’s associated with the McDonalds brand.

Social Media is a landscape that is constantly changing and evolving. If you are going to take part in this social environment – it’s important to stay current with the trends. Social Media will play a crucial role in business marketing in the future, just as it’s starting to do now. Hashtags aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, but how we use them will certainly evolve over time.

Here at Cliff Ross, our job is to keep up with the changing landscape that is Social Media. We are happy to answer any questions and help guide your business through the world of social media marketing. Give us a call at 610-829-1333.

Guest post from Kelly Joffe of Cliff Ross Design

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Growing Your Business in 2013 - 181.9 Million

Guest blog post from Carol Ritter of CarolTalks.com

Did you know that “181.9 million Americans watched 38.8 billion digital content videos in April 2013.  Media is a $4 billion business that’s expected to reach $9 billion over the next three years,” Kenneth Parks, Chief Marketing Officer of DigitasLBi North America told CMO.com. This year will see a lot of growth in original digital video from the biggest players in media–such as Conde Nast–so buyers and publishers are now committing their money to the medium.  Are you?  Does your business have a marketing plan that includes a budget for media?  Are you marketing your biz in many different venues or are you doing the same old same old.

I recently met someone who has a business on a notable Main Street.  She said to me, “I’m only interested in selling to people in my town.”  I stepped back stunned, recognizing the lack of vision and the ability to see into the future.  Even more interesting, her business is not flourishing, new customers should not only be defined geographically.

The world is changing, and you can sit there and hope for the best limiting your ability to to attract new people or you can take on the future with zest.

1. Build a Business Facebook page, FREE Marketing

2. Definitely hire a media specialist and teach your customers to click and learn preferably with a little entertainment 

3. Design a state of the art Marketing plan with dollars attached

4. Pay attention to what your competition is doing, check out their media

Remember those 181.9 million Americans are just dying to see you and your product live on YouTube.  A $4 billion dollar business is nothing to shake a stick at, get on board, build your business and THINK MILLIONS!

Carol serves as a featured writer for the Home News and the Lehigh Valley Chamber Blog. Carol is an accomplished professional speaker, coach and educational consultant specializing in innovative leadership, outrageous fundraising, million dollar marketing, and building organizational alliances throughout the country.  Carol’s creative  leadership with bullet proof ideas for recruiting MORE MEMBERS, MORE MONEY AND BETTER LEADERS. www.caroltalks.com 610-442-4545 tellkids@aol.com  Like Carol on  Facebook at Caroltalks and CarolCoaches!  Carol S. Ritter, Immediate Past President, National Speakers Association Philadelphia

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You actually might have a point there

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

Graham Salisbury previously asked when did you last read a book; he now returns to question a widely held view on social media and throws a bit of Darwinism in for good measure! (Ed Scrivener)

You actually might have a point there

(Health Warning! This blog does have something to do with HR. Honestly. But bear with me for a moment or two while I take you down a side street of contemporary philosophy!)

All is not well in the New Atheism camp.

Thomas Nagel is a renowned Atheist professor of Law and Philosophy at New York University and many of his books have met with great critical acclaim. If you're looking for a first-rate introduction to philosophy, you need look no further than his excellent "What Does It All Mean", and if that whets your appetite, you may wish to have a look at his 1974 classic journal article, "What Is It Like To Be A Bat". No, I am not joking. The article is a masterwork in trying to look at something from an unfamiliar angle. (Hmm... Looking at an issue from someone else's point of view .... perhaps that has something to do with HR after all ...)

But his recent book (snappily titled "Mind and Cosmos: Why the Materialist Neo-Darwinian Conception of Nature is Almost Certainly False) has really infuriated some of his former bedfellows in the New Atheism camp (that's the likes of Richard Dawkins (author of The God Delusion) for the uninitiated)

No, he's not Got Religion or anything like that. But what he has done is something far, far worse:

He has asked some questions. 

In particular he has dared to challenge the prevalent neo-Darwinian view that Evolution provides a complete  explanation of how we got here.  (That is code for "can a complex life form like man really have developed from primordial soup")

He hasn't actually come up with any serious alternative views, but has said that "I find neo-Darwinianism antecendently unbelievable - a heroic triumph of ideological theory over common sense. I would be willing to bet that the present right-thinking consensus will come to seem laughable in a generation or two." (That is code for "In a couple of generations, people with think that Richard Dawkins was barking.)

In doing so, he has been vilified, virtually excommunicated, and even had his sanity called into question by others in the New Atheist fraternity, not for any alternative hypothesis that he has proposed, but merely for saying that those who question the consensus might actually have a point, and that their countervailing views deserve to be treated seriously and not rejected out of hand. He puts it like this:

"Even if one is not drawn to their alternative explanations, the problems caused by the iconoclasts should be taken seriously. They do not deserve the scorn with which they are commonly met. It is manifestly unfair"

What the heck has this got to do with HR, I hear you cry?

Quite a lot I believe.

How many of our beliefs about the HR profession are so set in stone that even to question them is inviting scorn and ridicule?

Let's take the issue of the importance of social media to the HR profession. 

Ever risked life and limb by questioning if social media is the salvation of the HR community? There are plenty of our fellow HR colleagues who would doubt your sanity were you to say that social media was anything less than the holy grail of the HR profession. 

But let's look at a few facts (and in doing so I can sense some of my contacts on twitter clicking the Unfollow button). 

Social Media (and I guess that I am talking chiefly about twitter here) is sold as the Great White Hope that will pull us all closer together and get us collaborating. 

But it doesn't. 

There are many people for whom twitter is an optional extra that they have chosen to ignore. For others it is simply an irrelevance.  These are not Bad People, nor are they Luddites. They have just made a choice that is contrary to that of the majority. To put this in context: CIPD CEO Peter Cheese follows a mere 41 people, and (at the time of writing) tweeted just 108 times. Dave Ulrich may be slightly more active, but a quick glance reveals that his account is managed by his publisher rather than by the man himself. They are no better or worse for not being prolific tweeters.

There are also those who have found that far from being a mechanism for bringing people together, twitter has in fact become a barrier rather than a bridge. It has led to them feeling excluded and an outsider rather than part of the inner circle of the faithful.

But just utter the words "Is social media all it's hyped up to be?" and you can almost hear the Angry Mob marching round to your door.

To ridicule or ignore the views of such people just isn't on.  As HR Professionals (perhaps I should say "Above all as HR Professionals" we are in the business both of uniting people but also asking challenging questions which may unsettle the status quo.

Let's not make the debate over the nature and future of social media one in which it is regarded as heresy to simply ask if we are heading down the right path.

Wouldn't it be good if we all occasionally gave credit to those with views that are different to our own by simply saying, "You actually might have a point there"?

Read about Graham and our other authors here

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Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

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If you would like to be a guest writer for Discuss HR, you can find more information here.  Our next guest writer week is the week commencing 26^th August.

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The web is mightier than the sword

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

Jane Malone returns today from the beach to look at why we need to be exercise restrain when publishing communication across the internet and social media. (Ed Scrivener)

The web is mightier than the sword

As news of the suspected terror attack in South East London began to hit our TV screens and online news pages last week, what struck me was how quickly the horror of the unfolding events was reported; communicated in real time, through the use of smart phones, twitter, YouTube and other communications media. 

My thoughts turned to the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased and the insensitivity of the reporting of often graphic images and descriptions of the attack whilst details of the attack, including the identity of the soldier were yet to be confirmed.

Such events serve to demonstrate how the media, righty or wrongly, no longer has full control over when and how news is communicated, or even what news is broadcast.  Whilst it may be argued that the evolution of communications media has enabled a greater freedom of communication on the part of the general public and a shift in the balance of power away from the media, it does raise questions as to the appropriate use of communication technology in the reporting of news and events.

The web is in many ways mightier than the sword, in that once information is in the public domain it cannot easily be removed or taken back.  Whilst we should embrace a world where we have instant access to a wealth of online information, albeit some of which needs to be taken at face value, care needs to be taken as to what information is communicated, how and to whom.

Translated into the workplace, both employers and employees alike need to take care of their online presence and reputation; earlier this month it was reported how the father of William Avery Wright learnt that his son had been killed when the 13-year-old’s boarding school published the news of his death on its website before he was able to reach the hospital.  Whilst this is highly regrettable, it is thankfully a rare, but nonetheless high profile error.   It does demonstrate however how organisations need to fully consider the impact on stakeholders before communicating important information.

The detrimental effect that information communicated online can potentially have upon your career was seen recently when the young police and crime commissioner Paris Brown was force to resign just days after taking up post after tweets she had posted up to 3 years earlier,  which could be considered to be racist and anti-gay, came to light.  This case opened debate as to whether an individual’s online presence should be verified as part of the recruitment process.  Whilst there may be some roles or organisations where this may be appropriate others should perhaps take a more common sense approach and we should all give more detailed consideration to the information we share online as both employers and employees.

Read about Jane and our other authors here

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Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

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If you would like to be a guest writer for Discuss HR, you can find more information here.  Our next guest writer week is the week commencing 26^th August.

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The final 2 posts

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

In the final post of our guest blogger week I thought I would indulge 2 corporate posts as they are both pretty interesting! Penna look at the effectiveness of social media to HR and the Guardian have an excellent infographic about the cost of your job.  (Ed Scrivener)

Research shows social media is now ‘a trusted tool’ for HR professionals

70% of recruiters now actively use and support the use of social media, and trust has grown significantly over the past two years, according to a research study from Penna Plc, a global HR Services Group.

An initial survey carried out in 2010 found that recruiters were largely suspicious of the benefits of social media, with 51% seeing it as ‘dangerous’ and feeling ‘uncomfortable’ using it. Two years later, this number has dropped to just 5%, and there are now an emerging group of ‘early adopters’ who are actively encouraging the use of social media to their peers. 45% of recruiters even classify themselves as ‘experts’, up from 23% in 2010.

Graeme Wright, Head of Strategy at Penna said, “It’s no surprise to hear that social media usage has increased among recruiters and HR professionals, but what’s interesting is the shift in attitudes towards it, from a general reticence or fear, to embracing and recommending. It’s clear that having a social media strategy is now considered ‘the norm’ within the industry.”

LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the three most used social media channels among HR professionals and recruiters, with occasional use of blogs and videos. The research shows that whilst engagement with social media is increasing, recruitment and HR professionals have no plans to experiment with other forms of social media, which Graeme says “Suggests they would rather realise the full potential of the channels they are already using.” Conversely, 26% of employers are still trying to restrict Facebook access at work. This presents obvious practical challenges as Graeme explains, “ Employers are risking a disconnect with Generation Z, who do not see the need to separate work and social life - which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, provided any policy is clear enough for the entire team to understand.”

The same applies to using social channels to access candidates. The report highlights an ongoing debate, with only 23% having a policy in place, which leads to confusion and a reluctance to use Facebook to research a candidate background for example, in case it constitutes gross misconduct. As a result over 60% say it is a “a concern that candidate information available online could get in the way of a fair recruitment process if used injudiciously”.

When it comes to making direct hires via social media, LinkedIn is highly regarded (12% say they have used it as a direct replacement for a consultant) and finding great talent. However there is still some confusion as to just how much this, along with other channels, can enhance recruitment practices and provide access to hard-to-reach groups. Graeme said, “Many respondents said they didn’t feel it helped them to reach anyone other than graduates, and the research showed it’s not used widely as an internal communication, or knowledge sharing, tool either. However, what is clearly understood is the link between social media presence and profile.” 

In addition to using social media as a means of communicating directly to candidates and building profile, employers are also showing they place real importance on monitoring, as a means of understanding the landscape, competitor activity and what people are saying about their brand online. The research showed that monitoring employer reputation in social media is done most effectively by those in HR roles but that those using an external agency report very good results (91% said they monitor well). However, Graeme says monitoring rarely works well in isolation and that managing by actively getting involved in conversations and shaping discussions is the only way to build a solid reputation. “96% of respondents said that managing their reputation online is important, and 85% believe it would have a direct impact on the perception of them as an employer of choice. What presents a challenge is having the time to do both well, which is why external agencies are perceived positively by those we surveyed,” he said.

Overall, the research has shown that whilst social media usage is most certainly increasing, there are still areas of untapped potential, particularly when it comes to advertising, gathering insight, and knowledge sharing. Graeme adds, “Whilst the research shows recruiters are confident in their use of social media, their feedback shows they value external insight and support too. Sometimes, it can be a challenge finding the time to develop and implement a social media strategy, but companies like Penna can help. Social media, used wisely can actively improve your organisation and we’re committed to making this happen for our clients.”

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How much does your job cost you?

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Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

*****

If you would like to be a guest writer for Discuss HR, you can find more information here.  Our next guest writer week is the week commencing 26^th August.

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Can we do Redundancy with Respect?

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

Annabel Kaye returns today to follow up her tale of two TUPEs to discuss why its time for HR to improve their redundancy process. (Ed Scrivener)

Can we do Redundancy with Respect?

Most HR practitioners have to organise redundancies, and in the last three years over 2.7million people have been made redundant.  Whilst we all do the best we can to make the process as palatable as possible, I have been presented with some feedback from Elaine Hopkins (the Redundancy Crusader) which has really made me re-evaluate my own approach to redundancy and made me conclude that HR’s own focus on compliance and on process is often creating an unnecessarily cruel process for many individuals.

From her research, and from my own experience on our hotline desk, we both know that there is an uncomfortable gap between best practice, the ACAS code, and what is going on in reality.     When we remove from this discussion redundancies that are designed and implemented by people who are not in HR (or employment law), we are still left with some uncomfortable thoughts and experiences.

Many people regard being made redundant as a failure on their part – a rebuke akin to being dismissed for poor performance or misconduct.  There are people who were made redundant a long time ago who still feel traumatised by that experience.  If you don’t believe me, ask around (and don’t ask HR people, ask ordinary people who don’t know how it is meant to be).  We are plainly doing something with how we consult and communicate to be leaving people with this impression.  It doesn’t help that many line managers want to ‘tuck in’ poor performers into a redundancy exercise, which can reinforce that redundancy is about not being up to the mark.

The way we sometimes structure consultation and selection meetings, with checklists and HR minders to make sure nothing inappropriate is said, can leave individuals feeling (quite rightly so) that no dialogue, no conversation, has taken place.    Despite the ‘tick the box’ part of the checklist which says “Have you any questions…?”, there is no real opportunity to digest the information, ask questions, absorb the ideas, or respond.    It is admirable that managers have support and guidance and frameworks.  But this can lead to a ‘tick the box’ dismissal ― where you might as well hand the person at risk of redundancy the checklist, ask them to read it, tick the boxes, and then dismiss themselves.

Whilst it is vital to ensure that the basics are communicated, we need to work more with managers on helping them model having real conversations – in other words, we should support a proper communication process.  We in HR have a tendency to hijack the communication in the interests of compliance.   We all know there are some line managers who are liable to go off track, but treating everyone in this way is a disproportionate response and causes emotional harm.  Where manager and employee have a good and long standing working relationship, it can be isolating and shocking for the individual to be faced with their manager being restricted to reading off a checklist. 

Many organisations automatically send people at risk onto gardening leave and remove their email and data log ons.  Whilst there may be situations where this is necessary if there is a real risk to the business, the routine use of this can result in a consultation process that looks a bit like this.

• “Hey Jenny can I talk to you?”
• “Sure”
• “Mm, I have to read through this checklist now, sit down and don’t ask any questions till I tell you to. Don’t look at me while I am reading this through – eye contact makes me nervous.
• OK I have read all this stuff to you.  Have you got any questions?  No?  That’s good.
• Go home now and we will see you again in a week’s time.”

Jenny is then escorted off site by security and goes home to find all corporate communication (from email log ons to phones and data access) has been cut off.

I am not making this up!  Some people are telling us stories of trying to hand over active and urgent work to their colleagues while the computer progressively locked them out of  areas they needed to access . . . and then their phone got cut off.

We have work to do to look at how we communicate with individuals now that we are in a world where job security is fading fast.  How can we ask our employees to engage with us if they know their colleagues have been subject to this?  What is the point of all that talent management and employee engagement if this is the end game for some?

Perhaps it is time we integrated our ‘on boarding’ with our ‘off boarding’ and set ourselves some standards that we can all be proud of.   Meanwhile the tweet deck is on and social media is out there, as HMVdiscovered to their cost.   The answer isn’t around shutting down social media access or around reducing consultation periods so we can just get to the end more quickly, it’s around upping our game.

Read about Annabel and our other authors here

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Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

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If you would like to be a guest writer for Discuss HR, you can find more information here.  Our next guest writer week is the week commencing 29^th April.

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Networking & Schmoozing

Welcome to Discuss HR, the HR blog written by Human Resources UK. 

Today’s edition of Discuss HR is by none other than myself, so I’ll get straight to the point! (Ed Scrivener)

Networking & Schmoozing

If you’ve been reading Discuss HR since we started 3 years ago you will know I have written a number of posts relating to networking.  I have commented about how I felt HR could and should do more; I have arranged numerous HR networking events; and I have written how those entering into the world of independent HR consultancy need to appreciate that good sales isn’t phone bashing, but relationship building.  My twitter profile refers to me as a “networker and schmoozer”, the sentiment is sincere albeit expressed in a rather tongue in cheek manner.  In short, or at least short for me, I like networking!

I have spent the bulk of my career as a service provider, so it is easy to suggest my networking was sales focused.  I freely admit that there certainly was an element to that.  I have always believed you need to enter into a networking relationship with the belief that you are looking to help the other person, not just seek their help.  There are so many benefits to good networking; you can learn from your peers; you can find opportunities of all sorts; or you can just make good friends!

I recently benefited from my years of networking.  Late last year I decided it was time for me to make a career change and move away from being a 3^rdparty provider to become an in-house recruiter.  I looked at how I could achieve this move and decided to make a two pronged attack, firstly via social media and secondly via my network.  I reached out to everyone I knew professionally to seek their help and advice about my move and hopefully to hear about suitable opportunities.  To say I was overwhelmed by the response is a huge understatement!  I had numerous conversations with experienced people in the field that were able to advise me as to what information I needed to include in my CV and what approach I needed to take.  I had several referrals from people who flagged roles they had seen advertised.  Probably most valuable of all, I heard about opportunities with organisations where the role has not gone to market yet.  Therefore I wasn’t up against countless other applicants.  I had managed to catch a number of people who were in the process of reviewing their resourcing strategy and so my approach ended up being incredibly timely.  Not every approach resulted in a formal interview, but it would be naive to think it would.  Instead and importantly I become a known quantity within the field for the organisation which should hold me in good stead for the future.  But most importantly of all, these approaches did result in formal interviews (8 in total via networking) and crucially I secured exactly the type of role I wanted.  To further add to the proof that this is the best way to secure a role, I applied for 2 roles via traditional job boards; I wasn’t interviewed for either!

I firmly believe that following my years of taking the effort to go out and meet people both virtually and in real life, coupled with my desire to help them when they needed it resulted in this very positive resolution to my job hunt.  So my advice to anyone, whether you’re looking for work or not, a business owner or employee is to get out and do that networking and schmoozing!

Read about Ed and our other authors here

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Discuss HR is the HR blog written by members of Human Resources UK, the 10,000 member strong LinkedIn group dedicated to the HR professionals in the UK.  Discuss HR is published twice weekly and looks to take an insightful, informative and sometimes irreverent view on the world of HR – all with the purpose of generating a discussion.

*****

If you would like to be a guest writer for Discuss HR, you can find more information here.  Our next guest writer week is the week commencing 29^th April.

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Growing Your Business in 2012 - FACE IT

Guest blog from Carol Ritter of CarolTalks.com

What’s around the corner for 2013?  Is it the traditional pork and sauerkraut, looking for the good luck charm, or maybe the 2013 diet that will work, or maybe you might consider  “growing ur biz” for sure.  I recently took a “FACEBOOK” class and learned how to utilize this magnificent tool to benefit your business.  You know, they always say if you want to learn about social media ask a young person.  Well, I decided to jump off the non-fiscal cliff and learn how to do it myself.  Some really fascinating tips for the new year:

1.                     Pictures are viewed the most, take pictures of your staff in action, take pictures of your customers, your events, yourself and post with captions

2.                     Thursdays are the best day to post, folks are starting to get in the mind set of the weekend - you know, Thursday is the new Friday!

3.                     There are many changes coming in 2013 to Facebook, especially for small businesses-expect those changes to be especially focused on driving new customers to your business

4.                     Experts say that within 5 years Facebook will be the first place folks look to find your business, service or product

5.                     Don’t forget media - second to looking at pictures your customers are viewing You Tube

6.                     The most important piece of your Facebook business page is the BIG picture at the top, leave it blank and customers will assume you don’t know what you are doing.

Face it, social media is a mystery to some baby boomers.  So you have a choice, keep doing business as usual, cash flow as usual, same old customers as usual or really take on 2013.  Embrace change, challenge yourself and take on the social media and let go of the same old same old.

When someone asks you, “Is your business on FACEBOOK?”  In 2013, how about you say, “I’ve Faced it,  I’m growing my business with social media as we speak.” 

 Carol serves as a featured writer for the Home News and the Lehigh Valley Chamber Blog

Carol is an accomplished professional speaker, coach and educational consultant specializing in innovative leadership, outrageous fundraising, million dollar marketing, and building organizational alliances throughout the country.  Carol’s creative  leadership with bullet proof ideas for recruiting MORE MEMBERS, MORE MONEY AND BETTER LEADERS. www.caroltalks.com 610-442-4545 tellkids@aol.com  Like my Biz on  Facebook at Caroltalks and CarolCoaches!

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Find us everywhere!

How well connected are you to The Chamber on Social Media?  Find out by following us below:


Facebook
• The Chamber:  https://www.facebook.com/TheChamber
• Allentown Chamber of Commerce:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Allentown-Chamber-of-Commerce/360532304761
• Bethlehem, PA:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bethlehem-Pennsylvania/118071324676
• East Penn: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/East-Penn-Business-Council/117269558315
• Easton Area Chamber of Commerce:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Easton-Area-Chamber-of-Commerce/316362431781
• Greater Northern:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Greater-Northern-Lehigh-Chamber-of-Commerce/172189832823468
• Hamilton District:  www.Facebook.com/HamiltonDistrict
• Hellertown: http://www.facebook.com/#!/hellertownlowersaucon.chamber
• LeBEAM Chamber of Commerce:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/LeBEAM-Chamber-of-Commerce/166037966771964
• Main Street Lehigh Valley:  https://www.facebook.com/MainStreetLehighValley
• Phillipsburg Area Chamber of Commerce:  https://www.facebook.com/PhillipsburgChamber
• Small Business Council:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Small-Business-Council-of-the-Greater-Lehigh-Valley-Chamber-of-Commerce/113377605350490
• Southern Lehigh Chamber of Commerce:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Southern-Lehigh-Chamber-of-Commerce/153270231381456
• Women’s Business Council: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Womens-Business-Council/109399793926
• Young Professional Council:  https://www.facebook.com/TheChamberYPC

Twitter:
• The Chamber: http://www.twitter.com/GLVCC
• Downtown Bethlehem Association (Bethlehem, PA):  http://twitter.com/#!/dwntwnbethlehem/
• Hamilton District:  http://www.twitter.com/HamiltonMainSt

LinkedIn:
• The Chamber:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=675857&trk=hb_side_g
• Women’s Business Council:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4127625&trk=group-name
• Young Professionals Council:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4418235&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr


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The big misunderstanding about online networking

Welcome to this week’s Discuss HR, the HR blog written for and by members of Human Resources UK.

Human Resources UK is a LinkedIn group and by default is a social networking forum.  As such it is only apt that following last week’s article about how and why HR should network more that we conclude the theme focusing on online networking.  Today we welcome our latest guest writer, Ellen Selby, an experienced blogger and somewhat of a social media guru. (Ed Scrivener)

The big misunderstanding about online networking

You WILL listen to everything I say!

The misunderstanding between social networking online and social networking face to face is long present in today’s world of constant ’dialogue’ marketing. However, you’ll find that both are equally as effective if you can understand them well enough.

Whether you’re a twitter addict, and you find – like many of us – a smartphone glued to your hand each day, or you simply cannot stop talking, you are basically using networking techniques that are the same. The only difference is, one of them is getting misunderstood far more than the other. Let me explain.

You’ve probably caught onto the relatively new craze that is Social Media for your business. Of course, whether it is working for you is another matter entirely and is dependent on whether you’re using it in the right way for the right reasons. To illustrate the point properly: what do you do when you attend a Social Networking event, to make you and your business look fantastic?

Common practise is to ask a fair amount of questions, answer the ones you can answer, interact animatedly with all potential clientele that you find, offer help to others as well as accepting help from the members of your networking group, and advertising your business where possible and when it is appropriate. It is this high and diverse level of interaction that face to face marketing allows that gives it the potential to be successful. However, many people using Social Media online find that they cannot replicate this successful social process. Rather, they are using online social media to talk AT people.

Let’s put it this way. When, at a networking event have you responded well to someone talking ‘at’ you? Unless the person in question is an incredibly inspirational speaker, you are unlikely to respond positively. Unfortunately a lot of people use Social Media for precisely this, and assume it is a free ‘Social Advertising space’, forgetting about the ‘Social Networking’, engagement or interaction element. These users post their content and leave it, without interacting with others or looking up relevant topics at the time. Not only does this make their posts uninteresting, it also makes the news they are reporting irrelevant to what is happening at the time and gives no opportunity for further engagement.

Unfortunately, of the 90% of websites and businesses that use Social Media as a networking tool, only 50% use it effectively. This leaves a large percentage of businesses tweeting and Facebooking into nothingness, when this needn’t be the case at all. The trick is to mimic the same skills you would use at your physical networking events, and use them online. For instance, the one thing everyone loves to do – business or no business, is talk about themselves! So ask your followers questions to show you are interested in helping, and give your followers the opportunity to indulge in writing a few lines themselves. This not only promotes the same feelings of involvement and community, similar to networking events, but also engages people so you are able to learn more about your potential customers.

Whether you are talking to an actual crowd or your online followers, your networking techniques need to be engaging and filled with the personality of your business. If you find yourself needing to ‘advertise’ certain aspects of your business online, ensure that your posts are enthralling and customer focused, and steer clear of saying anything on Social Networking sites that you would not say ‘out loud’.

The tone of Social Media is forever changing, and will continue to do so as we move forward, causing us to constantly evolve and change how we present ourselves. We must be flexible: but hold onto the human element that we know wins business.

About the author

Ellie Selby’s specialities lie in the realms of Social Media and helping and adapting businesses to grow their sales in the world of B2B. Quality and not Quantity is what matters when Social Media is involved: to be worthwhile it must reap results.

Email | LinkedIn |Website

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Discuss HR is the blog for Human Resources UK, the leading LinkedIn group for those involved with HR in the UK.  Next week’s Discuss HR will be published on Thursday 21^st June and will be written by employment law expert Annabel Kaye.

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