LinkedIn and Branding: Employer’s are Watching

Branding yourself effectively is essential in today’s labor market.  It’s important to “sell yourself,” and market your skills to land a career that you’re after.  And a huge part of selling yourself to employers is how you appear online.

In 2003, the social networking site, “LinkedIn”  was founded, with the intention of being a place for professionals to connect with ease.  Today, the site has over 238 million registered users with over 3 million business pages [links].  Now that’s some serious opportunity to connect... right?

Well, sort-of.  In What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Boles (2012 edition), Boles says that research has shown that only 4 out of 100 job-seekers who use only the internet to job-hunt are successful.  He does note, however, “If you are seeking a technical or computer-related job... the success rate rises, to somewhere around 10 percent.” (sweet for us CS majors)

I suspect these numbers will go up as services like linkedin improve, and employers get more comfortable with them.  But for now, linkedin is less about job-hunting and more about professional image.  Two of Boles’ “best ways to hunt for a job” are: asking for leads from family members and friends (33% success rate), and knocking on the door of any employer that interests you (47% success rate).  Once you’ve gotten in contact with those employers, then linkedin comes into play.  An employer who is interested and is worth their salt will look you up (especially in computer-related industry), and having a good online impression is key.

The incredibly simple to use Skills section of linkedin

Linkedin continues to make soliciting your value as an employee easier and easier.  It currently functions as a great tool for employers to evaluate prospect employees.  Hopefully soon it’ll become the main place employers look to fill positions in the first place.

QR Codes: Ruined by Poor Usage

When QR codes started popping up everywhere a few years ago, I couldn’t have been more disinterested.  Nothing could convince me to go through the steps to scan a QR code.  “So... it’ll just direct me to a website that I could probably get to anyway with a 2 word google search and a click? No thanks.”  My phone already felt crowded with underused apps, and I didn’t see myself using the QR app frequently enough to justify having it take up space in my menus.

My first QR Code Scan

A few months ago, though, a video game (Guacamelee!) had a secret area with a QR code on the wall.  I caved.  After a minute or two, I finally was able to scan it.  What came up was just text: “Congratulations!  You successfully identified and scanned a QR code! Great Job!”  (A practical joke by the developers of the game).  Needless to say, it took a lot to get me to scan my first QR code, and doing so was a huge let-down.

Since having the app, I’ve scanned a few more QR codes (on product packaging mostly), and all of them have left me thinking, “well, that was a waste.”  Usually it directs me to a generic website (pepsi.com... cool) that’s not optimized for a phone.  QR codes with this function only serve as an annoyance, and leave me wondering why companies bother with them at all.

I tell the story of my experience with QR codes, because I feel like it is just about typical:

check them out once, have a disappointing experience, and almost never scan again.

According to this study by comScore, 50 percent of mobile phone users have scanned a QR code before at least once in their life.  However, the study showed that in the month of June, 2011, only 6.2% of mobile users scanned a code.  So clearly most people who have tried it did not become frequent scanners (or even monthly scanners).  My guess is that many of those 6.2% were first or second-time scanners.

This week I’ve asked a couple dozen friends how many QR codes they’ve scanned before.  Everyone said they’ve scanned once, but the highest count I got was, “about 5.”  No one I asked is a regular scanner.

QR Code for this Blog

Why don’t people become regular scanners?  Companies are using QR codes improperly.  This column on MarketingLand.com sums it up nicely with its list of “5 Reasons for the Death of QR Codes.”  But to me the best point made is, “In many cases, the mobile experience sitting behind the QR code is a disappointment.”  Companies are shelling out QR codes that are conditioning us to be annoyed by them.

So are QR codes useless?  No.  They can awesome when used correctly.  I saw a cool use of them just recently.  In a building at Stanford University, the conference rooms had QR codes on the doors with, “scan for room availability” written under them.  This is actually practical, because that information would be otherwise somewhat tedious to attain.

A comment on the aforementioned column suggests some other uses for QR codes, like one that instantly adds an event to a calendar, or one on a take out menu that initiates a call to the restaurant.  Unfortunately, clever uses like these are rare to find in today’s QR codes.

All in all, the public’s perception of QR codes has been demolished because of their overuse in places where they only make things more difficult.  Often times they feel like a scam; taking advantage of peoples curiosity for some cheap advertising.  QR codes should be used sparingly, and only in situation that truly save the user time.  In my opinion, they’re most useful (and least disappointing) when the user knows what to expect once the scan goes through.

Social Networking Security or Lack of When Promoting Your Brand

I always thought facebook security was simple: don’t be an idiot, and nothing bad will happen.  It seems obvious to me to have a good password that gets changed often, never leave my facebook open where someone else could get to it, etc.  Anyone who isn’t completely computer-illiterate or careless will be fine, right?

This summer I worked for a summer camp (DaVinci Camp) and a huge portion of my job was to update and maintain the facebook page of the camp.  I found it surprisingly difficult, as every single thing I posted must be carefully thought out.  One wrong move can completely change the image of a whole organization in the blink of an eye.  I found myself second-guessing all the time, and taking a long time to make any posts at all.  “What will people think of this?”  “Is this really worth posting?”  I stayed away from liking things entirely.  What if a potential customer doesn’t agree with the page I’m liking?  Still, I thought as long as I was careful, nothing could go wrong.

After reading “A Guide To Facebook Security,” (McCarthy, Watson, Weldon-Siviy) though, I realized just how careful I need to be.  The article talked about one thing that really caught my attention, something I’d never heard of or even thought about before: “likejacking.”  McCarthy says, “One form of clickjacking is to hide a LIKE button underneath a dummy button.  That’s called Likejacking.”  This tricky tactic makes me nervous, as one false step could shift the my whole image, or worse, that of DaVinci Camp, and I wouldn’t even know it.

The solution I suppose would be to log out of the important facebook account unless you’re actively using the page.  McCarthy also says having up-to-date browsers can help prevent clickjacking.  After reading this, I’ve checked my own facebook wall everyday just to make sure that I haven’t “liked” something that I didn’t actually mean to.  The length that sites are willing to go through for a like is sad, and frightening.