Guest speaker Cameron Brenchley

Our guest speaker this week was Cameron Brenchley, Vice President at Collaborative Communications Group.  Cameron works to develop and lead communication strategies that stand out in our crowded media landscape while helping clients navigate political and policy considerations.  Cameron received his masters in Legislative Affairs from George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management.  During our session, he recommended Linked In to our class as a way to stay connected to professionals in your field of interest.  I have since created my own account and will utilized it to follow individuals. His accomplishments in the field of Digital Strategy is very impressive. Cameron was the U.S. Department of Education’s first ever Director of Digital Strategy and implemented the Department’s first strategic digital plan. The above link will take you to a summary in Linked In. I asked Cameron to suggest ways a small business like mine (Cross Fit 47) can get their name out there utilizing e-media. Below are his suggestions:

1. Maximize search engine
2. Create a Web Page (In work)
3. Professional Twitter Account (Feeds)
4. Linked In (Prefers Linked in over Twitter)
5. E-Mail News Letter (Make sure it is useful Information)

•  Know your audience

We had a interesting discussion about the tool, Ready or Not.  It is a tool that lets you enter any Twitter or Instagram username and see every place that user has been and what they’ve tweeted while there.  It also includes a chart that shows how frequently users are at certain locations at certain times of the day. It is a little scary that this information is readily available for anyone to access.  Teaching Privacy want to alert people to the dangers they might not realize exist. “Most people,” he said, “do not know that if you tweet something this location data is actually publicly available.” We also had a interesting discussion on Geo-tagging photos. Presently it needs to be turned by you for most services and the data is only accessible via a service’s API. My group also had a interesting discussion on the Pros and cons of Instagram for Professional use. Here are the Pros and Cons we discussed as a group:




PROS

1. Good marketing opportunities
2. If customers are tagging or geotagging you, or your business, it will bring more attention to you
3. It is similar to Twitter where you can create a PLN with professionals in your intended field
4. Hashtags will connect any keyword searches to your images
5. Coaching Opportunities
6. Most people in the world use it
7. Cost Affective

CONS

1. If you set locations on Instagram, other people can see where you took your photo and can find where you are in an instant
2. Customers have the ability to link your personal account to your professional if you aren’t careful
3. Not very helpful if you don’t have images to go along with your content
4. Limited in some ways, usually have to use email for any professional matters
5. Having open privacy settings can lead to spam or abusive followers
6. Cannot put clickable URL’s

Ways Face Book Owns You

If a stranger approached you asking for your name, age, phone number, names of family and friends, and interests, with the intent of sharing that information to more strangers, you'd probably be hesitant to readily give up that information. Yet that's essentially what users do when they create their Facebook profiles.  You are entrusting Facebook to keep your information private, but your information is not owned by you. Facebook also has a policy in place that allows it to use your information to advertise to your friends. The agreement gives Facebook permission "to use your name and profile picture in connection with a brand you may like. These ads would appear on the profiles of friends' pages, but not strangers. Users also receive no compensation for their participation. You have the option to op out if you choose to.  In a Wall Street Journal article, Facebook also allows marketers "to target ads at users based on the email address and phone number they list on their profiles, or based on their surfing habits on other sites."

 How to successfully use Snapchat for your career

If you’re looking for a job or building your personal brand and want to figure out how to make Snapchat work for you, here are four suggestions to get you started:

1. Seek Out Potential Employers

Locate  companies utilizing the platform. Pay attention to the content they’re posting and how they’re engaging with followers.  You may be able to incorporate examples of how an organization is using the platform in your cover letter or interview, positioning you as a social media-savvy candidate.

2. Give a Behind-the-Scenes Look at Your Life

Focus on showcasing the skills and expertise you want to be known for. For example, if you’re looking for a job as an event planner, you could use the “stories” feature to create a tale documenting how you’re preparing for an upcoming event. This will be a heck of alot more interesting that writing a few lines about it in an email.

3. Turn Your Resume into a “Story”

This advice won’t work for every job you apply to. You’ve got to really know your audience before you ditch the old paper application in favor of a creative hire-me campaign, but it’s worth considering depending on the company and position. To get a better idea of what I’m talking about, check out a Snapchat resume example created by Elski Felson.

4. Follow Media Feeds

 Think of what organizations and companies can help you on your career path, and begin building your Snapchat stream. Check out the “Discover” section on the social media platform to get started. From a long list of media organizations (posting full articles, videos, and photos) under this heading, you can choose which ones interest you and begin following.