Success in social media marketing hinges on the same key principals that apply to more traditional marketing channels. It can be daunting at first, but here are 5 quick steps to help you formulate a plan and get started.

1. Establish your goals

What end result are you trying to achieve? Are you trying to increase sales? Are you trying to build brand awareness? Are you trying to access new niche markets? Are you trying to boost brand loyalty? Depending on your organization’s situation, your approach to social media can be very different and the activities you participate in will vary.

2. Know your audience and start small

When it comes to social media, the worst action is no action; however, starting small will help with the learning curve and allow you manage the process more efficiently. There are thousands of social networking sites. It can become overwhelming and very time consuming. Research and understand the demographics of your target audience. Where do they congregate online? What content is relevant to them? Depending on your social media goals and your audience, the networks you choose to target will vary. For the sake of starting small, here are the top 4 places to start:

Blog: If you don’t have one, there are a variety of free services available to help you create a blog. (blogger.com, thoughts.com, weebly.com, posterous.com, and wordpress.com to name just a few). Ideally, it should be a part of your website if at all possible. Content delivery is king and a blog is the cornerstone of your efforts. Keep in mind that with social media marketing, synergy is paramount. Advertising the social networking sites discussed below on your website is a must and connecting them together is equally as important. Many services are available and most website platforms offer you the ability to update all 3 sites simultaneously with your blog post; saving you time and building your networks concurrently. HootSuite is an example of one of those free services.

Facebook: The largest social network in the world, giving you access to millions of potential customers. It’s very easy to create a fan page to get started. Due to its sheer size and reach, we will do a follow up article on Facebook and strategies next month.

Twitter: Emerging as favorite for younger audiences, twitter gives you the opportunity to reach out to top influencers and search for people with similar interests. You can be targeted at who you “follow.” Once you “follow” them you’ll be able to read what they’re saying and what’s important to them on your Twitter home page. Additionally, the people you “follow” will more than likely “follow” you back.

LinkedIn: A business networking site that has over 100 million members and is adding one million users a month. Because LinkedIn focuses on professional networks, users are more likely to be receptive to being approached regarding professional services or business to business products. Creating a company page is simple and you can get started immediately.

3. Determine your internal resources and plan of action

Who will be involved with your social media efforts? Who will maintain your social media accounts? Who will be responsible for creating the content? When will content be delivered? (The best practice is to establish a content calendar to keep you on track). Understanding what resources you have and assigning responsibilities is critical.

4. Quality, not Quantity

This applies to content and the number of people in your network. Consumers are bombarded with content daily. Your content needs to be relevant, informative, and timely. Along the same lines; it’s far better to have 1,000 engaged followers or subscribers than 10,000 who could care less what you have to say and are not interested in your products or services.

5. Keep score, learn, and evolve

Track your progress. Are you achieving the goals you established? Have you added more “followers?” Has your brand awareness or mentions online increased? Have you seen increased traffic to your website from your social media networks? Understanding your desired results and your progress is vital. Listen and learn, is your message being received? Are people reacting positively or negatively? Social media is and will be ever evolving; don’t be afraid to test different strategies and don’t be afraid to walk away from what’s not working.

By David Pedelty | Creative HR Solutions

Effective mentoring programs benefit organizations in many ways. They:

• Build bench strength
• Help to create a culture of development
• Drive employee engagement and retention
• Foster productivity and performance
• Increase cross-functional communication

The key ingredient to a successful mentor program is to ensure that that the right people are identified as mentors. So, what makes a good mentor?

There are a lot of opinions as to what makes a good mentor; however, I believe I have found one of the best summaries:

Many people feel that being a mentor requires special skills, but mentors are simply people who have the qualities of good role models.

Courtesy: The Connecticut Mentoring Partnership and the Business and Legal Reports, Inc. — Best Practices in Human Resources, Issue 653, September 30, 1999.

Effective Mentoring Activities

Skills Development

• Suggest that your mentee choose one to three objectives, preferably skills, to work on with you.
• Invite your mentee to some of your key meetings or have him/her observe you as you work.
• Observe your mentee giving a presentation.  Get permission to offer your feedback privately.

Knowledge Sharing

• Share a difficult decision you made recently and discuss what inputs you considered when making the decision and its outcome.  Ask your mentee what he/she might have done differently.
• Ask for your mentee’s advice about a project or problem on which you are working.
• Explain some of the “unwritten rules” you have learned about being successful at the organization.

Networking

• Introduce your mentee to at least two people who could be helpful to him/her.
• Link up with other mentoring pairs for lunch or another activity.
• Occasionally call your mentee unexpectedly, just to check in.
• Do volunteer work together.

Career Advice

• Offer to tell your career story in some detail.  How did you start your career?  What changes did you make along the way?  Include high and low points and how these learning experiences helped you.
• With your mentee’s permission, review your mentee’s development plan. Provide specific suggestions for and examples of any changes you recommend.
• Help your mentee research several career paths he/she might take within or outside of the organization.

By Sue Stenbo | Creative HR Solutions

Creative HR Solutions was commissioned by a mid-sized publicly traded manufacturing firm to assist with filling 13 total positions over a 5 month period.  The company had received a new contract and needed several Engineers to fulfill the work.

The company had historically used several contingency recruiting firms but were unhappy with the quantity and quality of the candidates. Additionally, they were paying 20-25% of each candidates base pay in recruiting fees. They had already begun staffing for these positions and were behind on meeting their deadlines.

Creative HR Solutions worked side by side with the company and other recruiting firms to organize the entire staffing processes. During this time, Creative HR Solutions provided candidate sourcing, first level phone screens, reference checks, assisted in the coordination of on-site and phone interviews, presentation of job offers, complete weekly update conference calls and summary sheets, and handled the overall organization and management of applicant flow.

Out of the 13 original positions, Creative HR Solutions filled 6 of them in addition to providing administrative services for the entire process.

The following chart summarizes the results:

Case Study #2

Creative HR Solutions was referred to another publicly traded manufacturing firm to assist with filling their Corporate Director of Information Technology position.  This was a confidential search and Creative HR Solutions conducted it exclusively.

After some delays from the company, the position was filled and the the company was so impressed with the level of service, quality of candidate, and total cost, that over the next year, Creative HR Solutions was retained to staff 5 more IT positions.

During this time, Creative HR Solutions provided candidate sourcing, first level technical phone screens, assisted in the coordination of on-site and phone interviews, presentation of job offers, completed weekly update conference calls with summary sheets, and handled the overall organization and management of applicant flow.

The following chart summarizes the results:

- President and COO, Consumer Durables Firm

“Creative HR Solutions has been an integral part of driving and executing our recruiting strategy. The relationship we have developed has helped us to significantly decrease our time to fill and drive down our costs while also expanding our hiring capability. Creative HR Solutions – and in particular Sue Stenbo – has also been professional, flexible, and an effective partner in meeting our recruiting needs and in suggesting solutions for our talent acquisition issues. I have been pleased with the level of service and support that we have received over a sustained period of time”.

- EVP of Global Human Resources

“I can’t believe we pay so much money to other recruiting firms for such poor service. It is refreshing to work with someone who actually cares about our company and the people we hire”.

- Director of Human Resources

“Sue is a strong HR business partner to senior leadership and an extremely knowledgeable Staffing Manager. She will bring creativity, process, and strong business acumen to any HR consulting or search engagement”.

- Senior Human Resources Manager

You have an open position, probably a difficult position with exacting criteria and maybe even a challenging hiring manager. You’ve taken the time to craft a persuasive and enticing job description. And then you Post and Pray.

Yes, you’ve taken that difficult and challenging position and posted it to the job board flavor of your choice and with the hope that the ideal person will magically apply. Post and Pray.

One of two things usually happens. No one applies. Or worse, 756 people apply and you are faced with the daunting task of wading through resumes of which 95% of the people who applied are not remotely qualified (my favorite was a Hawaiian fire dancer who applied for a Demand Analyst position). Then what? The long walk down the hall to tell the hiring manager you have nothing or would they consider a Hawaiian Fire Dancer.

Post and Pray is one recruiting approach. You can wait for the ideal candidate to appear, that they will love your company, idolize your hiring manager and then hire them on the spot.

The other idea is to seek them out, make them appear.

The first method is the status quo. You do an OK job, you play by the rules. If that great candidate doesn’t show up, hey it’s not my fault. I posted the position.

The second challenges the status quo. You play by other rules. You go out there and seek out the candidate, network, tell friends and family, scour LinkedIn, and engage your social networks. You make that candidate appear, tell them you have a great and perfect position for them, and why they cannot miss this opportunity. You engage the hiring manager and inform them of the specifics on why this person is the right person for the position. And you close the deal by doing the right thing for your company and for the candidate.

So next time, start with a post. But play by the other rules.

So many of you turn to the outside sources and here is where it gets tough for you.

Let’s start with one of my favorites. The unsolicited email comes across your desktop, “I’ll find you 5 people for $5,000!!!” Really? I mean…Really? Or stated another way “low cost, low quality”.

Then there are the variety of versions of the flat fee per position (“low cost, variable quality”). This one might actually have some promise, I’ll find you a person for $5,000. The question you need to ask yourself is who is providing this service. Is it a traditional old school traditional agency mindset where they are going to undercut their usual 20% to 30% commission then assign it to a junior recruiter. Or maybe it’s a newer model where much like Henry Ford and the model T, “you can have any color as long as it’s black. This is your candidate, these are there skills, and don’t ask me for anything outside of this box.” There is no denying this will work for some.

There is always contingency (“high cost, high quality”). There are many great contingency providers out there. Really great recruiters, with great networks, that will overturn every stone to find a great candidate. Again, who is providing the service? On the surface this sounds great, what not to like about not having to pay anything until the candidate is placed? Hmmmm. Lobbing candidates over the cubicle wall and seeing what sticks? Placing difficult to fill positions on the back burner and having the search drag on for months and months?

Next is retained search (“high cost, variable quality”). Much like contingency there is no denying there are great some great providers out there. When you are looking for the your next CEO, you want your recruiter to have his LinkedIn connections full of Members of the Board, having lunch with The Next Big Thing, and playing golf on Saturday with the Ones Throwing Fireballs Around The Firmament. But when you need an Assistant Marketing Manager it seems wrong on so many levels when someone is asking for 1/3 up front of their 30% fee. And oh by the way, if we don’t find one, you still owe us the rest.

And lastly there is Contract Recruiting (“low cost, high value”). The best practitioners of this model use best-in-class practices but leverage technology and flexibility combined with transparency to add value. Think of it like paying for your electric bill rather than your internet service, you only pay for what you use. But here the worst practitioners run up the bill, take the money and run, or continue to lob candidates over the cubicle wall that explode like hand grenades because it’s more billable hours.

What to do.

Pick one.

Explain the opportunity.

Ask them “What would you do?”

Tell them “Be specific.”

Do you like what you hear?

Do you believe them?

Tell them to go away or…

Tell them to go do it.