Jobinablog

So you want to write a blog? 10 Tips to help you

We all go on about blogs, and certainly here on Jobinablog it is our focus. So now you have decided you want to write a blog at your company, where do you go for some basic advice? Well fortunately a blog consultant called Mark White wrote some excellent advice on a recent post. So here are his 10 tips for writing a blog:

1. Write posts on topics which interest your readers
I know that we come back to content time and time again, but it really is so key that I’m afraid it’s worth repeating once more here. Write things that your readers will find useful, relevant and interesting! You already do? Great - then concentrate on the rest of this post and the other two in the series because they’ll support what you’re doing every step of the way. If you’re still looking for help then, when you’ve finished here, may I suggest checking out Brian Clark at Copyblogger - recommended. Seriously.

2. Consider the layout of your posts
Try not to have great swaths of text which create an often impenetrable barrier between your readers and the ideas you wish to communicate. Make sure that you break it up, have areas of white space and use subheadings to highlight your points - where appropriate, use bullet points as well and generally make sure that the layout supports your content rather than hides it.

LinkedIn - A beginners guide

I thought I would share an article that I wrote recently for a good B2B website - BusinessZone.co.uk. I was asked to explain how beginners go about using LinkedIn, so for all you experienced hands, go off and make that cup of coffee.

But if you have heard about LinkedIn, wondered what it is and how it can be used to help you grow your network, then read the article  - LinkedIn for beginners - it is very useful. LinkedIn is the best social networking site for business!!  (I look forward to you sending me your LinkedIn invites).

Why you need to use a blog

If you still don't believe in the power of blogs then have a look at these latest figures, recently released by Comscore.

The Top 20 UK Blogging Sites had 33.2 million visitors in February

The Worlds Top 20 UK Blogging Sites had 822.9 million visitors in February.

So for all you sceptics out there, now is the time to start blogging!! After all it is what everyone else is doing!!!

Social Media Promotion

Social media promotion is something that is now starting to become more prevalent. So what does a social media promotion plan look like? Lee Oden wrote a very good post comparing direct marketing plans to social media promotion and showed the differences of each. Whereas with direct marketing you won't necessarily know your audience, there is an assumption that with social media promotion, you will already have some involvement with some form of social community. So here is what one could look like:

• Monitor discussion on social communities and networks for key conversations, keywords and topics
• Identify top concerns relevant to what the company is promoting and develop messaging for solution
• Identify influentials in the social communities, bloggers and authorities - ask them their opinion
• Identify media types most often used with topics and communities - text, video, image, podcast as well platforms for communication: blog posts, comments, microblogging, status updates, social network notes, social news and bookmarking and as possible, direct messaging and IM

10 Rules of Business Blogging

Read a great post from SEO 2.0 today which I though I would share. What he is saying is good and people who are considering writing a business blog should take heed. Here are his 10 rules of business blogging:

1. Use your real name
If you want anybody to take you seriously you have to use your real name for your blog.

2. Disclose what company you are working for and what exactly you do there
Do not blog under false pretenses, disclose from the start who you are, whom you work for or who pays you, why you blog, what your exact position is, it’s a big difference whether you’re from the PR department or you’re the CEO.

10 things you need to know about what Jobinablog can do for you

Interested in knowing and understanding more about Jobinablog? Here are the answers to the 10 questions I get asked most about what Jobinablog is:

1. Jobinablog.com -  so what is it then apart from a catchy name?  It is a career site that is built individually for each company, keeping their same design, that helps companies recruit staff directly through their own website in a very cost effective way and exciting way. It is also a very good way of developing (or improving) your employer brand.

2. How does it work? It uses the flexible functionality of a blog, to create a wide range of exciting options to display jobs, news, videos, photos, interviews and much more. And because it is a blog, it makes the most of Web 2.0 and allows readers (job seekers) to interact with the website. How can you interact? Using one of four ways 1) RSS feeds 2) Email updates 3) Newsletter subscription 4) Comments. If you want to understand it visually, watch a video presentation (approx 10 mins long).

3. But why a blog format? There are the development on the internet that is really changing the way people read websites. There are 110's of millions, which means that job seekers are very comfortable reading them and interacting with them. In fact the Y Generation and the Z Generation, your employees of the future, probably read them all the time. So to have a chance of recruiting these people, you need to be providing them with a site they want to read.

Twitter, Tweets and Twitter Clouds

Twitter, for all of you who don't know is a a new form of social networking that can be used as a very effective marketing channel. I must confess I have now succumbed to Twittering, and I am very surprised how good it is - come and follow me. Anyway if you haven't heard of it, then here is a great starting video for you:

Haven't got time for the video? then have a look at this article from Louise Triance, she covers what Twitter is about very well, and has some great links to other Twitter help guides. If you want to see a good Tweet Cloud, then here is a good example.

Still not sure about it? All I can say is you won't know until you have tried it - and don't forget to let me know!

Your employer brand WILL help your recruitment

Your employer brand WILL help you find the right candidates! The one thing that is imperative is to be certain that your recruitment brand reflects your culture. A recruitment brand succinctly identifies your employment value proposition; “Who are you? What are your values? What do you have to offer employees?  How will they be treated?”  These are the questions that potential employees want to know. 

Does your employment brand provide answers to these questions?

Low hanging fruit does not need to be so expensive!

Why is it that so many companies fail to harvest  'low hanging fruit?'

Let me explain a little further - when I refer to low hanging fruit, I am talking about candidates that have made it very easy for them selves to be found on job boards etc by placing their CV's online. And when they are in the harvest season, they also make themselves readily available by applying for good online advertised jobs, and at the same time they visit many career websites.

So why is it then that companies ignore these 'juicy fruits' (new candidates) and turn to the 'fruit pickers' (recruitment agencies) to deliver their products to them, with the added cost of a large 'delivery fee'?

This is a cause of much frustration to me, when speaking with companies who are complaining about their recruitment process. They just need to look at their direct recruitment strategy, and incorporate some straight forward processes such as placing their own online adverts or creating their own career site/job pages. They could also utilise one of the many online CV databases for a short period of time. These are some of the basics that a recruitment agency would use as their first candidate search for any role you have given them to look at. So why not get there first and save yourself paying for any low hanging fruit they simply pluck from the trees?

You still don't know how powerful RSS can be?

For those of you that know what RSS is, go and make a cup of tea. For those of you that still don't know what this orange square to your left means and how poerful it can be, then you need to watch this short video below: