i'm a presenting in a few days at Bob Corlett's Project SAME, a DC area networking group for HR/staffing pros, on the topic of... drum roll please....! jumping into social media for HR peeps. i've already blogged about message one of the presentation - it's time
to change your tune. HR isn't about just HR anymore - HR has to be
about marketing, and that's is why social media has to matter to you. and in thinking about how to transition into the next part of the presentation - the actual tools - i find myself wondering if the next logical step is actually addressing the hesitations and objections.
i was inspired by a presentation that my friend Ben Gotkin of RSM McGladrey just did at the 2009 Spring ERE Expo on implementing a social media recruiting plan. (thanks to the power of the interwebs, i could watch the conference being streamed on ERE's website! here's Ben's session.) Ben talked a bit about objections or hurdles for making the jump into social media recruiting - because yes, people find it confusing, or overwhelming. i did at first too! and based on questions asked in the audience even at the end of Ben's presentation, i realized that there are a LOT of myths about social media - regardless of whether you're considering using it for recruiting, or anything else. so, let's debunk them.
myth #1: it's only for extroverts. i'd argue it's a mix of extroverts and introverts both engaging in social media and i might argue there are more introverts. me? i'm an introvert - but i tweet, and use Facebook, and blog. i like producing and consuming content both - but what makes social media work for me is that i can converse and be "out there" without having to really put myself out there. you can hide behind your laptop safely but still be part of a community - because we all want to belong, don't we?
myth #2: it's for play and all personal. initially, why people jump into social media is usually for personal reasons... perhaps. but more and more people are finding the value of establishing their brand online - and they're putting themselves out there to be found for professional reasons. enough said.
myth #3: you need to be tech savvy. you need to like technology, and be willing to play with it. but you don't need to understand how it works. on the back end, i don't get any of it. people talk about API's and i have no clue what it means. i'm too lazy to even look it up on wikipedia. and i don't care that much... you have to be curious, and when you get "advanced," you do need to know how different social media tools might interact with each other. that's it. trust me. i'm so clueless when it comes to technology that when my wifi signal is down, i plug in my cord-thingie... and at one point in time, i sat around plugged in to access the web for two months. you don't need to know how it works.
myth #4: it's all young people who use social media. can i just give you anecdotal proof? most all of my friends are on Facebook - but almost none are on Twitter or blog. most of my social media friends? older. (relatively speaking.) 30+. for those who want more proof, a BIGresearch study found that the average blogger is actually 37.6 years old. this Techcrunch piece breaks down the rising average age of Facebook users. and here is the Pew Internet's study on generations online in 2009. everyone is online. believe it.
myth #5: you need a lot of free, extra time. you have to be committed to being online and to using social media. true, it's still a bit unclear how much time you have to spend to really see results or to have someone manage social media for your organization or for your recruiting efforts. know this though - people who love technology like for it to be streamlined, and easy. if there's a quicker easier way to do things or use technology, someone is figuring it out. take Twitter or Facebook for example - you can update and maintain both while on the go with your mobile device.
myth #6. it's not measurable. social media can be measured - you just need to know what tools to use. here's a post at Fistful of Talent that outlines a metrics as a starting point for measuring the efficacy of social media, particularly for recruiting. but there are parallels for many industries, or for yourself it's just that you have to understand social media is about conversations and community so there's a slight mind shift that has to be made when you consider measuring it - it's not all quantitative, a lot of it is qualitative.
and there are more objections and hesitations about social media that might actually be truths - because there are issues that make social media a bit of a challenge. but i'd argue those could be managed so perhaps we'll tackle that next here on la blog. coming to mind, some of the truths... you develop a faux intimacy. social media changes rapidly and there are new tools all the time. it can be a time suck. i dunno if i'll incorporate these six myths into the final deck for Project SAME... but i think we'll work towards debunking them at the end. full presentation to be posted later this week.
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