LinkedIn and Branding: The Giant of Business Networking

    Today's short blog will be about tips for making a LinkedIn account, a professional version of social networking. LinkedIn is pretty much an online version of a resume that anyone can look at, including recruiters from businesses. It allows employers to communicate with possible future employees.

LinkedIn Logo

     While accepted as a "social network," LinkedIn is nothing like Facebook or Twitter. It isn't used for people to post what they did last weekend or what they're having for dinner. Instead, it's used as a marketing tool, a tool to market yourself. People interested in making a LinkedIn profile should make a summary that discusses what makes them unique. Since there is a limit of 2000 characters, every word counts. It should include accomplishments, special talents, and what makes the person desirable for recruiters. The summary is not the only important part, however, as every section of the profile should filled to the best of your ability. Be sure to include a professional photo of yourself, but don't make it look like a mug shot! As an example, here is my LinkedIn account.
     Big companies are already starting to transition to LinkedIn, and the amount of employers is increasing rapidly. If you don't have a LinkedIn account and are looking for employment, you are only hurting yourself. It only takes about a hour to produce a great profile, and it allows you to put yourself out there as available for hiring for absolutely free! Anyone who is looking for work should definitely think about using LinkedIn to draw the attention of potential businesses to themselves.

QR Codes: A Quick Response for a Fast Culture

     A QR code, short for quick response code, is a more advanced version of barcode that is able to store alphanumeric data. This means that they can store text, phone numbers, links, foreign languages, etc., giving them a huge advantage over normal barcodes. In modern day society, individuals are much too busy to stop by a sign and attempt to manually enter a web address into their smartphone or tablet, and they are even less likely to jot down an address onto a notepad to store for later use. However, if a user of a smartphone walks by an interesting sign with a QR code, they might decide to scan it and check out the information because of the ease of use that QR codes provide.

Soundcloud's Example of a QR Code

     In 2012, 19% of consumers in the United States used QR codes. This is pretty substantial, meaning that creating a QR code and placing it on posters or in newspapers along with normal advertisements takes minimal effort and has a relatively large payoff. However, I personally do not understand companies that put QR codes on ceilings, t-shirts, or billboards, because no one is going to attempt to scan codes like that, so placement is very important. Most consumers scan QR codes that are placed in magazines, mail, packaging, or posters.

QR codes are highly customizable

     Although these codes sound very fancy, they are actually very simple. There is a pattern in the foreground that has contrast with a color in the background, whether it be dark to light or light to dark. This is the only requirement, which allows a lot of creativity in their creation and design. As long as the background and foreground have distinct colors that are easily separable by a smartphone, images and colors can be scattered throughout codes, making them look enticing to users. They are also very easy to create. Many sites, such as this one, allow you to create QR codes in a couple of minutes, for free!

A QR code that links to this blog!

     I hope that this post encourages people to try and make a QR code for themselves and post it somewhere for fun. Try linking to a Youtube video or Facebook page and see how many people visit it! Creating a QR code is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to promote something, and as our society starts to become more fast-paced, users will not take the time to type in website urls or search for an application on their smartphones, but they might take a second to quickly scan a QR code if available.

An analysis of social networking and security. . .or lack of when promoting your brand

     Social media has grown into a dominant force in internet networking. Facebook, widely considered to be the number one social networking site and stated to be the second most visited site in the world, is estimated to have 665 million daily active users! By doing something as simple as creating a page on Facebook and maintaining it fairly regularly, people can promote their brands and obtain immediate feedback from their customers. This is catching the eye of many businesses, and many of them have created profiles or pages in social networking sites in order to promote their brands and become more visible to the general public. In this blog post, I will explain the importance of using social networking to promote a brand.

Facebook

     An important benefit that social media provides is constant exposure of a brand to the users. Once a person or company creates a profile, they can immediately get feedback from people who are interested in their business. This feedback can then be used to improve future products or plans. Additionally, it provides a cheap, efficient way of advertising a brand and increasing its visibility in the marketplace. For example, although only 12% of employees feel that their company is utilizing social media effectively, 30% of the employees agree that it probably improved traffic to their website. Take the social media website twitter, for instance. It has a subsection dedicated to businesses who want to advertise themselves through "tweets" on the site. A business can easily advertise new products or sales and promote its brand(s) by regularly sending out tweets.

Twitter

   
      To sum things up, people gain many benefits by making use of social media, including a wide exposure to the public, real-time feedback on their ventures, and a cheap and easy way to keep customers connected. I recommend that anybody who wishes to promote a brand or just get their name out there to check out a few social networking websites and make a profile or two. You might be surprised at the results!