This my October 15, 2016 academic presentation at the Direct/Interactive Marketing Research Summit in Los Angeles, CA.

1. Teaching Students to Use Social Media
for Personal Branding and Job Search
Denny McCorkle
Professor of Marketing
Monfort College of Business
University of Northern Colorado
2016 Direct/Interactive Marketing Research Summit
Los Angeles, CA
October 15, 2016
#mktgEDGE16 Slides at: http://bit.ly/1jzRnKO

2. Introduction
 According to research by Career Builder, 60% of the
2,000 recruiters in their survey are actively looking on
the web for information to support job applications.
And, 41% are less likely to interview those with no
online presence (2016).
 Harvard Business Review refers to it as a “permanent
job search” as future employers, career stakeholders,
and others may be looking online or seeing a student or
employee’s digital footprint long before a job search
has begun (2012).
 A study on millennials found that college students are
active on social media, but not in a career oriented way
(Schawbel 2012)

3. Introduction
 While most tend to think of the job search as activities “as
needed,” the concept of defining, managing, and controlling
what others find online about a student is more of a
“continuous process” known as personal branding.
 Personal branding is “a way for individuals to differentiate
themselves by identifying their unique value proposition and
communicating it effectively and consistently” (Schawbel
2010).
 Personal branding using social media challenges the students:
 to define and develop their “appropriate self” for the social
environment (theory of sensemaking by Weick 1995),
 to learn from their own experiences (theory of experiential
learning by Kolb 1984), and
 to learn from how others are doing it (social cognitive theory by
Bandura 1986).

5. “Prepare to be
Googled.”
~ @DennyMcCorkle

7. “You are defined by
your social profiles
and social shares.”
~ @DennyMcCorkle

9. Find this:

10. And, not this:

11. The Problem & Solution
Growing use of social media by students,
faculty, and marketers.
Problem:
 Students need to prepare for a
“permanent job search.”
Solution:
 Teach students how to use social media
for personal branding.

12. Benefits of teaching social media
for personal branding.
 Better prepares them for their job search.
 Provides them personal branding skills for
their future career.
 Provides them “real-time” social media skills
development offering continuous
improvement throughout the semester.
 Provides them “real-world” social media
skills that are transferrable to using social
media for a company (job opportunity).

13. Introduction to the Course
 Marketing or Business elective for Business students.
 Course meets 2 days a week: Tuesdays in traditional
classroom, Thursdays in computer lab
 No textbook. Just original slides and e-readings.
 Course topics included:
 an introduction to social media and social business,
 social media marketing and personal branding planning
and strategies,
 inbound and content marketing strategies, and
 the strategic real-time use of Twitter, WordPress and
blogs, LinkedIn, and others.

14. The Project: Strategy Development
 Define:
 career focus
 personal brand identity (desired image)
 Develop:
 target markets for social sharing and potential employment
 content marketing strategy
 engagement strategies
 PLN to support their social sharing and self-learning.
 Create:
 career focused tagline/headline using keywords for personal SEO
 Biography/introduction using brand storytelling
 Implement/Use:
 Primary: Twitter, WordPress, LinkedIn
 Secondary: Facebook Like pages, Google+, Pinterest or YouTube
 Tools: Feedly, HootSuite, Klout

15. Student Feedback -
Benefits:
Twitter WordPress
blogging
LinkedIn
Challenging 5.19 5.31 4.19
Fun 4.71 4.91 3.77
Rewarding 4.77 5.00 4.39
Beneficial 5.35 5.47 4.90
Stressful 4.58 4.91 3.52
Essential 4.90 4.41 4.48
Practical 5.26 4.97 4.84
Real-World Experience 5.48 5.28 4.58
Social Learning (from others) 5.48 5.06 5.39
Self-Learning (from myself) 5.35 5.53 4.16
Skill Building 5.10 5.50 4.55
Expertise Building 5.16 5.44 4.68
Brand Building 5.65 5.53 4.58
Overall use of for personal
branding
5.61 5.22 5.90
Overall use for social media
marketing
5.74 5.28 5.45
Benefits of
Project
SD = 1 to
SA = 7
n = 31

16. Student Feedback -
Skills Improvement:
Avg.
Social media networking 6.16
Self-learning 5.74
Social-learning 5.90
Written communication 5.23
Technology 5.58
Social media marketing
strategy
6.00
Personal branding 6.03
Real-world experiential 5.52
Content consumption 5.77
Content curation 5.84
Content creation 5.77
Social media engagement 5.52
Social media influence 5.58
Social media metrics 5.90
Skills Development
From Project
SD = 1 to SA = 7
n = 31

17. Conclusions
 Students need social media skills for
numerous marketing job opportunities.
 Students need personal branding skills for
the permanent job search and future
career.
 A social media marketing course can offer
numerous real-time and real-world
experiences.

18. Connect with Denny McCorkle at:
 Blog: DigitalSelfMarketingAdvantage.com
 Syndicated/Featured at: Social Media Today,
Business2Community, AllTop
 LinkedIn: Denny McCorkle
 Twitter: @DennyMcCorkle
 Email: DennyMcCorkle@gmail.com
 Download copy of slides at: http://bit.ly/1jzRnKO
Denny McCorkle ★ Digital Marketing Professor
at UNCo ★ Social Media Marketing for Personal
Branding & Job Search (PB&J) ★ Blogger ★
Speaker ★ #DigitalSMA ★ #ALLinLinkedIn ★
#AhaLessons