Designing your Social Media Presence  Introduction The head of your company passed you in the hall and asked, “Why couldn’t I find you on LinkedIn?  I want to make a connection with you!" Companies are expanding their use of social media to external stakeholders for a variety of reasons, including, as cited by Social Media Today (2014): · Customer Service – successful use of social media provides channels to customers that allow for real-time communication that can be used to · answer questions · solve problems · support the sales process · convey care for customers · solicit customer feedback · Brand Building – by increasing exposure through more channels brands can be strengthened by · building awareness and identity · associating a “voice” with the brand · reaching more customers · enabling competition with larger companies · expanding reach to global markets · while making relationships more personal · Reputation Management – through monitoring of online presence that enables companies to · become more accessible · drive more traffic to web presence · link to other partners · respond swiftly to negative comments and complaints In addition, companies are employing social media internal to their organizations.  Towers Watson (2013) found in their surveys that “56% of the employers surveyed currently use various social media tools as part of their internal communication initiatives.” · Internal Communications – serving as official and unofficial channels of communication for the purposes of · sharing company-wide official information · introducing and reinforcing company culture · facilitating communication among employees across organizational boundaries · supporting collaborative work · building a sense of community There has also been a rise in “social recruiting,” employers, recruiters, and job seekers employing social media to find jobs and hire candidates. · Recruiting – by performing web searches · Employers and recruiters seek out prospective employees to obtain more information about them, both professional and personal; examine examples of their past work; and gain insights into potential “fit” with the organization · Job seekers are using social media to gather information on potential employers, checking their outlets for information company culture, management, benefits, and employee opinions A survey of recruiters reports that overwhelmingly, recruiters who use social media use LinkedIn to post jobs, search for candidates, contact candidates and do pre-interview vetting (Jobvite 6th Annual Social Recruiting Survey).  A new survey from Careerbuilder found: · 43% of employer respondents use social networking sites to research job candidates, and that · 51% of those employers who researched job candidates found content in their profiles that caused them to not hire the candidate To understand the reasons why employers are disqualifying candidates, view the survey results at Employers Passing on Applicants Due to Social Media Posts.

1. Designing your Social Media Presence
Introduction
The head of your company passed you in the hall and asked,
“Why couldn’t I find you on LinkedIn? I want to make a
connection with you!"
Companies are expanding their use of social media to external
stakeholders for a variety of reasons, including, as cited by
Social Media Today (2014):
· Customer Service – successful use of social media provides
channels to customers that allow for real-time communication
that can be used to
· answer questions
· solve problems
· support the sales process
· convey care for customers
· solicit customer feedback
· Brand Building – by increasing exposure through more
channels brands can be strengthened by
· building awareness and identity
· associating a “voice” with the brand
· reaching more customers
· enabling competition with larger companies
· expanding reach to global markets
· while making relationships more personal
· Reputation Management – through monitoring of online
presence that enables companies to
· become more accessible
· drive more traffic to web presence
· link to other partners
· respond swiftly to negative comments and complaints
In addition, companies are employing social media internal to
their organizations. Towers Watson (2013) found in their
surveys that “56% of the employers surveyed currently use
various social media tools as part of their internal

2. communication initiatives.”
· Internal Communications – serving as official and unofficial
channels of communication for the purposes of
· sharing company-wide official information
· introducing and reinforcing company culture
· facilitating communication among employees across
organizational boundaries
· supporting collaborative work
· building a sense of community
There has also been a rise in “social recruiting,” employers,
recruiters, and job seekers employing social media to find jobs
and hire candidates.
· Recruiting – by performing web searches
· Employers and recruiters seek out prospective employees to
obtain more information about them, both professional and
personal; examine examples of their past work; and gain
insights into potential “fit” with the organization
· Job seekers are using social media to gather information on
potential employers, checking their outlets for information
company culture, management, benefits, and employee opinions
A survey of recruiters reports that overwhelmingly, recruiters
who use social media use LinkedIn to post jobs, search for
candidates, contact candidates and do pre-interview vetting
(Jobvite 6th Annual Social Recruiting Survey). A new survey
from Careerbuilder found:
· 43% of employer respondents use social networking sites to
research job candidates, and that
· 51% of those employers who researched job candidates found
content in their profiles that caused them to not hire the
candidate
To understand the reasons why employers are disqualifying
candidates, view the survey results at Employers Passing on
Applicants Due to Social Media Posts Continues to Rise and
read this article On LinkedIn, A Reference You Didn't
Write.You'll also want to read this article: How to Use Social
Media to Land a Job.

3. For these reasons, understanding how to effectively employ
social media is essential, whether you are required to use it in
performing your job or you want to optimize your presence to
attract future employers. In this assignment we will explore
LinkedIn, the social media platform designed for use by the
business community.
Work through the assignment in two parts, with your LinkedIn
profile as the final deliverable:
1 Perform an exploration of your career path that helps you gain
clarity about your desired profession. Structure your thinking
as if you were developing a Personal Career Path Statement.
This is to guide your exploration.
2 Create (or revise) a LinkedIn page that reflects the career
exploration that you performed
Steps
Step 1 – Using a variety of Library and Web resources, perform
an exploration of your career path to inform your LinkedIn
page.
To guide your exploration consider the items listed below. You
may also include (on a limited basis) information you learned in
the “Trends in my Profession” assignment. This part does not
have to be submitted in an assignment folder, but the ideas you
find should inform your LinkedIn page.
1 Situation analysis of the career market that includes:
a Macro-level: What is the market like for this type of career
path in general? Is the industry demand increasing, decreasing,
or remaining steady? Is it better in some areas than others,
etc.?
b Competitive environment: Who are the other competitors
seeking positions in this profession? Are there potentially other
competitors in related industries? Can you identity particular
individuals who are your main competition (which will be the
case if you are competing internally). How do you compare to
these competitors?
c Internal environment: What are the needs in the particular
companies/organizations that you are targeting?

4. 1 Your goals and objectives: Make them specific. What
particular positions do you want, and what is your time frame
for obtaining them? It’s a good idea to have some steps along
the way. Include plans for expanding your skills along the way.
2 Other important elements
a Identify the industry and employers you are targeting.
b Identify the most important key skills/benefits you deliver to
your industry, employer, or customer, for example, unique
insights into a particular job function, well-honed people skills,
and extensive experience in a particular area.
c Identify your main competitors. If you are looking industry-
wide, these may be graduates of other schools or those with
similar or different qualifications; if you are looking to be
promoted within a company, the competition may be particular
individuals in your company.
d Describe how are you different from your competitors in a
positive way that makes you stand out from the other
competitors in the market.
Once you complete this advance work, create your LinkedIn
page.
Step 2- Create (or revise) a LinkedIn page
1 Create or revise an existing page. Start to communicate your
value and/or availability to the target companies/organizations
by drawing on your Personal Career Path Statement. Other
resources you may consult are listed below:
· http://www.socialquickstarter.com/content/19-
setting_up_a_linkedin_profile
· http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-set-up-a-
profile-on-linkedin.html
· http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-
careers/2013/04/23/7-steps-to-creating-the-best-linkedin-profile
Step 3
Once you have created your LinkedIn page, go through the
LinkedIn Checklist (Optimizing Your LinkedIn™ Profile: A
Checklist) and make any revisions you think are necessary.
Deliverables

5. 1 Post the link to your profile in the assignment folder.
2 Also post the PDF of the page to the assignment folder. To
create the PDF, right click on the LinkedIn page. Select “Print,”
and then “Save as PDF.”
3 If you revise a LinkedIn page, you need to submit a copy of
the original LinkedIn page to compare to the newly revised
page. To post a copy of the original LinkedIn page to the
assignment folder, create a PDF of the original page. To create
the PDF, right click on the LinkedIn page. Select “Print,” and
then “Save as PDF.”
4 Post in this week's Discussion (LinkedIn) and reply to your
classmates' posts.
5 If there is a security clearance or other reason you should not
create a LinkedIn page, please contact your instructor for an
alternate assignment.
Due Date
Oct 30, 2016 11:59 PM
Hide Rubrics
Rubric Name: TGS Communication Rubric-LinkedIn (Revised
Summer 2016)
2. Develop coherent paragraphs or points so that each is
internally unified and so that each functions as part of the whole
document or presentation.
HIGHLY PROFICIENT (100-90%)

6. PROFICIENT (89-80%)
DEVELOPING PROFICIENCY (79-70%)
LOW/NO PROFICIENCY (69-0%)
2.1 Create meaningful topic sentence for each paragraph or
point.
2.2 Develop each paragraph’s single topic to the appropriate
depth.
2.3 Supply relevant and original supporting detail.
3. Tailor communications to the audience.
HIGHLY PROFICIENT (100-90%)
PROFICIENT (89-80%)
DEVELOPING PROFICIENCY (79-70%)
LOW/NO PROFICIENCY (69-0%)
3.1 Identify target audience.
3.2 Explain unfamiliar terms and material.
3.3 Employ precise, appropriate language.

7. 3.4 Use audience-appropriate, consistent tone.
3.5 Avoid language which indicates bias against
individuals/groups their affiliations, orientations and beliefs.
4. Use sentence structure appropriate to the task, message and
audience.
HIGHLY PROFICIENT (100-90%)
PROFICIENT (89-80%)
DEVELOPING PROFICIENCY (79-70%)
LOW/NO PROFICIENCY (69-0%)
4.1 Demonstrate variation in sentence structure.
4.2 Express ideas clearly and concisely.
4.3 Eliminate sentence-level errors such as run-ons/comma
splices and sentence fragments.

8. 5. Follow conventions of Standard Written English.
HIGHLY PROFICIENT (100-90%)
PROFICIENT (89-80%)
DEVELOPING PROFICIENCY (79-70%)
LOW/NO PROFICIENCY (69-0%)
5.1 Adhere to standard usage rules of grammar and mechanics.
5.2 Adhere to standard usage rules of word choice.
5.3 Adhere to standard usage rules of spelling.
Overall Score
Level 4
Level 3
Level 2
Level 1