Developing a Professional Online Presence (POP!) for personal branding and personal marketing purposes has become more important than ever in a virtual environment. Developing POP! is a ten-step process that leverages various social media tools to build and sustain your professional online presence. This concept received the 2011 Marketing Management Association Teaching Innovation Award.

1. A PROFESSIONAL ONLINE PRESENCE DEVELOPING POP! MARKETING YOU! © Copyright Dawn Edmiston 2011 www.theMarketingProf.com

2. BACKGROUND The Wall Street Journal declared 2009 was the toughest labor market in 25 years for graduating college seniors Traditional job board searches and resume submissions are no longer as effective Social media = communication channel for both personal and professional purposes Socialnomics (http://www.socialnomics.net/2010/05/05/social-media-revolution-2-refresh/)

3. Developing POP! The 10 Step Process

4. 1) ESTABLISH AN ONLINE IDENTITY Encourage students to own their domain name (less than $10/year) Students may need to differentiate themselves, such as JohnSmithIMC Students are required to develop a profile on Google and LinkedIn

5. 2) PERSONALIZE URLS Important for strengthening one’s personal brand and search engine optimization For example: www.dawnedmiston.com linkedin.com/in/dawnedmiston twitter.com/dawnedmiston Students need to “own” what appears in search results (note personal example on next slide)

7. 2) PERSONALIZE URLS Important for strengthening one’s personal brand and search engine optimization Students need to “own” what appears in search results Students are encouraged to personalize all URL addresses when possible Check availability of “brand name” on dozens of sites through tools such as:

8. 3) DEVELOP CONTENT Once an online identity has been established, students develop content to support their brand: develop professional site using Wordpress submit 3 original posts (with external links) related to their field of interest Use Google Alerts to receive daily updates on selected topics

9. 4)PROMOTE BRAND NAME and 5) PROMOTE CONTENT Include personalized URLs in the signature block of emails, resumes, and business cards Leverage social bookmarking sites such as:

10. 6) ACTIVELY NETWORK Social media is an excellent tool for networking with others in a particular field of interest LinkedIn Groups = 1+ million Students need to join at least 4 LinkedIn Groups

11. 7) MONITOR YOUR BRAND Students are encouraged to: Google their names frequently Establish a Google Alert for their brand name Tracking sites are also useful such as:

12. 8) ENGAGE YOUR AUDIENCE Students must not only build an online presence, but engage their audience and establish relationships with them Students are encouraged to review and respond to postings as often as possible and contribute new topics to their LinkedIn Group discussions

13. 9) MEASURE YOUR ONLINE Measuring social media effectiveness is still new, but innovative tools are being developed, such as Klout “Kloutscores” measure the overall influence that uses variables on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter Based on actions such as retweets, @messages, follows, comments, and likes

14. 10) MANAGE YOUR BRAND PRESENCE Ultimate goal = students view this assignment not as a course requirement, but rather as a career opportunity Building and sustaining POP! will be one of the most promising investments students canmake

15. POP! SUCCESS FACTORS Developing POP! ultimately demands student engagement in the learning process. Although students can read about the potential of social media, they will not comprehend the power of social media until they actually practice it.