70 Percent of Journalists Use Social Networks to Assist in Reporting

We learned about this interesting statistics from a post by Jeremy Porter on his blog Journalistics. For details and comments please visit his post.

Do you believe this is the case in the human resources industry?

My opinion - we're getting there. But we are nowhere near 75% yet.

I know this because our HRmarketer.com on-demand marketing and PR application has a media outlets database that tracks all the media outlets across the entire spectrum of human resources, from recruiting to employee benefits. In addition to EdCals and a bunch of other pertinent information, this database tracks all the journalists that write for these outlets.

Well, earlier this year we started tracking the key social networking applications these HR journalists use. So members of HRmarketer.com can now quickly find a journalist's Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter account information - if they have one.

And as of this week, about 40%-50% of the journalists we track have an account on one or more of the above social networking services.

No doubt this percentage is increasing daily. So we'll be at 75% or greater soon.

And as Jeremy wrote in his blog post:

"….The survey also found that 69 percent of respondents go to company websites to assist in their reporting, while 66 percent use blogs, 51 percent use Wikipedia (wow), 48 percent go to online videos (double wow), and 47 percent use Twitter and other microblogging services (would have guessed higher on this one)….."

This is why it is so important for HR vendors to use social networking in their marketing and of course search-optimize their web site, produce original "content", send search-optimized press releases, blog, podcast, etc., etc.

This is why Kevin Grossman, president of HRmarketer, chose to write an eBook on the subject of social networking.

The eBook, Conversation Starters, couldn't be more timely. And it is a fabulous eBook. If you have not downloaded it yet, please do so. It's free and you don't need to complete any download forms - just grab it here.

What else can you do? Jeremy sums it up with his statement:

"….If you’re a public relations professional, social media represents the most immediate path to increased results. If you position yourself as a source (and don’t do anything stupid to tick off a journalist through these social channels), you could find a goldmine of new publicity opportunities for you and your clients. Also, as a final note, don’t overlook your online newsroom. Journalists still consider your online newsroom as the top source for credible information on you....".

Need help? Read Conversation Starters or contact the HRmarketer.com Services Group.

Good luck!

HR Tech and the Night-Before Tweetup

What a great way to start HR Tech - the HRmarketer Tweetup last night was a ball of fiery fun!

Good times and networking and talking about the state of the HR marketplace (which the consensus is that things are looking up).

A special thanks to these folks for stopping by:

• HRchitect
• HRMDirect
• PDS Software
• Accero
• SumTotal Systems
• JobApp Network
• Salary.com
• RecruitingBlogs.com

It was a pleasure meeting you all, especially our clients and those Twitter literati we've befriended of late.

Don't forget - we're sponsoring the exhibitor lounge again this year - and all you good HR folk, come by booth #937 to pick your HR Vendor Phonebook and 1 of 5 "Night on the Chi-town" $100 gift cards.

More news later from the show floor. Good luck!

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

It's here: Conversation Starters. Please download and pass it on.

It's here. Really, it is.

Download our new eBook - Conversation Starters: Social Media Marketing in the HR Marketplace eBook.

We're not the first to talk about social media marketing, and we're certainly not the last, but the good news is that:

More than eight in 10 management, marketing and HR executives cited relationship - and brand-building - as benefits of social media.*

Sweet. Just click and save it to your computer. No registration fuss or muss.

Trust us. That's what social media is all about: Trust.

And if you listen, learn and join the conversation, it's another powerful way to generate publicity, traffic and leads.

The new HRmarketer social media eBook will help HR suppliers:

• Better understand what social media is
• Understand the importance of listening before participating
• Understand who and where your buyers and influencers are online
• Use social media for content marketing and relationship building
• Integrate social media into their overall marketing strategy
• Better measure social media marketing results

The “Conversation Starters” eBook also provides a list of social networking sites and other HR professional networks and how to get started in each.

Also, look for our Social Media eBook Blog coming soon where you can add your own commentary and success stories.

Please feel free to share this eBook with whomever you believe would benefit from reading it!

Enjoy! I'll see you at HR Tech!

* - According to a white paper from Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law titled “Social Media: Embracing the Opportunities, Averting the Risks”

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

A pure-play, unadulterated plug for this week's HR Tech Conference

This ain't no party, this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around.

It's time for the 12th Annual HR Technology Conference & Exposition!

No marketing best practices or industry commentary in this post: this is a pure-play, unadulterated plug for the best HR tech conference of the year coming in just two days.

Why?

Just check out the conference overview:

• Opening remarks and keynote by Don Tapscott, internationally renowned authority on the strategic value and impact of information technology and author of Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing the World and co-author of the world-wide bestseller Wikinomics.
• The industry analyst panel with Josh Bersin, Naomi Lee Bloom, Jim Holincheck and Lisa Rowan.
• The talent management shootout with Lawson, SAP, Salary.com and Plateau.

With over 2,000 attendees and over 200 HR suppliers exhibiting - the conference content, thought leadership, senior-level audience and high-quality products and services is enough to set McCormick Place afire, figuratively speaking of course.

Good luck to all our HRmarketer members, clients and prospects on the expo floor! We're proud to be sponsoring the exhibitor lounge once again this year, so make sure to take plenty of breaks and enjoy the refreshments.

Come by and visit us at the HR Vendor Phonebook booth #937. HR leaders attending the conference - please stop by to win 1 or 5 "Night on the Chi-town" $100 gift cards. HR suppliers make sure to stop by and get yourselves into our phonebook.

And speaking of parties, discos and foolin' around - don't miss our HRmarketer Tweetup at HR Tech on Sep 29, 2009 (it'll be at the Big Bar in the Hyatt Regency Downtown Chicago and starts tomorrow night around 6:00 p.m. CT in case the Twtvite doesn't work for you).

Check out the big list of HR Tech parties in Punk Rock HR's (Laurie Ruettimann) post HR Technology Conference: What’s This All About?, where only Photoshop makes things prettier.

Time to get crackin' and start that packin'.

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

The Latest HR Market Share Podcast: Interview with Stephen A. Lowisz, President and CEO of Qualigence, Inc.

The latest HR Market Share podcast is ready for your listening pleasure below. Subscribe to the series in iTunes and look for regular posts to our blog and on the HRmarketer.com site. You can also subscribe to all our past interviews and episodes via Hipcast.

Our latest episode features an interview with Stephen A. Lowisz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Qualigence, Inc., a recruitment research and professional search firm that Stephen founded in 1999. Qualigence identifies professionals from all industries and position levels and can develop qualified and culturally-fit passive candidates into interested candidates for your organization. Their cost-effective research and recruiting methods are the reason they’ve grown to become the largest recruitment research firm in the U.S. Qualigence is also launching the first annual Recruitment Learning Conference September 29-30 (which is next week right on the heels of HR Tech in Chicago, IL)

Stephen is seeing companies ramping up, particularly for exempt positions in the human resource, training and development, marketing and technology industries. Lowisz is also experiencing companies evaluating their current staff.

Stephen also points out that companies that previously laid off a percentage of their staff are now at a stage where they are hiring. However, those companies have re-evaluated their needs and found that although they are hiring, they are looking for people to meet a different skill set than what they previously required.

Thank you and enjoy!

• Qualigence, Inc.
• Recruitment Learning Conference September 29-30
• The coolest and most comprehensive collection of HR-related news and content found online is in our HR Directory (get a profile up if you're not already there)
• News for HR Newsletter
• More HR marketplace news here and here

Post by Kevin Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

A very short tall tale of mythical direct marketing proportion

Billy's company, HRsmack.com, recently developed a new product called EmpathSmackTrack - software for managing smarty-pants employees - and decides to launch a direct marketing email campaign to promote it.

Billy bites the bullet and buys a list rental of 5K HR decision makers from [insert list rental vendor name here] and creates what he believes to be a killer campaign creative.

He types up the subject line for [list rental vendor] and smiles. "Sweet," he thinks.

Complimentary Snacks for Every EmpathSmackTrack System Sold

Billy rubs his hand together and waits for the sales to roll in. Stacks of Little Debbie snack cakes and cookies surround him.

[End scene]

Can you guess? Billy's campaign failed miserably. Not one sale. So Billy blames the vendor saying the list stinks and tries again with another vendor. Same result.

Blame. New Campaign. Blame.

We've sent millions of emails to our list of over 80K HR decision makers. Yes, we can say millions now. What we've found is that most campaigns like Billy's - campaigns that are selling something straight up - usually fail and only increase our opt-in rate, thus reducing the value of our extremely valuable asset.

Hey, I know; we're in the list rental business amongst offering many other marketing products and services. We don't want to turn business away. We opt-in qualified HR decision makers all the time.

But listen, you just don't market to a "cold" list selling stuff, especially when you're an unknown commodity on the HR marketplace exchange.

The only exception would be large, well-established brands with enough equity to offset the cost of receiving little return. Meaning, they're paying to further their brand and maybe sell a little along the way.

We convey our "content marketing" best practices to every HR supplier that sending campaigns to our list. Some listen. Some don't.

After millions of emails and hundreds and hundreds of campaigns, one thing is clear:

Content marketing that is complimentary and includes offering white papers, research reports, articles, newsletters, blog posts, podcasts, webcasts, videos and very small rocks that spell out "here's some great information that you can use to improve your organization today, and there's more where that came from" always --

- Almost doubles the open rates in email campaigns compared to simply selling something.

- Improves the click-thru rates dramatically over the dismal clicks you get when selling something.

You are building familiarity and trust with regular credible content and thought leadership.

Whether you require registration for these content campaigns, or capture folks elsewhere on your site by their length of stay and exploration, the fact is for those "prospects" that are interested enough in exchanging their information for your content means you now are building a "house" list that you can and should be nurturing into your sales pipeline. Continue the content marketing to them as well over time (weeks to months depending on your average sales cycles).

And then and only then do you start selling EmpathSmackTrack software to them. Keep the snack cakes, though.

Selling stuff via cold direct marketing does not work, not even for paid seminars or events, and most HR suppliers will be sorely disappointed time and again with that approach and their dismal return. Sure there will always be rare exceptions in the HR B2B marketplace, but the keyword here is rare.

Now, put on those marketing smarty pants and meet HRmarketer at HR Tech next week for a Tweetup!

We're sponsoring the HR Tech exhibitor lounge again this year wish all our clients and members the best of luck! All you HR pros should stop by our HR Vendor Phonebook booth #937 and with 1 of 5 "Night on the Chi-town" gift cards!

(This direct marketing post inspired by Starr Tincup's hilarious Salesman Closes Deal with Help From No One.)

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

Keyword Meta Tags? That is so 1990s. Right?

When Andy Benkert, HRmarketer's SEO expert, first informed me months ago that keyword meta tags were no longer an important part of SEO best practices -- at least for Google search results -- I was skeptical. Andy spends a lot of time keeping current on best practices (it's his job) so I trusted his opinion on the matter. But I was unsure how we would respond to our SEO customers when they asked why were spending less time on keyword meta tags.

Today, Andy sent me a link to a blog post from Google that says this:

"Google doesn't use the "keywords" meta tag in our web search ranking. This video explains more, or see the questions below". - Matt Cutts, Google Software Engineer



So that settles it. It is official and indisputable (its from Google). I strongly recommend spending some time on this Google blog post and reading the Q&A and the reader responses. It's a real education.

Since the HRmarketer Services Group formally got into delivering SEO services several years ago I've learned a great deal about SEO and have developed a real appreciation for this trade - a trade that is at least 90% science and maybe 10% art.

What this announcement from Google tells me is that good SEO in 2007 is not necessarily good SEO in 2010. Since a major component of SEO is about getting higher organic rankings on search results relevant to your company, a company's SEO is in many respects at the mercy of the algorithms used by major search engines like Google - which can change on a dime.

It is therefore very important to take a look at your SEO on a regular basis and not assume that since you paid someone to search optimize your web site in 2005 that everything is fine today.

This is one reason we launched the SEO Center which tells HR companies how they are ranking for their various keywords month-to-month on major search engines. This allows them to quickly notice when they drop off the first page of search results (or get on the first page).

But one aspect of SEO best practices that seems to never change and continues to be the single most important aspect to great SEO and high page rankings (in my opinion) is content and inbound links (other web sites linking to your site).

And this is 100% in your control by incorporating into your ongoing (monthly) marketing and PR the development of original content (e.g., white papers, research, articles, etc) that is uploaded to your web site and distributed/syndicated online through search-optimized press releases, direct marketing, blogs, podcasts, videos, Twitter, and social networking sites.

Its that simple - or that difficult.

(By the way, Andy recommends a great overview of industry expert best practices and the similarities and differences of what works in SEO across search engines - Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask, etc. - the Hubspot Webinar Advanced SEO Tactics: On Beyond Keyword Research, Rand Fiskin, SEOmoz.)

Because purple squirrels are all about familiarity, credibility and trust

Ah, the elusive purple squirrel - that passive "yes, I'm highly qualified and would fit like a glove in your company culture, but really not looking for a new career right now" candidate.

And if you catch him or her (why am I thinking of that stupid friggin' Geico commercial with the guy trapping the money bundle with eyes on his lawn?), what are you going to do to nurture and retain this bright new employee?

This week I had great recruiting and retention conversations with Stephen Lowisz, President and CEO of Qualigence, and Dick Finnegan, president of Finnegan Mackenzie, The Retention Firm, and developer of The Retention Institute.

These conversations got me thinking about how targeted B2B marketing has become and if there's such a thing as the purple squirrel prospect in the HR marketplace.

"Yes, I'm a highly qualified buyer/influencer and your products and services would sure fit like a glove with my organization, but we're really not looking to buy anything new right now, so please get your foot out of the door before I crush it."

Yep, there be purple squirrel prospects. She just ran in front of us and is now hiding from your direct marketing campaign. And avoiding your trade show booth. And not reading your press release. And not visiting your website.

Because she doesn't trust you. You're just trying to sell her stuff and your uncomfortable shallow schmooze and pretty spangled gimmicks are just making her rant about how uncomfortable you're making her (here's a good rant about how even social media marketers are shallow).

Remember, marketing is hard work. Drinking your own overly-sweetened lime Kool Aid (which I loved as a child by the way on hot summer days...sigh) will get you as crazy as Bill Murray's character in Caddyshack.

And you'll start blowing sh&t up.

Not a good way to build relationships with your prospects. Truth is, it takes time, hard work and an integrated marketing strategy with regular measurement and realigning.

Our last marketing eBook titled How to Reach and Engage Human Resource Buyers and Convert Them to Leads discussed in detail our integrated three-step guide for increasing your publicity, Web site traffic, improved SEO and more HR sales leads.

These steps included:

Step One: Strategy, Messaging and the Search-Optimized “Marketing” Web site

Before engaging in any marketing, you need to have a strategy (duh) – a long-term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal and the messaging to drive that strategy. Then you need a Web site with a strong online presence that is search-optimized to improve the volume and quality of traffic to a Web site from search engines via natural (“organic”) search results. (Organic is so much better for the body.)

Step Two: Content. Content. Content.

How many times do we have to say it - a primary goal of your Web site is to convert visitors into prospects (then nurture them into true leads). But without site traffic, you have no prospects. And without great content, in addition to SEO, you have no site traffic, only goose eggs.

Step Three: Promotion.

Okay, now you have a winning strategy, powerful messaging, and a great Web site that is search-optimized. And you have lots of great content and processes in place to generate fresh content on a regular basis. Now you’re ready to promote and distribute that content to generate visibility, traffic and leads.

Promotional tactics being everything from:

• Direct email and print marketing
• Search-optimized press releases
• Media relations and pitching
• Analyst briefings
• Partnerships
• Download campaigns (articles, white papers and research reports)
• Blogging
• Podcasts
• Webcasts
• Trade shows
• Speaking

And now we've got social media marketing - the sharing of relevant content and the building of trust and relationships with very specific prospect groups - those purple squirrels.

Our social media marketing for the HR marketplace eBook will hit your desktops and laptops very soon, possibly even landing on a few purple squirrels in its path.

Because purple squirrels are all about familiarity, credibility and trust - that's what your integrated strategy with the social media combo-pack must do.

(My apologies to any purple squirrels hurt in the making of this blog post.)

Post by Kevin W. Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

HR Market Share Podcast: Interview with Anna Brekka, Senior Director Talent Management Services for Kennedy Information

The latest HR Market Share podcast is ready for your listening pleasure below and it's a special edition we produced on behalf of the Onrec Expo and Kennedy Recruiting 2009 Conference.

The Onrec Expo and Kennedy Recruiting Conference will be held November 2-4, 2009, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago.

In this podcast, Jonathan Goodman interviews Anna Brekka, Senior Director Talent Management Services for Kennedy Information, a leading resource for Recruiting professionals. Through a variety of mediums including conferences, webinars, audios seminars, primary research, advisory, and newsletters, Kennedy Information leverages its 35+ years of analyzing the recruiting profession to bring corporate, non-profit, and third-party recruiting experts together with the latest strategies and technologies. The Onrec Expo and Kennedy Recruiting Conference will be held November 2-4, 2009, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Chicago.

Thank you and enjoy!



Subscribe to the series in iTunes and look for regular posts to our blog and on the HRmarketer.com site. You can also subscribe to all our past interviews and episodes via Hipcast.

• Onrec Expo and Kennedy Recruiting Conference
• Kennedy Information
• The coolest and most comprehensive collection of HR-related news and content found online is in our HR Directory (get a profile up if you're not already there)
• News for HR Newsletter
• More HR marketplace news here and here

Post by Kevin Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

Interview: Drew Wilmot on RecruitFest!

Right on the heels of the ERE Expo, the next recruiting conference of note is RecruitFest! Toronto 2009.

I recently tracked down Drew Wilmot of Talent Maze, who in 2008 sponsored and attended the first RecruitFest!

In this podcast interview, he talks about his experience from a year ago and his high regard for the people behind this event.




Note, as of this writing, HRmarketer has a complimentary ticket still available. Comment, email, or Tweet me if you're interested.

ERE Expo Fall ‘09: The next killer recruiting app

Is it social media?
Is it mobile technology?
Is it the telephone? (A return to old school recruiting…)

In his Friday morning presentation to the general session, ERE Recruiting Excellence Award winner Tony Blake, director of recruiting for the kidney care company DaVita, offered a quote from Michael Foster, founder & chairman of the Human Capital Institute:

“The next killer app in recruiting is the recruiter.”

The case study of DaVita also shows that great recruiters thrive under great recruiting leadership (no surprise), and that the “eat what you kill" drive that fuels professions such as of recruiting and sales can be harnessed to create recruiting teams and departments that are a model of corporate management.

Read more about Davita and Tony Blake’s award winning organization here. Side note: Tony is himself a true talent. He inspires trust, he’s demanding, and he’s passionate to the point of choking up on stage when describing the company culture and their impact on patients lives. I bet his people will run through walls for him.

Offering perspectives outside of healthcare recruiting, the “two Steve’s” of Adidas, Steve Bonomo and Steve Fogerty, showed what’s possible for a consumer brand; Wal-Mart’s Mike Grennier provided insight into the corporate recruiting world for the world’s biggest company and retailer.

Here are ideas that resonated with me from the sessions and my conversations at the ERE Expo.

1. No excuses: A nursing shortage is no excuse for Davita’s clinics to be short staffed. Summarizing Tony Blake, “Of the 2.5 million nurses in the county, I only need 9,000. Let everyone else fight over the rest.” In their work to build a world class employment brand, the Steve’s from Adidas described begging, borrowing, and stealing resources from the marketing department; they have some slick animated videos to show for it! They have a 25-person global recruiting team supporting a company of 38,000. They don’t get their way simply by asking for it. They make it happen, even if they have to run a PR campaign and then ask for forgiveness, having not gotten “permission” from the powers that be.
2. Recruiting is not HR: I learned that many recruiting departments report to Operations with a dotted-line reporting structure to HR. Hiring the best people in the past has often been best described by Mel Kleiman as “HR’s problem, but Operations pain.” So, a revised alignment seems only logical. Culturally, I also heard several speakers refer to the “victim mentality” of many in HR. Whether a fair portrayal or not, these leaders were clearly distancing themselves from this idea. Related to the “no excuses” idea – recruiting owns the problem and will find a way to get it done. [Note: Todd Raphael has a related article posted from the conference]
3. Thinking beyond recruitment: This idea encompasses really two thoughts, one internal and one external to a company. Speaking the language of the business and deeply aligning with the business was a common theme. Look outside to books and ideas from the world of branding, sales, and marketing – this was a key means to continuous improvement that also came up often.
4. Getting help from vendors: As my own professional livelihood is wrapped up supporting the needs and interests of vendors, I paid particular attention to how outside technology and services came up in presentations and discussions. The example of Adidas illustrates this point: They have provided sourcing consulting from Shally Steckerl and Glenn Gutmacher of Arbita Consulting & Education Services (ACES). Also on the sourcing side, Qualigence provides sourcing support for Adidas in North America. Avature’s award winning Recruiting CRM gives their global team the technology platform to do passive candidate recruitment and supports relationship building with outside talent. Entice Labs whiz-bang recruitment advertising technology helped Adidas fill an engineering role in two weeks that previously took many months to fill. Making the first steps in deploying a mobile recruitment strategy, Adidas has contracted with MJob to expose their jobs on mobile platforms. We met two members of the recruitment marketing team at Intel. Intel podcasts open jobs with JobsInPods, an innovative program that’s also less expensive to outsource than deliver internally. Taleo powers DaVita’s applicant process. And Mike Grennier did not name the vendor, but Wal-Mart is embarking on the largest single ATS installation… ever.
5. Quantitative and analytic skills: Conference chair Kevin Wheeler stresses this point. As a means to align with the business, recruiting leaders and managers must gain the skills in quantitative measurement and analysis. There is no other way forward. All winners of the ERE Excellence Awards demonstrate this capacity.
6. Inspiring leadership: Here the profession of recruiting is no different than any other segment of business or public or private life. We need our leaders in this world. Badly. Desperately. The best of the profession on display at ERE demonstrated this with stories of turn-arounds and remarkably successes (ex. DaVita was nearly bankrupt nine years ago). They also humbly admit that they’re hardly done, their challenges great, and opportunities to improve real and immediate. What I did not hear was any sense of turf battles, any finger-pointing, and as mentioned, no excuses!

Other show highlights:

• News of the Jobing.com acquisition of Cheezhead and Joel Cheesman’s other business. Both parties were on hand to provide comment and answer questions.
• The RecruitinBlogs.com Wine Tasting was a very fun event. RBC began (nearly two years ago I think) with Jason Davis’ experiment on Ning. It’s now a media company with a staff of full-time talent including Maren Hogan running marketing and operations and industry veteran Josh Akers running business development and partnerships. Online and offline with this gathering and with RecruitFest, which I learned will go global next year, they’re providing innovative ways to expand the interaction and coexist with the ERE.net and other recruiting communities. A spirit of cooperative competition abounds in this environment.
• Career Life Connection had the most innovative booth - stocked with four inflatable chairs that provided a welcome break from standing, a surprising degree of comfort, and a great place to start a conversation (pictured left to right: Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR and Leanne Chase of Career Life Connection).
• Laurie Ruettimann announced that she will chair the next Social Recruiting Summit, to be held November 16th in New York City. The past June, the first summit took place at the Googleplex; by all accounts, it was a success and deserves a follow-up. ERE could not have recruited a better chair for this next summit.
• The ERE Expo immediately followed the IAEWS Annual Member Congress. A video interview from CollegeRecruiter.com offers a snap shot of those in the job board business.

Congratulations to the team at ERE.net. You all put on first class show every Spring and Fall.

Full disclosure: we were offered a press past to attend the event, but paid for our travel expenses, flights, meals, etc. (Thanks for the transparency reminder Laurie!)

Update I: Here's an excellent post by Stephanie Lloyd, who also reminds us: "Be sure to check out additional ERE Expo wrap-ups by Sharlyn Lauby, Jason Buss, more by Jason Buss, Jenny DeVaughn, and Sarah White."

Job ad reply no-no. (Dude, you're a neo-maxi-zoom-dweebie.)

Okay, so I'm really grumpy tonight. Let's first get that straight.

Next, we're looking for a part-time on-call Web designer and so far not-so-good. And then today we get this response to our ad:

Wow! Another example of company's taking advantage of peoples desperation during the recession. You truly expect people to jump through that many hoops for a part-time/on-call position? As qualified as I am, I will pass. Your ad has micromanager written all of it.

At first, after our Web guru Greg forwarded it, I just deleted it. But then Mark wrote to me, "Hey, the makings of a great recruiting blog post."

Did I tell you I'm really grumpy tonight?

To quote from one of the favorite movies of my youth:

"Dude, you're a neo-maxi-zoom-dweebie."

And I'm being nice. I don't give a crap how good you think you are, you aren't scoring any job-search points with us with that kind of response.

Really.

Your ad has micromanager written all of it.

You mean all over it.

Yes, that was one of many first clues.

Especially in a recession where there are too many very good and qualified folk out of work, you just don't respond this way to legitimate job posts.

Rule number one of job-search club is that you don't respond like an pompous idiot.

Thank you. Now I feel better.

A huge shout out to all our friends at the ERE Expo! Please help this applicant see the light.

Oh, and help us find someone too!

Post by Kevin Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

The Impact of Generational Differences in the Workplace

Ray B. Williams latest blog post "Why Are You Not Like Me? The Generational Gap In The Workplace" is interesting.

I have never put much faith into blanket statements about any group or generation so I read Ray's blog post with skepticism. For example, Ray has this to say about the differences between Gen X and Y:

Generation X (born 1965-1980 and approximately 55 million in North America) accept diversity; they are skeptical, pragmatic and practical, self-reliant, independent and individualistic; they reject authoritarianism and control. They like a casual, friendly work environment, seek challenge, involvement and flexible learning arrangements. Work-life balance and family priorities are very important to Gen Xers.

Generation Y (born 1981-1999 and approximately 80 million in North America) celebrate diversity; they are optimistic, inventive and individualistic; they rewrite the rules; they enjoy a pleasurable lifestyle; they don't see the relevance of most institutions; they are masters of technology and social media; were nurtured by their parents; see friends as family; like a collaborative supportive work environment and interactive work relationships; have high demands and expectations; want to work for companies that are socially responsible and they want a balanced life.

But as I read Ray's post I found it offered some very useful information for human resource departments. Ray has done a superb job at aggregating and summarizing the latest thoughts on generational differences in the workplace. This is an increasingly hot HR topic. Consider this - according to a survey by Lee Hecht Harrison Company, 60% of employers are experiencing tension between employees of different generations. The survey found that 70% of older employees are dismissive of younger workers' abilities, and 50% of Gen Y workers were dismissive of older workers' abilities.

Some interesting points summarized from Ray's blog (read the blog for details):

• Generation Y and the annual performance review don't mix.
• Generation Y does not like authoritarian leadership styles
• Generation Y's attitudes, values and behaviors are already beginning to show conflict with Baby Boom leaders and some Generation X leaders as well.
• Baby Boomers usually put work first, and Generation Xers try to juggle equally work and family, while Generation Y wants to spend quality and meaningful time in both.

So what do employers and leaders need to know and do to address these generational differences?

Read Ray's blog post - it's good.

If you are interested in this topic visit our HR Directory for a list of articles, research and white papers on the subject of generational differences in the workplace.

And for a related blog post on generational differences and the impact of aging Boomers, see our SeniorCareMarketer blog post Recession Turns a Graying Office Grayer.

The Latest HR Market Share Podcast: Interview with Steve Boese, the HR Technology Man

The latest HR Market Share podcast is ready for your listening pleasure below (more interviews in the queue as well!). Subscribe to the series in iTunes and look for regular posts to our blog and on the HRmarketer.com site. You can also subscribe to all our past interviews and episodes via Hipcast.

Our latest episode includes some HR technology insight (or lack thereof with HR folk) and an interview with Steve Boese, an adjunct professional at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York who teaches Human Resources Technology. He developed and delivers one of the few Graduate level courses fully dedicated to technology for the Human Resources function. Course topics include HRIS, ERP, Talent Management, collaboration, and social software. Steve is also the host of the HR Happy Hour Show on Blog Talk Radio, co-host of the monthly HR Tech Twitter chats, and is an all around plethora of HR tech knowledge.

Steve shares his opinion on why the adoption rate of human resource technology is low among small and mid-sized companies.

He attributes some of the lack of adoption to a perception that technology offerings are very expensive, as well as a perception that the technology is complex. For smaller companies with limited resources, adopting a new technology can be a daunting task. Steve recommends that HR supplies address the business issues with prospective customers. It’s important for suppliers to really take into consideration the lack of awareness among HR professional when educating them on the benefits of their technology.

Thank you and enjoy!

• Steve Boese's HR Technology
  
• HR Happy Hour
• What the Future of HR is not Learning... But Should Be...
• The coolest and most comprehensive collection of HR-related news and content found online is in our HR Directory (get a profile up if you're not already there)
• News for HR Newsletter
• More HR marketplace news here and here

Post by Kevin Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

The brain-trust of HR blogging. Don't you trust me?

When I first heard of the FTC's move to force bloggers to reveal who they're giving endorsements to (companies/people) in exchange for gifts or paid advertising, it focused on the Mommy and Daddy blogosphere and I remember thinking that's a good thing.

I mean, I particpate to a certain degree in that space and if I'm going to trusted blogs I read and they're pushing a specific product or service, I'd like to know if the wheels are being greased, although it isn't that hard to figure out - there is a degree of self-policing that works. I don't pitch stuff on mine in exchange for freebies and money, but that's not my motivation for personally blogging either.

Then I read the extensive article in Workforce Management this morning titled A Tighter Rein on HR Blogging?

I thought Good God no - please don't do this FTC. It'll be hard enough to enforce as is, but most blogs that I read in the HR marketplace or beyond aren't hard news traditional media sites that are supposed accountable for their content and sources or reveal their advertisers/customers.

Some might have a mix of credible news, like Cheezhead, but most HR blogs can be valuable resources full of commentary, opinion, industry insight and best practices, some cited research when applicable, levity, true voice that's transparent (no anonymity please), and basically people I've come to trust.

People I've come to trust - not companies, products or services. People talking about what they know and how it might help you (and your company). The brain-trust of HR blogging is intact and credible.

According to the Workforce Management article:

Most blogs allow readers to post comments - including anonymous remarks - and these let the audience challenge authors. What's more, the tight-knit nature of the [HR] field limits deception by bloggers, [Maren] Hogan argues. (Maren blogs at FOT and Marenated.)
While your website may be your marketing portal, your blog is the window into you as the representative of your business/industry (or many of you if more than person blogs for your business).

People do business with people they trust and have relationships with. Your readership has a relationship with you (via your blog).

We’ve been blogging since 2004 and have seen tremendous growth in our readership (relationships), but not just because we blog consistently (and sometimes intelligently) about marketing, PR and business topics in the HR space. It’s because we read other blogs and make comments and spur honest dialogue – we participate in transparent conversations about our business and offer resources and commentary for others to profit from, paying it forward so to speak.

In turn, we’ve seen our thought leadership grow and in turn our business grow (in conjunction with other traditional and Web 2.0 and social media marketing activities).

In other words, we’ve got good street cred, and it pays great dividends. Remember, trust is the currency of blogging and all social media. Without it, your efforts will fail and fail miserably.

So no, HR bloggers don't need to be policed - their readership does that.

And yes, we do push our own agenda at times that includes spotlighting HR suppliers we work with.

That's because we're a marketing firm. It's what we do.

Don't you trust me?

Post by Kevin Grossman (join me on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn)

Metrics, Metrics, Metrics. When to Stop Counting.

Our HRmarketer development team is working on some cool new "cloud computing" features including a Google API that allows companies to view their web site analytics on HRmarketer in order to measure the effectiveness of their marketing and PR campaigns.

This is important information for marketers.

When you overlay this data alongside other key metrics like keyword rankings (a recently introduced feature on HRmarketer) and media placements (just introduced this week) and compare it to your marketing and PR activities it becomes crystal clear how well your tactics are working - and where you need to invest more resources.

Another new feature our development team is working on is some robust reporting tools that will give marketers insights into where their sales leads come from, how much these leads cost and what marketing and PR tactics are most effective.

Yes, we've had a busy summer.

All this got me thinking about metrics, what really matters and at what point are we guilty of over-analyzing data.

Marketing (and PR) is one of the only operational components in business where costs have increased while effectiveness has decreased. In other words, many marketing departments are accomplishing less while spending more.

Experts don't agree on why but certainly marketing is more complex today than it was fifty years ago. We have more choices and tools to work with thanks to the Internet, our markets aren't as easily defined as they once were, competition is more intense, and consumers (buyers) are more sophisticated, less predictable (not everyone tunes in the 6pm news every night on ABC, NBC or CBS), harder to connect with and inundated with marketing message every waking moment.

So we spend more money on more tactics in an effort to stand out in a increasingly crowded marketplace.

David Weigelt and Jonathan Boehman from Immersion Active offer another reason in their fabulous new book dot Boom (one of the better marketing books I've ever read). They say marketing has become less effective for many companies because they "define success in a narrow and overly transactional manner".

David and Jonathan use the The Last Ad Trap concept to make their point, describing how marketers attribute a customer's successful completion of an action solely to a single touch point before the action occurred. I paraphrase the authors' words:

"...A consumer will often click on a banner ad, go to a web site, and make a purchase. The trap is attributing 100% of that conversion to the last ad clicked, thus investing a significant portion of their budget to optimize that one ad. The problem with this approach is that it does not account for anything the customer did BEFORE they clicked the ad. It does not consider the person may have previously visited the company's web site, heard about the company through blogs, received emails about the product, etc.. Instead of considering the holistic impact of the customer's exposure to the brand, the Last Ad Trap only considers the effectiveness of a single marketing touch point".

A lot of companies spend way too much time and energy focusing on things like "views" of a press release, "open rates" of an email campaign, "downloads" of a white paper, "click thru's" of a banner ad, or "average time" spent on a web page.

Yes these are important metrics and yes you should continue to analyze them -- but in context. If your last email campaign didn't result in a 20% open rate you don't abandon direct email. Conversely, if your last campaign resulted in record downloads of your white paper, you shouldn't necessarily move your entire tradeshow budget to direct email. And if you didn't get any media interest from your last press release you don't quit writing press releases.

I don't have any secret insights into how human resource professionals make specific buying decisions. What color banner ads they will likely click on. Whether they prefer blogs to podcasts. What day of the week they prefer to receive emails. (Although HRmarketer's HR Buyer Reports do shed some light on these questions).

Nobody does. If I've learned anything in marketing it is that blanket answers rarely work anymore. People aren't that predictable and markets aren't that easily segmented.

But I do know without any doubt the best way to engage HR decision markers and motivate them to take action (sales leads) is to continually invest in a comprehensive and overreaching marketing/PR strategy that includes the use of original content (e.g., white papers) delivered to your target market through a mix of traditional and online marketing and PR tactics (including social media/networking).

It works. And not every individual tactic can or should be measured independently. Remember Eistein's quote: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."

But if aggressively executed and managed with proper discipline (including monitoring but not over analyzing the metrics) you will achieve that elusive marketing/PR "efficiency".

Southwest Airlines’ Social Media Strategy

HRmarketer will soon be releasing a new eBook (free) titled Conversation Starters: Social Media Marketing in the HR Marketplace. The eBook provides a step-by-step outline on how to leverage social media/networking in your marketing and PR.

We expect the eBook to be released in September. Stay tuned.

As we wait for this eBook I wanted to share an outstanding article I read today from Ragan Communications titled How Southwest juggles social media channels.

The article gives a behind-the-scenes look at Southwest Airlines’ social media strategy—and how its six-person team manages the workload.

It's a remarkable read.

Paula Berg, the airline’s Emerging Media manager says this:

“It’s become a place to make and break news,” she says. “It’s a place to tell the rest of the story when the media doesn’t have the time or space to do it. It’s a virtual focus group. It’s a place to get immediate feedback.”

What a great quote.

The article has a great video of Paula Berg describing the business value of their social media. It's a brilliant case-study on the real value of social networking with respect to SEO and publicity and customer service.

Six ideas Southwest used to emerge as a social media leader:

1. Take advantage of what’s already out there. Blogging, Twittering and maintaining Facebook fan sites are all opportunities to directly reach an audience, says Berg.

2. Spark a discussion. Social media allows companies to engage their customers in dialogues. Use those exchanges as a virtual focus group to gauge the public’s reaction to new developments or find out what they think about your current operations.

3. Divvy up responsibility. Giving individual employees ownership over a particular social media tool gives that tool a consistent voice that its readers can become familiar with. “It makes each channel more personal,” Berg says.

4. Keep your channels distinct. Use the blog to delve into issues, Twitter to break or tease news and Facebook to highlight promotional events. By spreading the content around, it forces your audience to poke around your different outlets rather than focusing on just one.

5. Become an early adopter. Look out for new social media tools and experiment with them when they appear. “When these things are new, expectations are low,” says Berg, “so you can figure out how you want to use [them].”

6. Have fun. “As a team, we’re having so much fun with what we’re doing,” says Berg. “And it shows in the work we’re producing.”

Read the article.

HRmarketer's New E-Clipping Service Helps HR Vendors Track News Coverage on Web, Blogs and Social Networking Sites

We introduced a new eClipping service today! See the search-optimized press release here.

HRmarketer's president Kevin Grossman sums up this new feature well by saying:

“Our new e-clipping service helps HRmarketer become a central resource where HR suppliers can plan, manage, execute and measure their company's marketing, PR and SEO initiatives. For years our members have asked for a media tracking service to help them locate news coverage and media placements. Now we can help them measure which news announcements best resonate with various media audiences including blogs and social media sites.”

OK - what are the details?

• HRmarketer.com clients will have access to a comprehensive online media monitoring service that tracks major national news sites, newspapers, trade magazines and business journals, plus broadcast TV and radio media outlets.

• The “My Company News” section will also track HR-specific online news, blogs and social media sites such as Twitter—effectively covering millions of outlets. The new service is now available to clients of HRmarketer.com, the leading provider of marketing and PR software and services in the human resources industry.

• Updated hourly, the “Company News” section enables members to conveniently view recent media coverage of their company and mentions on blog and Twitter posts. Users may then choose to link to the original source as it actually appeared, with all original text, photos and graphics.

• Additionally, members can share their media coverage via services like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Digg to further enhance their company's online visibility and Web site traffic. All content is fully accessible via RSS in any desired format, and companies can subscribe to their own feed via email updates.

• HRmarketer.com members will receive the feature at no additional cost. In addition to the news archive, members will get personal archives that can be searched by keyword, tag or date. They can locate news, blog and Twitter coverage from a specific week that relates to any search-optimized press release sent via HRmarketer.com.

• While content is currently available in a mobile feed, HRmarketer.com plans to introduce an iPhone application in Fall 2009 that gives HR vendors the ability to track online media coverage from their iPhone. They will also receive alerts when their company is Twittered or appears in a blog or other online news source.

The announcement comes just months after HRmarketer.com launched the “SEO Center,” allowing HR suppliers to improve their search engine visibility and track their keyword rankings on Google, Yahoo, and Bing—plus monitor the impact of Web site content changes on search rankings. Later this year the company plans to introduce an upgraded “Marketing Planner” tool, enabling vendors to produce comprehensive and interactive reports to help vendors measure and track their marketing and PR investments.

What we love about this service is that, like our the keyword ranking tool, it doesn't lie. If you don't invest in SEO, marketing, sending search-optimized press releases, direct email marketing, social networking, etc. then your News page will be blank. And if your news page is blank then your customers - HR decisions makers - are likely not finding you when they go online.

To learn more please contact HRmarketer info [at] hrmarketer.com or call us at 831-685-9700.