Network Noise

Ten weeks in MixORG.

An exciting internship.

An unforgettable family.

It doesn’t seem long back that I blogged about my first day at a Social Media Marketing company. Fascinated by the fact that ‘work’ now meant Facebooking and office meant two chaotic rooms brimming with life and ideas. Time sure did fly by. And now it’s time to say goodbye.

As I reminisce about these ten weeks, I marvel at the breadth of experiences I have had here. I came as a blog-writer. Along with my job, I wrote a few case-studies, managed online communities, handled online marketing campaigns for an e-commerce portal, interviewed prospective interns, covered a music festival on Social Media and pursued corporate proposals. Not to mention my daily job of making tea and coffee for the entire office (completely voluntary!) And this is something that can only happen in a start-up, where you are not confined to limiting job descriptions, enclosed cabins, rigid practices and stifling hierarchies.

No. This is an office where the boss demands that you disagree with him and question his statements. This is a place where people proactively share their knowledge and expertise. This is a workspace where before every big decision, everyone gets together to brainstorm. Targets are set together. Achievements are celebrated collectively.

As I say goodbye, I feel grateful to:

 Sachin, for always challenging me to do more and better; and for being the driving force behind all my achievements here

Gaurav, for showing me a whole new world of e-commerce and teaching me what it takes to completely own a project like one’s own baby

Prashanth, for patiently explaining me ‘analytics’ and helping me see sense in numbers and graphs

Alok, for helping me understand online advertisements and social recruiting, along with cheering me up whenever I felt low

Richa, for welcoming me with open arms into her world of online communities and always willingly sharing information

Vimal, for teaching me the practical aspects of HR, the benefits of Green Tea, and most importantly, for inspiring me through his actions to be generous and large-hearted

Subinoy and Shyam, for making me appreciate how very important art is to support technology and innovation

Poonam and Divyanshi, for working on endless iterations without a complaint, to make my visions come true through programming

It has been a joy working with MixORGians, and even though I am pained to leave, I have no doubt that I will always be part of this family.

Love, over time, has happened through arranged marriages, common friends, workplace, long-distance letters and with technology coming in, even over emails and mobile phones. The latest trend, however, is love via Social Media.

Facebook Fortune!

A recent post going viral on Facebook is a picture of Ganeshji from the famous Siddhi Vinayak temple. The photograph comes with clear instructions to “Share if you wanna get settled this year”. While Lord Ganesha may or may not bless young couples online, those sharing the photograph are definitely ensuring one thing: friends from the opposite gender are in no doubt that they are single and ready to mingle. Subtle hints!  

“Will you be my Valentine?”

A rather new ‘social’ phenomenon is fixing oneself a date via social media. Gaurav, who has been engaged to Piyushi for the last three years wanted to ask her out on Valentine’s Day. When she logged into her Facebook account on the morning of 14th February, she was pleasantly surprised to see an advertisement addressed to her on the right-side of her Facebook page saying, “Will you be my Valentine tonight?” On clicking the ad, she was floored to see a photograph of the couple with the time and venue for their Valentine date. Cool, isn’t it?

(http://mixorg.tumblr.com/post/17558453759/valentine)

Professional Groom-Hunting

If you thought that marriages were being fixed over Social networks by tech-savvy young men and women only, this story will make you rethink. Col (Retd) Ajit Singh was searching for the perfect man for his daughter. For all names referred to him, the first thing he would do was to log onto LinkedIn, where he would thoroughly scan the candidate’s credentials.

“Search” out the Best Man!

Prashanth Pattabiraman, who works at MixORG, is the fourth most searched keyword diverting traffic to his company’s website, thanks to potential mothers-in-law searching him out on Google! Enquire further and he’ll confess that most of the visitors on his LinkedIn profile are Tamil Brahmin mothers, with young daughters within marriageable age.

Wedding Bells

Social media doesn’t disappoint once you’re hooked either. Sherena and Abraham created a brief YouTube video that tells the story of their love, and ends by inviting the viewer to their wedding.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNp_RT_Guu4

Marriages are made in heaven; and brought together over Social Media.

#Love is trending. Are you?

We agree that Social Recruiting is the way to go. We have also seen the various Social Media platforms that we can leverage on. So before we take the plunge in this latest trend, here’s the final post in this series on Social Recruiting: tips and tricks for Social Recruiters.

Be Professional!

Hire a Social Media Agency: they create and maintain professional profile pages for you, as well as attractive and easy-to-use job search Applications. Furthermore, the portals and pages need constant monitoring and tracking. An agency dedicated to this task is the best bet for you. MixORG is one such agency that is currently handling Social Recruiting for reputed organizations.

Think before you speak

Content on your social media portals is very important as this is what job-seekers may rely on to judge your brand. Hire excellent Community Managers to manage the content and relations with the community

Sneak-peek

Keep your audience engaged by giving them what they want: a glimpse into what life would be like if they join your organization

Be Polite

Even if you don’t plan to hire someone, be polite. Negative comments about your company can go viral faster than positive ones

Privacy Problem

If you’re scanning a potential employee’s Facebook or Twitter page to form an impression on him, double check the laws of the land: privacy issues could easily arise

Are you Listening?

Don’t just tell prospective job-seekers what you want, listen to them as well. Read and monitor their comments and discussions on each job posting. This helps you answer specific queries and you may learn a lot about how you are perceived as a potential employer

I’m lovin it!

Nothing works better than first-hand testimonials. Encourage your existing employees to talk positively about their work experience

All set? Now we know why we should opt for social recruiting, which Social Networks should we use for job postings and some tips and tricks for beginners in this field. Don’t wait! Get started, and if you need any help, MixORG is there to support you.

Read our other blog posts on Social Recruiting here: http://mixorg.tumblr.com/archive 

Convinced that Social Recruitment is the way to go? Wondering where to start?

In the second article on the Social Recruiting series by MixORG, we talk about the large number of platforms through which you can target talent these days. How can each of these be used and what are their special features? Read on.

LinkedIN: According to a survey conducted by recruiting platform, Jobvite, close to 80% of organizations today are on LinkedIn for the purpose of recruitment. A professional network where people list out their professional achievements and qualifications, this is one of the best portals to spot appropriate talent. Added advantages: use premium filters and professional recruitment tools, directly message candidates, attract right talent with targeted campiagns.

Facebook: Without doubt the single largest networking platform today, this is where you want to be if you want to reach out to a larger audience. Attractive Social Apps don’t just give out information, but also engage job seekers and serve towards Employer Branding. This is also one of the first places an employee will check you out. That is to say, a future employer’s brand and image can make or break depending on their Facebook page.

Twitter: Follow Google’s own example and tweet about job opportunities, offices, culture and work life. Thanks to Twitter’s ‘Follow’ option, interested job seekers can now ensure your job postings reach their home page directly. The power of ‘Retweet’ would ensure that word spreads around rapidly enough.

BranchOut: Surveys on Social Recruiting claim that more than 80% of job seekers today are on Facebook. BranchOut, thus, is an attempt to create a professional network within Facebook and capture this audience. The ‘Jobs Tab’ allows brands to post jobs here, leverage on relevant Facebook communities and use the effective Recruiting tools this portal offers. Job seekers find it easy to spot the vacancy, apply, share the job with friends and find their contacts within the company.

Pinterest: The fun pin-up board is the last place you might expect yourself going for recruitment purposes. But this is exactly where you may want to go if you’re looking for creative people. Jeanne was famously hired by Pinterest after she used the portal to pitch herself through a stunning ‘visual resume’ pinned to her page. Employers too, are now pinning up job-postings on their Pinterest board!

With so many options to advertise those vacancies in your organization, what are you waiting for? If you’re still wondering how to begin your social recruitment on these amazing networks, remain with us. The third article in this series of blogs on Social Recruitment will be coming soon with some tips and tricks for you!

Read other articles on Social Recruiting and Social Media here: http://mixorg.tumblr.com/archive 

Like it or not, some trends are here to stay. Many workplaces have resisted the infiltration of Social Media in office cubicles, and even gone to the extent of banning Facebook and the likes. Today, however, a growing number of organizations are realizing that Social Media is the best hunting ground for new talent.

According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 56% of HR professionals today are capitalizing on the power of social networks to recruit candidates. Here’s why it’s a wise thing to do:

Don’t waste resources advertising to someone you don’t even want to recruit!

Unlike traditional media, Social Media allows you targeted advertising. Interested in an English Literature Major only? Thanks to the ‘interests’ of members listed on Social Media sites, you can ensure your job advertisement appears only to English Literature Graduates! So now tailor the audience of each job posting as per the vacancy’s specific requirements.

Why pay for Job Postings when you can do it for free?

A large number of recruiters are beginning to capitalize on status updates and connected networks to advertise job postings free of cost. A single update by Sopra, for example, will reflect on the newsfeed of all the people who ‘Like’ Sopra’s Facebook page, which means only interested people see it. Furthermore, these people can ‘Like’ and ‘Share’ the posting to make it viral among their peer and friends. Thus, Facebook, LinkedIN, Yahoo groups, Bulletin boards and various online communities are now enabling low cost, specific-targeted job postings.

Get the kind of people you want

Friends of existing employees are often like-minded and of similar interests. Many companies rely on Referrals as a mode to recruit because such hires tend to know more about the company through their friend. It has also been proven that recruits through referrals show a much lower rate of employee turnover. Social media allows an organization to target employees’ friends virally and thus, attract the kind of people they want.

So, in a nutshell: save time, save money, reach out to the right people and discover talent that is perfect for your organization! If you’re wondering where to begin, stay tuned on our blog. Our next article will be on Social Media Recruitment platforms, that is, where exactly should you go talent-hunting online!

In a world where each brand is beginning to increase its Social Media budget, the IPL teams have no intention to be left behind. Well-aware of the viral potential of this medium, each team has invaded the social media sphere to bring its large scale of fans together.

Let’s take Facebook for instance. Winners of the Champion League 2011, Mumbai Indians lead the way here as well with a whopping 2.6 million Likes. The entire team led by Harbhajan Singh declares boldly on the cover photo, “Duniya Hila Denge Hum!” An actively maintained page, it also offers fans the appealing option of interacting with players. From ‘Wish Sachin’ to ‘Meet the Players’ to ‘MI Paltan’ as well as personal videos of each player on the page, Mumbai Indians definitely know how to capture ‘millions’ of hearts.

Lagging way behind with Likes only in the six-digit range, the other teams still have active fan-following on their Facebook pages. Delhi Daredevils relies on contests like ‘Devil’s Eleven’ a merchandise-winning competition, Dare2Wish Contest to win IPL tickets, ‘Twitter Anagram’ and ‘Fan of the Week’. With something new to offer, Kolkata Knight Riders’ Facebook page encourages you to check out their very own Match Reports. Rajasthan Royals meanwhile offers you The Locker Room, a weekly dose of news about the team.

Twitter is another medium that can capture action and fans moment to moment. Rajasthan Royals makes its mark here with close to 30,000 followers and 6000+ tweets till date. Score updates, injury updates, owner updates, contest updates: you have it all here and live at that!

Twitter, in addition, offers IPL fans the opportunity for frank expression of sentiments, thanks to the power of the famous hashtag. Conducting a sentiment analysis on the tool ‘Twitter Sentiment’ reveals that things are not as hunky-dory for Mumbai Indians on this platform as they are on Facebook. Around one-third of the sentiments being tweeted about Mumbai Indians at the moment are negative. By contrast, Delhi Daredevils has definitely got a sweet spot in our hearts, as evidenced by the 90% positivity towards the team on Twitter.

Sentiments, updates, scores, photos and posts are pouring in on Social Media platforms even at this very moment. Forget the pitch; this is where all the action is!

I have to tell you this people! As they say good ideas need to be copied :) 

Probably, colleague of mine is the first guy to try this way of approaching his valentine. Which is we setup a landing page for a dinner date on our website and linked it to a Facebook Ad. That Ad was customized to our every day conversation and was a sure shot eye catcher. (see the ad below name removed from the title) 

I designed the campaign in a way that she will see her if she logs in. Next thing I did was asked her to be online on the V day and had my fingers crossed hoping that she logs in and spots this Ad. (which was today evening)

After which I went for dinner and this is when I got this message that she liked the surprise. So, I was like on cloud nine! So, finally being in social media payed off. So, thanks HER, FB Ads and Prashanth P. in helping me achieve this small goal. 

I will be leaving the Ad run for tomorrow entire day and keep the landing page still there now with a post script. It has a like button so click it if you like it and help spread the love. 

Link to the landing page: Link

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Yours sincerely 

-MixORG Team