MAD Perspectives Blog

I’m wondering about the impact of identity when it comes to corporations.  Earlier this year, we discussed corporate identity with our friends at Taylor O’Brien.  As brands define their identity and take that identity into the social arena, we advise a consistency in how they represent themselves.  The question that is puzzling me now, is if I work for a major corporation, am I Peggy Dau or am I Peggy from Company X?  If I am socializing as a business professional, my employer would argue that I am a representative of the company.  Since they provide me with a paycheck, I would agree.

However, in the social arena, Peggy Dau is a unique individual with profiles on Facebook, LinkedIn and other social places.  I tweet as MADPerspectives, which is my consulting business, because Twitter allows pseudonyms.  But, I could argue that MAD Perspectives is a real name – for my business.  The content I tweet as MADPerspectives, is content related to my business and the industries I serve.  It’s an interesting conundrum, isn’t it?!

The challenge for companies is to define their identity and set clear guidelines for how their employees who are representing the company in social networking, understand the voice, culture, image that the brand wants to reflect.  Companies by their very nature are somewhat anonymous.  Sure, we understand what Apple, Coca Cola and Proctor & Gamble stand for, but do we really associate with individual employees?  Do we want to?  Do employees want to be recognized and associated with their employer as the engage in social networking.  For social media mavens, representing their respective companies, this is an opportunity to build their personal brand as they represent the corporate brand.  However, customer support teams may prefer some protection of their identity – not because they don’t provide excellent customer support, but for reasons of safety or career aspirations.

Corporate identity has taken on new meaning in the authentic, transparent and spontaneous social community.  Can a corporation be transparent if it doesn’t reveal the real names of its social networkers?  It is authentic when tweets come from @BronxZoosCobra?  Are “push” marketing tweets from consumer and high tech brands really spontaneous?  In fact, they are an extension of an overall marketing plan to increase brand and product awareness – reinforcing brand identity and consistent messaging, but perhaps losing authenticity.

It’s a new world and our identities are tied to the context in which our networks know us and the perspectives they have of our personal and corporate identities.

What’s your perspective?

Do you use LinkedIn?  If so, you're one of the 90M+ people, in over 200 countries, that have a profiled on LinkedIn.  If you are a business person and you crave an online professional networking destination - LinkedIn is it.  You can:

     - Tell your professinal story
     - Get and stay connected with business colleagues - even if you, or they, change jobs
     - Pursue career opportunities
     - Get informed about people and companies before you actually meet them
     - Identify decision makers or influencers and get connected to them
     - Ask questions about ANY business related topic

There are competitors who offer business networking (i.e., Plaxo, Naymz, Xing) or job search (i.e., Monster, CareerBuilder, Ladders), but LinkedIn has created (and continues to enhance) the site for professional networking.  It is a critical part of your online social identity - particularly as it relates to your career.



I joined LinkedIn while i was still working at Hewlett-Packard.  I was happy in my job and was not particularly interested in online networking.  However, I responded to an invitation from a colleage and so began my LinkedIn journey.  It started as an "online rolodex" - a place to capture the details about the business contacts I made while jetting around the globe on behalf of HP.  Now, it is an integral part of every business day.  How?

LinkedIn provides me with insights about people and companies.  I learn about an individual's experience (roles, companies, responsibilities, value), education, social behavior (do they blog?  tweet?  join discussions?), personal interests, travel schedule and their connectivity (how many LinkedIn connects do you have?).  With the introduction of Company Pages last year, I can gain quick insight into the companies for whom they have worked.

I am about to head out on a business development trip to California.  As I was thinking about this trip, I prowled through my list of contacts on LinkedIn.  I was seeking colleagues that worked at companies that might be interested in my consulting services.  In many cases, my connections had changed companies and I had contacts at many companies that were of high interest to me as potential clients.  I used LinkedIn to reach out to these contacts and set up meetings.  I did not need to know their current email addresses - LinkedIn was my intermediary.

I also learn a lot about people simply from the way they have created their profile.  Many colleagues, who are extremely happy in their current jobs, have profiles that I consider placeholders.  They share the bare minimum of information about their professional background and interests.  They have less than 50 connections.  They do not have linkes to their company page or website.  I'll know they are job hunting when they beef up their profile and their connections! 

Have you worked on your profile lately?  If you need to connect to a key decision maker, increase your professinal visibility or are seeking a new job, check out your profile and think about what it says about you.  Chances are that your new contacts are going to check it out too.  Here is a quick look at the most important features:

     - Professional headline - this is who you are or who you want to be, it is not necessarily your current title
     - Picture - this should be a headshot and yes, you should have a picture.  Proessionals like to do business with people, not profiles!
     - Links - reference urls for your company's website, its blog (or your blog!), twitter, etc.
     - Summary - this is about you and the value you provide.  This is your opportunity to highlight what makes your special, what gets you excited and your dream role.  It should not be a description of your current job as you will have the opportunity to share that under Experience
     - Experience - reflect not only your title and responsibilities, but the value that you provide to your customers (we all have customers, some are external and others are internal to the company)
     - Recommendations - request references from your colleagues, customers and partners.  Their comments will be revealing to you and to your connections!
     -  Contact Seetings - indicate the types of contact you are interested in receiving

LinkedIn vs. Resume - LinkedIn is living and dynmaic, just like you.  The resume is not dead, yet, but it is a static snapshot of your skills, education and experience.  It is still relevant to have both a resume and a LinkedIn profile.  they should be omplementary.  You can walk into a meeting with a resume and your resume can include a pointer to your LinkedIn profile.  Like all things social, your LinkedIn profile should offer transparency and authenticity.  Let the real you shine through!

Go ahead, go check out your profile.  Then check out the profiles of some of your connections.  What do you think?  Let me know what your learn!

What's your perspective?

Stay tuned, next week I'll take a deeper look at LinkedIn value for companies.

Networking.  What a loaded term. 

Many people have an irrational response when they hear this term.  Combine that with the term “social” and the reaction is more exaggerated.   Dictionary.com defines networking is defined as “a supportive system of sharing information and services among individuals and groups having a common interest”  There are some who consider networking to be a social activity with no measurable benefit.  There are others who consider networking life’s blood.    Either way, by its very nature ,networking is social and it is valuable.

If you mention social networking in an enterprise environment, most immediate thoughts lean towards 3^rd party or public social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  A few more seconds may pass and LinkedIn and Plaxo will come to mind.  They, at least, are business centric.  However, the first reaction is, social networking is a distraction to accomplishing your everyday work tasks.  Many executives fear decreased productivity as they imagine employees spending hours on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube or Twitter.

I would disagree.  Networking for mutual benefit has been going on for ages.  Cavemen communicated and shared information through the use of rudimentary sketches.  Seasoned sales professionals use the golf course and favorite lunch spot to solidify business relationships.  World leaders convene to address political, economic and ecological concerns regularly.  Aren’t these all forms of networking?  It is only when we add that word “social” that we think it is personal.  Instead we should think of social as defining the platform.  Social networking is simply networking enabled by platforms that leverage the internet.

We must remember why we network. 

We network to connect.   We connect for knowledge.  We connect for a sense of community.  We network within our companies to understand  what roles others play.  We want to understand when new positions may be available.  We want others to know our ambitions.  We want to find answers to questions about new products, new technology, market trends and more.    We seek interaction.  In company environments that are increasingly geographically dispersed and include office workers and telecommuters, we seek new, innovative ways to connect to our peers.

We network outside the company to drive business, to discover valuable business partners, to leverage complementary products and/or services.  Social networking platforms can be adapted for enterprise use.  Many platforms are used externally already, with more options and uses being implemented every day.  Blogs, wikis, tweets, forums and microsites are used to create communities addressing customer requirements for product information and support. 

The goal is to keep it all in perspective.

Networking, old school or social, is all about how we discover, find and access individuals with knowledge.  As I commence this new adventure called MAD Perspectives, networking is a key to gathering information and making contacts for the business.