Ad2 Cincinnati

We are all über-connected. For most of us, it’s completely expected that our potential bosses are going to look at our Facebook photos before the job interview [note to self: un-tag all those pictures from last month at Final Friday], read our Twitter feeds for potentially alarming overtones, and Google us to find that terrible, terrible editorial we wrote for the newspaper in undergrad. The more savvy of us, of course, have figured out that if we’re active on the Internet - blogging, tweeting, Tumbling, Facebooking, Favring, Flickring, and Digging - we can harness the power of organic search to become a recognized Internet presence, and hopefully garner the attention of a firm that we love and we want to work for.

But it’s a seductive game, one in which you have to pick your battles wisely. Here’s a list of things to consider when

• What is everyone else doing? This can be a double-edged sword, because it’s tempting to make a direct web copy of a web idol’s presence and expect to have the same result. But it’s useful to look at the people who are successful where you’d like to be successful, and look at what’s worked for them. Havi Brooks is a professional coach/yoga instructor/business advisor, but her blog is filled with anything but normal business-speak [just look at her business partner]. Nubby Twiglet, an amazing Portland-based graphic designer, maintains a blog filled with design advice and samples, but also photos of her outfits and her exploits traveling around with a a posse of other fashion bloggers. In both cases, their blogs show that they’re very, very skilled in their fields, but that they’re also not robots - they have personalities and interests outside of work that end up making them better at what they do.
• Consider your input/output ratio. What do you put into it, and what do you get out of it? How is it likely to help you, and how much can you use it to help others? Web 2.0 newbies might want to jump in headfirst, putting a ton of energy into barraging the Internet with how awesome they are via tweet, tumblog, and bookmark, but they’ll soon find that most of the valuable networking contacts they get and maintain come from only one or two channels. Figure out what those channels are, and then capitalize on them. I’ve met some of my clients through Twitter and my own blog. A good friend of mine who does video art and installations meets almost all his collaborators through YouTube and Delicious.com. And an acquaintance back in New York whose Tumblr is utterly fantastic ended up getting a full-time job - as a Tumblr staffer.
• How much of a web presence can you reasonably maintain? Remember, web 2.0 is all about the exchange. So if you’re spending your web time yelling as loudly as you possibly can, people may notice, but they’ll do their best to ignore you. On the flip side, though, if you use the web to maintain an engaging exchange - giving as well as taking - your presence is a lot more likely to benefit everyone, including yourself. So if you don’t have the time or the patience to maintain a dialogue via blog or YouTube or Delicious, consider something more minimal like Twitter or Tumblr.

Do you use web 2.0 to get gigs or promote yourself to employers? How do you do it? What works? What doesn’t?

Your best friend does it. Your mom probably does too. Your design school professors definitely do it, and your boss does when he remembers. Twitter is hailed universally as the new frontier—the way everyone’s going to keep up with one another, 140 characters at a time.

But it’s not a cure-all. And any self-styled marketing guru who tries to sit you down and tell you about how to “leverage your brand” or “widen your network” or “build your tribe” is ignoring the quintessential rules about how to use Twitter. Here’s the secret, people: it’s about people. Not about brands. Here’s how to humanize it a little bit.

• Direct message spam is lame. Don’t send a “Thanks for the follow!” message to every single person that follows you. Know why? Because you can have a Twitter client do it for you. And most people who send these are doing exactly that—having a robotic Twitter client pose as them for the purpose of seeming more “real.” It’s wholly disingenuous, and I’ll tell you a secret: almost everyone I follow universally blocks the users that spam them.
• …But direct messages have a purpose. Ever been to a party where the host ignores all the guests to get into a inside-jokey conversation with her two roommates? This is what it looks like when you have personal conversations on Twitter in public. So don’t. Send a direct message if you need to tell someone any juicy private details.
• Follow other users with care. Anyone who follows 11,649 people within the span of a day might be looking to expand their network, and a handful of those 11,649 might actually follow you back. But think about it this way: can you really expect to have a meaningful exchange of information with 11,649 people? No, no one could. So why would you follow that many? It just looks sketchy. Seek to improve the exchange, and then follow accordingly.
• Put up an avatar, already. It doesn’t have to be a picture of you if you’re worried about preserving your anonymity. But not putting up an avatar makes your Twitter account look untended, and thus sketchy.
• Feed sparingly. I’ve heard mixed opinions on Twitterfeed, the client that updates your Twitter account with your RSS feed titles, but in general it feels distasteful to most users. Here again, it’s about the exchange of information. There’s nothing wrong with occasionally linking to your blog posts that you feel best about [full disclosure: I'm going to link this one], but clogging your friends’ Twitter pages by trumpeting your achievement every time you vomit two sentences onto your blog screams nothing if not, “Look at me, I’m a narcissist.”
• In general, don’t be a tool. Blatant plagiarism, Internet drama-mongering, incessant valueless retweeting, and bringing nothing at all to the exchange doesn’t help anyone. Especially not you. So don’t do it.

Do you guys tweet? What do you find most/least annoying about other Twitter users?

Spotlight on Give Back Cincinnati

We all know it’s good to volunteer, but giving up your free time to do it can be pretty rough. Fortunately, Give Back Cincinnati gives the opportunity to get involved with no strings attached- no dues or weekly meetings. It’s also geared toward young professionals, so you can network while doing such fun things as painting a house, riding your bike or rehabbing a river boat.

Coming up for Give Back is the Hyde Park Blast, where volunteers perform a variety of tasks to make sure the day of partying, running, walking and riding goes smoothly. Meet some new people and bond while pouring beer, setting up tents and serving food. Check out Give Back’s website for details.

The series of races come complete with a Christian Moerlein afterparty with bands playing until midnight and Hyde Park food vendors galore. To register for any of the events, see Hyde Park Blast.

Next week: A Series on Networking!

I really think the Mid Year Retreat was a success! There was a lot of hard work that went into planning this event, and I think that everyone who attended took some useful information to bring back to their clubs. It’s fantastic to get to spend a weekend with other young professionals who are passionate about advertising.

Here are the major takeaways:

• Keep yourself on the cutting edge-Be proactive about your future and what you can do for your company to stay on top of the curve
• Social media venues like Twitter etc. are great but it’s all about having a strategy and understanding the purpose of what you are doing
• Don’t be afraid to learn new things and meet new people