Toronto

Thursday, August 27, 2009

 August 29, 2009 -- We tune up our cars, go to the doctor and dentist on a regular schedule, but how often do we do a social media tune-up? Rarely, if ever. We sign up to a number of sites --LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and others -- use them freely, and ignore what does not seem relevant. Unfortunately, the world does not ignore anything: each word of every site is indexed on Google and is instantly accessible - often to our detriment.

Today, social media is often where we make our first impressions: to new friends, colleagues, prospects and recruiters. According to Randall Craig, author of the best-selling career planning book Personal Balance Sheet, "Avoiding a social media tune-up is like avoiding a dental check-up: eventually, something bad will happen. A few minutes of preventative work can make all the difference."

Craig recommends the following steps to doing a September Social Media Tune-up:

Remove risky content: Whether it be inappropriate photos, or easily misunderstood comments, content posted by others can sometimes lead to problems. Review your sites and delete anything that does not give others the first impression you want.

Make yourself up-to-date: Nothing says "stale" like old content. Make sure that both your personal and professional background information is current.

Connect the dots: Cross-linking between social media sites will both increase your traffic from the search engines, and help your connections discover more about you. At the same time, make sure that the links to your web sites (corporate site, personal blog, etc.) still work as expected.

Add more connections: Most people collect business cards throughout the year -- and then have them sit in a pile at your desk. This September, review these cards for real relationships, and connect in the social media sites. For people who are already connected to you, look through their connections to see who you know - and connect with them, too. Finally, remove connections where you no longer have relationships - and remove connections with people who are pests.

Ask for recommendations: Make a list of all of your "big wins" during the last twelve months, where you went above and beyond the call of duty. Then ask those people to give you a recommendation on LinkedIn (or Plaxo). At the same time, return the favour to those who did a great job for you.

Adds Craig: "Some additional words of advice for parents. Since September is the time when students go back to school, it is important to address the risks of risky content. For teens, social media during high school is very different than using it in preparation for a later job search, so they may need help understanding these risks. It is difficult enough to get an interview, so a simple Social Media Tune-up - by removing risky content - you can prevent your teen from being disqualified for a job interview down the road."

Randall Craig is President of the consulting firm Pinetree Advisors, and the author of numerous books, including the popular Leaving the Mother Ship, The Working Resume, and the award-winning best-seller, Personal Balance Sheet Practical Career Planning Guide, and the just released Online PR and Social Media for Experts. He speaks to groups about Social Media, Networking, Career planning, and Work-Life Balance.

For more information, he can be reached at 416-256-7773, or through www.PersonalBalanceSheet.com.

Randall Craig, CFA, MBA, CMC

President

Pinetree Advisors Inc.

Toronto

416-256-7773

416-256-7763

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