HRmarketer.com Blog

Fellow Marketers: We Have a ‘Lovability Problem’

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 12:37:00 -0700

Mike Volpe, the CMO for HubSpot, was all fired up yesterday as he delivered the keynote at InfluenceHR in NYC. If you’ve ever seen him in action, you’ll probably agree that passion oozes out of this guy.

So where was his passion flowing yesterday? Confronting marketers’ “lovability problem.” He cited a Gallup poll that found marketers are less lovable than lawyers (really?). On the plus side, at least we are more lovable than car salespeople.

The reason we’re not so lovable, he knows, is our reputation as the “spam” people. Sending you all this stuff you didn’t ask for and aren’t interested in. As marketers, we need to fix it. To fix it, we need to completely rethink our fundamental strategies and tactics. Here’s what stuck out for me though:

IT IS HARD

Mike put it right out there — doing our work smarter and better is HARD.

It’s hard to create content that isn’t self-promotional or self-serving
To keep producing that AWESOME content — it’s hard.
It’s hard to make our marketing personal.
It’s hard to be smart and to market to people based on their interests (what we know about them).

SO fellow marketers … here’s to embracing this new era of marketing. Here’s to telling people at parties we’re marketers and having them say “Cool!” Here’s to having awesome content delivered in the right context. It’s HARD, but it WORKS.

Onward!

Post written by fisher VISTA/HRmarketer team member Katrina Busselle.

Marketing the Maturing Category: A Look at Video Interviewing

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Mon, 14 Oct 2013 10:28:00 -0700

The new category sale is one of the toughest challenges for any marketer because you first have to sell the customer on the category. It's new. It's something they have not purchased before, maybe not even heard of before. Your marketing is educational. You spend a lot of time describing the category, its benefits and ROI. Only after the customer sees the need for the category do you sell your company. So you have two parallel marketing campaigns.

As competitors enter the space it gets really challenging because you have these simultaneous marketing campaigns going on. One that sells the category (get the people interested in the product) and the other—only after they buy into the category—selling and differentiating your brand versus the competition. This stage of the new category sale can last for years.

As the market matures you no longer need to sell the category. People get it. They know there is a business value to it; they need it and they are going out and searching for companies. At this time you need to spend most of your marketing budget on selling and differentiating your brand. If you allocate too much money at this point into growing the pie (i.e., selling the category), you risk handing money to your competitors who are spending all of their money selling their solutions. You're spending money baking the pie. They're making money selling the pie. It is a delicate but harsh transition that happens quickly.

The video interviewing space is an example of a new category sale that is quickly maturing and will require a very different marketing strategy.

Video interviewing is arguably still in the "new category" stage. The adoption rate is accelerating and, while the benefits are clear to most companies, vendors still find themselves selling something new to a company that may not have budgeted for or implemented such a product in the past. This is about to change-fast. I base this on my observations at this year's HR technology Conference, where I saw a bunch of video interviewing vendors exhibiting. They include Ansync Interview, GreenJobInterview, HarQen, HireVue, Interviewstream, Jobvite, Montage Talent, RIVS, Sparkhire, Take The Interview and WePow.

For a listing of more video interviewing companies see this list compiled by Ed Newman at INSIDETMT.

Several years ago there were not nearly as many. The market is maturing fast and the pie is growing, thanks to all the marketing from the early entrants (if you are a newcomer to this space, you can thank your predecessors for creating the market you now benefit from).

But what I noticed at HR Technology was some video interviewing providers are still spending a big chunk of their marketing budget on selling the category (video interviewing) versus selling their their solution. These vendors need to be careful because the marketplace is at a critical inflection point where you risk potentially strong sales growth by spending too much of your budget on selling the category versus your unique solution. The art in product marketing is to know when to shift the budget allocation. I think we're getting to the point where most organizations don't need to be sold on video interviewing but need to be sold on your unique solution—which is likely a lot more than simply "video interviewing."

Post written by Mark Willaman, the founder and CEO of HRmarketer Software and fisher VISTA. Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.

Why Press Releases Should Now Be Called News Releases

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Fri, 11 Oct 2013 05:00:00 -0700

Two common questions we get about specific press releases are:

1. Do you think this release is likely to get much media attention?
2. Am I using keywords links effectively to maximize SEO value?

The answer to the first question, almost universally, is “no.” The answer to the second question is that Google now considers optimized links in press releases to be “link schemes,” and they no longer have SEO value.

Given that, is it even worth it for organization to still put out press releases? Yes.

As Rebecca Joyner recently wrote in an excellent MarketingProfs.com article, “With Little SEO Value Left in Them, Are Press Releases Still Worthwhile?” “Legitimate news announcements still serve as tools for market education, and they can still contribute to online discoverability via social networks and other channels. But some companies need a wake-up call about what they can really accomplish with an isolated press release, especially at a time when media and content strategies demand deep, broad, high-quality storytelling.”

Considering the current usage, it's better to use the term “news releases” than “press releases.” Due to social media and other online vehicles, the press is far from the only audience for releases; it’s much easier now for companies to reach potential buyers and other audiences directly. On the other hand, with the proliferation of releases, it’s actually much more difficult to get reporters and editors to read a particular news announcement among the sea of competition. That’s the primary reason we tell inquiring clients that publishing a release to an online wire service and doing nothing else isn’t likely to get much, if any, media attention.

Reaching target audiences isn’t as simple as just putting out your release via a major distribution service. To increase your readership, use smart tactics, such as distributing it via established social media networks (including relevant hashtags), putting keywords in the headline and subhead, following Google’s new rules about anchor text, and including pictures or video to make releases more sharable, Joyner said.

We agree with these recommendations, and also suggest sending individual pitches to key press, analysts and influencers. We have created our HRmarketer software to help our clients do all these things successfully, providing the ability to instantly identify:

influencers who are interested in the topics in their news announcements
related topics they might want to include in their news announcements to expand their reach
the best hashtags to use on social media when promoting their news

Plus, our news distribution system automatically conforms releases to Google’s anchor-text rules, and allows users to add videos and images.

But back to those client questions we posed at the start of this post. The first asked about media attention, the second about SEO. If the press release isn’t the right vehicle for accomplishing those goals, then what is?

Well, the right vehicle is different for media attention and SEO.

To garner media attention, the best tactic is, as we hinted at earlier, the well-crafted, brief individualized pitch. The first step to create a successful pitch is identifying reporters and editors who are engaged in the topic in your news. The second step is to create the email, briefly explain your news and why the particular journalist, and his or her readers, should care (it certainly doesn’t hurt to reference a previous article the journalist has written on the topic).

As for SEO, the best vehicle is creating a consistent stream of quality content. Google devalued press releases in SEO in part because it views them as content that its users didn’t want to read, so it didn’t want releases ranking high in search results. Nor did it want to reward organizations in search rankings for just putting out press releases. Instead, it wants to put high-quality content that its users are reading and sharing high on the list. And companies that are regularly putting out high-quality content focused on particular topics are now the ones finding themselves high on Page 1.

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

The HRmarketer/fisher VISTA Story

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Sat, 5 Oct 2013 05:30:00 -0700

Rebranding the Unintentional Agency

It’s the start of an exciting new chapter for my team and me. I’ll get to that in a minute … but let me come clean first.

I never planned to get into the agency business.

When I opened shop 13 years ago, I was launching a software company. Our product was HRmarketer, the very first marketing software suite developed specifically for the HR marketplace. The agency was … unintentional.

As our software business grew, more and more of our clients began asking us to help them create marketing materials, write press releases and pitch their news stories to the media. Like any entrepreneur worth his salt, I responded, “Sure, we’d be happy to help.” At the time, I had more than 10 years of marketing and sales experience under my belt in the human capital marketplace, so I felt completely comfortable helping clients with their marketing challenges. And that’s how the agency—HRmarketer Services Group—was born. Unintentional. But challenging, fun and rewarding right from the start.

So here we are … 13 years later and the agency is thriving. And as I mentioned earlier, we’re starting an exciting new chapter—a chapter that’s beginning with the agency’s rebranding. Our HRmarketer Services Group will now be known as fisher VISTA—the marketing agency for the HR marketplace.

So, just to set the record straight, fisher VISTA is the name of our agency, and HRmarketer is the name of our software. Two distinct brands but two highly complementary businesses—each capable of standing on its own and worthy of its own identity.

Even today many of our software clients eventually engage us as their agency, and lots of our agency clients use the HRmarketer software to learn more about the marketplace. In fact, agency clients are often thrilled to learn that HRmarketer software “powers” a lot of the services we provide. Our strategies, messaging, marketing campaigns and content are all based on up-to-the-minute data and marketplace intelligence that simply can’t be found anywhere else.

That’s not an exaggeration. If you haven’t read about or demoed the latest version of the HRmarketer software, you need to. Really. You’ll be blown away like every other company we’ve shown it to. Learn more about our software here.

How Does the Rebranding Affect Agency Clients?

The good news is, it doesn’t! Clients will continue to be served by their devoted account managers and their talented support teams. If you’re not an agency client and you’re interested in learning more about us, please check out our new fisher VISTA site.

To anyone shopping for an agency, don’t rush in. fisher VISTA is just one of several agencies serving the HR marketplace (although we do pride ourselves on being one of the first and one of the best). If you’re interested in hiring an agency, talk with as many as you can. All of the major players in this space do great work, and we all have unique cultures and points of view. Do your homework and pick the agency you feel most comfortable with.

Finally … to all of our clients, thank you for 13 fantastic years. And here’s to making the next 13 even better!

- Mark

Post written by Mark Willaman, the founder and CEO of HRmarketer Software and fisher VISTA. Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.

Ignore Follower Counts — There's a Better Way to Identify Influencers

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Wed, 2 Oct 2013 09:52:00 -0700

If you are a Twitter superstar, say Ashton Kutcher or Oprah Winfrey, this post isn’t for you. (And if you are Justin or Oprah, thanks for visiting our blog. We had no idea you were interested in marketing to HR!) But if you're like the rest of us, trying to get visibility for your content through a variety of tactics, well, listen up, we have some important — and perhaps unusual — suggestions on how to have more success with influencers on Twitter.

First, a one-sentence class in Twitter 101 (we’ll put it in bold to make you take notice):

While sending tweets to your followers is one way of broadcasting your message, it is more effective to have others repeat your message via retweets, replies and sharing the URLs that you tweet.

The people engaged
with a topic change
frequently. Here is
a look at a few of
the influencers
sharing "Affordable
Care Act" content.

Why? For one thing, just because someone follows you doesn’t actually mean they have any interest in you, or what you have to say. Often, they are just following you for one, entirely selfish reason: they want you to follow them. But if someone on Twitter receives your message through a trusted intermediary whose share indicates “this is worthwhile,” they are more likely to give your content a chance. So the goal is to get influential people to follow you and/or share your messages, and then act as a conduit for your marketing.

This brings up the question of the day: How can you identify the truly influential people on Twitter?

You certainly can’t identify them by follower counts. After all, anyone with money to burn can purchase followers. An obsession with high follower counts has taken over Twitter, but marketers need to give it up. You probably aren’t going to get the attention of Twitter superstars, and even if they do share your message, they probably have little or no credibility with your audience on the topic. Plus, follower counts don’t tell you about who follows them, whether people pay any attention to their Tweets or if the followers have any interest in what you have to say and share.

What you need to pay attention to is a Twitter user’s influence within a specific marketplace: yours. A user with a few thousand followers, most of whom share a common interest with you, is much more valuable in spreading your marketing message. (Sorry, Oprah and Ashton!) Once you assemble the list of people that have broad visibility in your marketplace, you then want to identify those individuals whose messages have higher-than-average engagement. These are the real influencers.

We identify these influencers through our HRmarketer Software. You can look at influencers for an industry, a topic within the industry or even a brand. We recently ran the following three queries for influencers for "human resource," "Affordable Care Act" and our brand, HRmarketer, and the results were interesting:

1. Who are the top people mentioned* in tweets linking to articles that contain the phrase “human resource”?

Our report had hundreds of influencers including such familiar names as @blogging4jobs, @TLNT, @JohnSumser and @hrbartender. But we did discover some new names. That's not surprising, as no influencer list is static — there are always new influencers entering the space.

*We’re not looking for the people who tweet the most about HR — any bot can do that. We want people who (a) frequently share content about human resources and (b) whose tweets and social shares get a lot of engagement. Tracking mentions allows you to find the right people.

2. Who are the top people mentioned in tweets linking to content* that contain the phrase “Affordable Care Act”?

We picked a popular topic, "Affordable Care Act,” and found that @TLNT again made the list, as did @hrbartender, @jenbenz, @brycewatch @ezraklein. But we also saw other interesting names such as @KHNews (Kaiser Health News), @nytimes, @wsj, @THCBstaff (The Health Care Blog) and @RWJF (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a public health organization).

By isolating a topic within your marketplace, you can generate a list of influencers who may not have otherwise been identified and may not be HR’s usual Twitter superstars.

*HRmarketer Software bases the data on the content that is linked to. We do this because there is more value in the content than in the characters in a tweet. For example, even if @TLNT never has the topic "Affordable Care Act" in a tweet (and would therefore be ignored by most social monitoring software), it clearly pushes people to content on health care reform, and should be on an HR “influencer” list on the topic.

3. Who are the top Twitter users mentioned in tweets that link to content that contain your company name?

The final query we ran was to find the people in our target market who frequently share content that mentions our brand, HRmarketer. Sometimes the social shares themselves don’t mention our brand (often, they don’t) but that’s OK — when we do this report, what we’re interested in finding are the people responsible for the most popular social shares that point to content that mentions our brand. These are our “hidden” brand champions.

Our results for this query showed a mix of influencers, companies and a few of our own employees. The list surprised us — people we would not have considered “influencers” by traditional metrics turned out to be quite significant brand champions for our content.

You can benefit a great deal by knowing the influencers in your marketplace and on topics that matter to your business, and by knowing your brand champions.

Obviously, knowing who the influencers are isn't enough. You need to know how to engage with them and work with them. Fortunately, we have another post on that:http://hrmarketer.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-2-types-of-social-influencers.html.

If you want any of these reports run for your business, email us at sales@hrmarketer.com.

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

Conference Insights Reports: What’s the Big Deal?

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 Sep 2013 06:30:00 -0700

Many you have seen our conference insights reports in which we analyze the Twitter conversations for an event hashtag. Some recent reports include Oracle OpenWorld, HR Technology Conference and Workday Rising.

The Conferences Database, one of several databases in the Research module of HRmarketer software, monitors more than 700 global HR and benefits events (yes, there are that many), and we'll be doing these reports for all events that have a hashtag.

A sampling of the influencers and analysts who
are engaged with HR technology events.

The insights reports we've made available to the public have been well received and have generated thousands of unique page views. They provide some fun data, such as who gets mentioned the most in tweets (one sign of influence), what content is most shared, and the popular and trending topics. It's interesting to see how the trending topics mirror what sessions are taking place at a particular time. And how popular those sessions are.

It's also been interesting to calculate an event’s Twitter Engagement score, a term we coined that compares the number of people sending at least one tweet at an event to the total expected attendees of that event. A loose number (not everyone who tweets is at the event) but, nevertheless, useful. It can give event organizers an idea of how well they've integrated social into their event strategy and the social use of the attendee demographic. As of day two, Oracle OpenWorld scored 12 percent. For an event of its size, that's a high score. The HR Technology Conference is tracking at 15 percent, a very high score considering the event is several weeks away. On the flip side, as of day two, Benefits Forum & Expo was scoring at only 7 percent. Draw your own conclusions.

But the real value of these reports comes when you analyze multiple events together. For example, we ran a quick query Monday night of this week to find the people and brands that have engaged with all three of the events, Oracle OpenWorld, HR Technology Conference and Workday Rising. We found 33, including such familiar names as Holger Mueller, R Ray Wang, Naomi Bloom, Jarret Pazahanick and Jason Averbook. The list is full of influencers and analysts who are clearly staying on top of the HR tech marketplace. You can view the entire list here: https://twitter.com/HRmarketer/lists/hrmarketer-insights.

It is also interesting to run a query that tells you the "most engaged" people for events that relate to a particular topic, such as affordable health care. Or to search across all events transcripts to see who shared content that mentioned a particular topic or company name. To do this, the software analyzes the content linked to by a social update because, more often than not, the social update (e.g., tweet) doesn't mention the company name or topic.

You can also run a query to find all the events a particular person or brand is engaged with. And my favorite, to view a popularity tag cloud of topics across several events and access the source content. Yes, Big Data is still a popular topic in HR tech. This data is more important than ever considering Google recently moved to entirely secure search.

If you are interested in previewing the software behind all this (HRmarketer), please contact us. These event insight reports are just a sliver of the market intelligence available via HRmarketer software. We also analyze tens of thousands of HCM blogs, articles, news stories, as well as conversations amongst thousands of influencers, analysts and other social "voices" on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The intelligence available through the software is, well, a big deal, and will help improve your marketing.

We'd be happy to run some reports for your brand (company or individual) if you like. Contact us at sales@hrmarketer.com. We'll do a comp report for the first 10 that request a report. And if you’d like a 20-minute demo of our software, please go to: http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/request_demo.php.

Related Post: 6 #Hashtag Tips for Conference Organizers

Post written by Mark Willaman, the founder and CEO of HRmarketer Software and fisher VISTA. Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.

Employee Referrals, Job Growth, Talent Strategy are on HR's Collective Mind

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Fri, 20 Sep 2013 13:45:00 -0700

Jobs, jobs, jobs.

Job-related topics were hot over the past week, as employee referrals, job growth and talent strategy are the trending topics in our "What's Hot in HR" e-newsletter.

To see the content (articles and blog posts) that helped make these topics trending, the influencers discussing them, as well as the most popular HR content of the week, check out the current edition here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/whats-hot-in-hr/September20_2013.html

To see five ways to act on hot HR topics, visit: http://hrmarketer.blogspot.com/2013/07/whats-hot-in-hr-5-ways-to-act-on-it.html

To have “What’s Hot in HR” emailed to you each Friday, sign up here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/Newsletter_Signup.php

What is HR Talking About? An Analysis.

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Mon, 16 Sep 2013 12:13:00 -0700

What is HR talking about?

It’s an interesting question, and one that is difficult to answer, and that you can approach from different perspectives.

You can answer it from the perspective of popularity, by viewing the topics that are most talked about in HR overall.

Popularity and whether a topic is trending
are two perspectives for determining the
hot topics in HR. It's best, however to
combine the two perspectives.

Here is a list of the most-popular topics; we compiled it using a feature within HRmarketer software that measures and analyzes HR’s online “conversations” (social media, blog posts and online articles):

Most-Popular Topics
Human resource
Big data
Health care
Employee engagement
Health insurance
Talent management
HR professional
Hiring manager
Cloud computing
Leadership development

What we see is that highly popular topics tend to be very broad. After all, “human resource” is No. 1. Topics don’t get any more broad.

But think about popularity. There is a factor it doesn’t consider: time. Applied to the above list, we can’t tell if the topics are more or less popular than they were earlier.

So, how can we consider time? By approaching what HR is talking about from the perspective of what’s trending. The most-trending topics are the ones whose popularity is rising the fastest. Here is our HRmarketer-generated list:

Most-Trending Topics
Talent acquisition and development
Disability engagement
Mobile talent
Executive succession planning
Effective managers
Job pricing
Strategic talent acquisition
Harrison Assessment
Managing workplace stress
Flexible spending accounts

(A quick note about the most-trending-topics list: it changes daily based on what’s being published and shared on social day to day.)

The topics in this list are much more specific, and none of them are on the most-popular list. As it turns out, this is something we continually see. While some of these topics may be popular or may become popular, a topic doesn’t have to be popular to become highly trending (in fact, it probably isn’t that popular).

This makes sense when you think about it. To use a music example, let’s say we started the HRmarketer Band, and began tweeting about it, blogging about it, etc. Well, it would be much easier for it to become highly trending than it would be for, say, Britney Spears. It wouldn’t be hard for the HRmarketer Band’s popularity to increase by 10 times, but it sure would for Britney Spears’. And our band would be terrible and would never be highly popular (after all, we’re marketers, not musicians — even though our CEO, Mark Willaman, does occasionally strum a guitar in our office).

OK, so back to our question: what is HR talking about? What we’ve seen is that it’s useful to know the most-popular topics and it’s useful to know the most-trending topics, but each list has limitations. Now let’s combine the two perspectives. Here is a look at the top 10 trending topics among the 100 most-popular topics:

Top 10 Trending From 100 Most Popular
Effective managers
HR recruiting
Social media recruiting
Affordable Care Act
Human capital
LinkedIn recruiting
Talent acquisition
Social recruiting
Unemployment rate
Job growth

Interesting. A few points:

“Effective managers” is the only topic to appear on two lists, as it also appeared on the “Most-Trending Topics” list.
Hot-button, popular topics such as the Affordable Care Act and social media recruiting made the list.
As a group, the topics aren't as broad as those in the popularity list, but not so specific as those in the trending list. As a result, it appears that this list may best answer “What is HR talking about?”

So, what do you do with this information? Well, it’s great to know what’s going on in the industry, but here are two concrete examples.

1. Write content about and/or mentioning these topics (especially if they relate to your business) and tweet and comment about them, for you’re going to get more visibility and engagement.

2. Discover which influencers are writing and discussing these topics (you can do this via HRmarketer software), and develop valuable relationships with them. While the popular topics are hot, the influencers who are effectively communicating about them will also be hot. By having them write content for you or contribute quotes to your content, participate in your webinars, or simply share your content with their extensive social networks, you’ll get more visibility.

To succeed at inbound and content marketing, it’s highly important to be able to know what HR is talking about. And to know that, you need to know what’s popular and what’s trending, and most importantly, what’s both popular and trending.

Related:

- 5 Ways to Increase the Visibility of Your Next Blog Post

- 6 Ways HCM Providers Can Benefit From #Hashtag Analysis

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

Hot in HR: Workplace Violence, Social Media Recruiting, Baby Boomer

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 08:30:00 -0700

TGIF. Not only is Friday the gateway to the weekend, it's also when our "What's Hot in HR" e-newsletter comes out each week.

Every week, HR seems to be talking about something interesting. And this week is no exception, with workplace violence, social media recruiting and baby boomer the trending topics in "What's Hot in HR." To view the articles helping make the topics hot, and the influencers who are discussing each topic, check out this week's edition at http://www.hrmarketer.com/whats-hot-in-hr/September13_2013.html.

To get the newsletter in your email each week, subscribe at: http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/Newsletter_Signup.php. It just takes a minute or two to read, but it's a great way to keep tabs on the industry, and add more value to your Friday. TGIF!

Tweet About This: 6 #Hashtag Tips for Conference and Webinar Producers

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 07:00:00 -0700

We’ve been spending a lot of time analyzing Twitter hashtags lately.

(For instance, see our analyses of #HRTechConf, #truLondon and #wdayrising, respectively the official hashtags for the HR Technology® Conference and Exposition, The truLondon Technology® Recruiting Unconference and the Workday® Rising Conference.)

A hashtag that is smartly created, promoted and used can help build buzz about an event. A good example of this is #HRTechConf, which is already getting heavy use, even though the conference is more than three weeks away.

During the process, we've noticed conference and webinar producers that are using hashtags intelligently—like the examples above—to maximize the Twitter conversation. But we've also noticed others that are making mistakes that are reducing the Twitter conversation, and, as a result, the visibility of and buzz around their events.

To help you avoid the same fate, here are six hashtag best practices:

1. It’s Important To Create Your Own Hashtag

Hashtags may not seem that important: after all, they are just words or collections of letters with a “#” symbol in front of them. But hashtags provide a convenient way of grouping messages on Twitter and other social sites. They serve as virtual meeting rooms for people to hold discussions. Users can search for and/or group hashtags; this isolates the conversation around a particular subject for easy viewing.

Because hashtags make it easier to follow conversations, they encourage more discussion. If you are a webinar producer, it’s important to announce an official hashtag, as there may be little or no Twitter conversation without one; the announcement lets people know that a conversation is taking place, and that they can join it. If you are a conference producer, it’s important to announce an official hashtag for a different reason: if you don’t, your attendees may create one—or several. The latter situation can cause mass confusion and frustration.

Ultimately, having an official hashtag will allow you to more easily monitor, participate in, and analyze the conversations taking place about your event.

2. Make Sure Your Hashtag Isn’t Already Used

You don’t want to create a hashtag only to find that is used frequently for other Twitter conversations. An already-used hashtag may be worse than no hashtag at all, as it can make it highly frustrating to follow a conversation when it is frequently interrupted and muddled by another. This results in two frustrated audiences, and the conference or webinar host looks bad to both. So when you have an idea for a hashtag, search for it on Twitter to ensure it isn’t already in regular use. You can also use sites like http://twubs.com to both search for hashtag availability and register your hashtag.

3. Don’t Make Your Hashtag Too Long

Since a tweet is limited to 140 characters, you don’t want a hashtag that uses up a ton of space. A long hashtag can significantly reduce conversation, as it makes it difficult to stay under the character limit. Other effects include less linked content and fewer retweets and referenced tweets. It also makes you look like you don’t understand Twitter.

4. Once You Pick A Hashtag, Keep Using It

Many conference and webinar holders change their hashtag for each new edition of the conference or webinar; sometimes the hashtag is entirely new, or in many cases, the year is incorporated in the hashtag, so it has to be updated each year. Changing your hashtag doesn't make sense to us; it is somewhat like changing your website’s URL or your phone number. Doing so means people have to find you all over again. Instead, choose a hashtag and keep using it over time; so make sure to give it some thought, as you and others, one would hope, will be using it a lot.

5. Promote Your Hashtag Aggressively

Many conference and webinar holders create a hashtag that would be effective, only to hurt themselves by not promoting it on materials related to their events. As a result, they might as well not be using the hashtag. They’ve set up a virtual conference room, but not informed anyone they can use it. To avoid this, make your official hashtag a visual part of your materials (event fliers, registration materials, business cards, email footers, show signage, speaker slides, etc.), and include it when mentioning your webinar or conference on social media and elsewhere. Also, this is important, prominently display it on the event’s registration page. Encourage use before, during and after the event.

6. Drive Your Hashtag's Conversation

Another common mistake conference and webinar producers make is not participating in the Twitter conversation related to their official hashtags. This can result in Twitter silence, or just isolated chatter, which makes it look like people aren't engaged with their events. Frequently, a conversation needs a moderator or a leader. Bill Kutik, who is stepping down this year after a long tenure at the helm of the HR Technology® Conference and Exposition, is great at this in the #HRTechConf conversation. Our hashtag analysis shows that he has both tweeted the most and been mentioned the most, and that the number of tweets per week is already skyrocketing even though the conference is still almost a month away. If you want a great case study example in how to effectively integrate social media into an event, follow the #HRTechConf hashtag (an easy way to do this is through our webpage that analyzes it).

For more information on hashtags and the sites that support them, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashtag.

We hope this post was useful or interesting to you. If you are interested in learning more about HRmarketer Software and our HR data analysis tools, please contact us.

Related Content

- What a #Hashtag Tells Us: A Closer Look at #HRTechConf

- The Top HR Twitter #Hashtags (Revisited)

- Six Ways HCM Providers Can Benefit from #Hashtag Analysis

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

Six Ways HCM Providers Can Benefit From #Hashtag Analysis

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Thu, 5 Sep 2013 06:30:00 -0700

Reaction to our continuously updating webpage that analyzes the Twitter hashtag of the HR Technology® Conference and Exposition—#HRTechConf—has been universally positive. A few one-word reactions to the page, which we published last week, include “cool,” “wow!” and “woah.”

The webpage, http://hrmarketer.com/HRTechConf/, is a fun look at both the #HRTechConf conversation (including the top topics being discussed and the most-share content) and the people participating in it. We did a similar analysis for the truLondon event, http://hrmarketer.com/truLondon/. It's important, however, to point out that the information from a hashtag analysis isn't just interesting, it's also useful.

Here are six ways HCM providers can take advantage of the data made available via hashtag analysis (we use our analysis of the #HRTechConf hashtag as the example in the paragraphs below, but the lessons can also be applied to #truLondon, or any other event hashtag):

1. Participate in the conversation

The much-anticipated HR Technology Conference begins October 7, but the pre-event conversation has been going on for months. While there aren’t a huge number of people currently participating, many who are happen to be major HR influencers. And the conversation has spiked up over the last week, with more than 400 tweets using #HRTechConf in that span. Now is a great time to join in the conversation, as there is enough discussion taking place to make it worth your while, but not so much that it is hard to get noticed. When you do join in, do so in a thoughtful way (this is not an appropriate venue to try to make a sale) that adds to the conversation, and you can generate goodwill and begin to develop valuable relationships. One way to do this is to reference interesting content—either your own blog post about something related to HR technology or to comment on someone else’s interesting content. Another benefit: by using #HRTechConf in your tweets, you can get on our webpage’s leaderboard of the top-25 users of the hashtag.

2. Prepare for the conference by viewing top articles

Be prepared. It’s great to follow the Boy Scout motto as you get set to head to the conference, and a smart way to ready yourself for the show is to be familiar with the content HR influencers and experts are sharing and discussing. Our webpage includes links to the top 10 articles being linked to from tweets that include #HRTechConf; check those links from time to time to be in the know, instead of out of the loop, when it comes time to network at the conference. Also, it’s a good idea to comment on some of the content or share it on your social networks.

3. Use related hashtags to get more visibility for your tweets

Using the #HRTechConf hashtag is obviously a great idea to expand your Twitter audience (especially as the event gets closer), but it’s also good to use other appropriate related hashtags. We rank the top 25 hashtags used along with #HRTechConf to give you an idea of other hashtags you might want to consider using, both leading up to the conference and afterward. It’s also smart to familiarize yourself with these hashtags and their conversations. How much do you know about #DTHR, #HRevolution and #HRhappyhour?

4. Connect with influencers

The lists of top 25 users of the hashtag and the top 25 most-mentioned people and organizations include many people marketers might want to connect with. This might be as simple as just following them on Twitter, but the relationships can extend much further. You may even want to connect with them at the conference or elsewhere, and possibly even find a way to work with them. There are many great ways to harness the power of influencers; among these are getting them to share your content on social media, having them write content for you and arranging them to serve on your advisory board.

5. See what topics people are communicating about

We include a topic cloud of the most popular topic being discussed using #HRTechConf as well as a ranking of the top trending topics*. Chances are, if people are communicating about these topics in advance of the show, they will be talking about them at the show. It’s a good idea to time content on those topics for right before or during the show.

*Note: popular and trending are different concepts. This can be confusing, so here is a quick explanation. A topic is popular when many people are talking about it. A topic is trending when more people are communicating about it currently than were doing so previously. A trending topic need not be popular; likewise, a popular topic need not be trending, although it must have been trending at some point over time to have become popular. To give a real-world example, Britney Spears is still very popular, but she’s not making major news today and not trending. If she had a baby tomorrow, however, she would be both popular and trending.

6. Learn about the HR Twitterverse

The #HRTechConf discussion can be looked as a case study of the HR Twitterverse. You can see where people are located, how the number of tweets changes as the event gets closer and how the trending topics change from week to week. An example of an insight is that the conference is truly global, with tweets from Brazil, Ecuador, Holland, Australia, England, Mexico, India and Greece, among others; as a result, if you limit your visibility and sales efforts to North America, you might want to try to expand those efforts to other areas of the globe.

If you are interested in learning more about fisher VISTA and HRmarketer software and how we can analyze the HR data you care about (a certain hashtags(s), keyword topic, etc.) give us a call.

Related Content

- What a #Hashtag Tells Us: A Closer Look at #HRTechConf

- The Top HR Twitter #Hashtags

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

What a #Hashtag Tells Us: A Closer Look at #HRTechConf

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Tue, 3 Sep 2013 10:28:00 -0700

If you are in the HR technology space, it’s a great idea to monitor #HRTechConf, the Twitter hashtag of the HR Technology® Conference and Exposition, especially since the much-anticipated show is coming up in early October. The hashtag provides a window into the event and the industry; it can help you identify people to try to network with, what topics are being discussed and the companies that will be making big news.

Since the conference focuses on technology, we decided it was fitting to use HRmarketer software technology to continuously analyze the #HRTechConf hashtag to get a deeper look at the conversation. We are displaying the results on a publicly visible webpage: http://hrmarketer.com/HRTechConf/.

What can you see? Plenty!

The top 10 trending topics in the conversation
A topic cloud of the most-popular topics being discussed
The top 10 URLs and/or content shared
A list of the most recent #HRTechConf tweets
Graphs showing the number of tweets using the hashtag week by week
The top 25 users of the hashtag
The 25 most-mentioned people and organizations
The top 20 tweeted-from locations
And much more!

You can find out some interesting information on the continually updating webpage. For example, at the time of this writing, there were four tweets using the hashtag that came from Greenland. Who knew? As we get closer to the conference, more and more of the information we analyze and offer will have far greater value to HCM providers. And we will be discussing exactly how—and how you can put it to use—in an upcoming post.

If you love what you see and are interested in learning more about HRmarketer software and how we can analyze the HR data you care about give us a call. Remember, the better your view of the HR marketplace, the better your visibility.

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

What's Hot in HR: Labor Law, Behavioral Interview

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 12:08:00 -0700

This week's trending topics in our "What's Hot in HR" enewsletter are labor law and behavioral interview.

To see the content (articles and blog posts) that have helped make these topics trending, the influencers discussing them, as well as the most popular HR content of the week, check out the current edition here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/whats-hot-in-hr/August30_2013.html

To see five ways to act on hot HR topics, visit: http://hrmarketer.blogspot.com/2013/07/whats-hot-in-hr-5-ways-to-act-on-it.html

To have “What’s Hot in HR” emailed to you each Friday, sign up here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/Newsletter_Signup.php

Follow This Advice or Lose Visibility: Why HCM Providers Need to Know About ‘Nofollow’

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 06:00:00 -0700

In life, if you don’t follow the rules, then you have to be prepared to pay the penalties. That’s true even if you don’t know the rules.

Google recently updated its Webmaster Guidelines with an important new rule regarding the use of links, specifically anchor-text links, in content published online. If you run afoul of it, your website likely will be penalized. To explain what HCM providers need to know, here are the answers to five questions about the rule:

1. What is the New Rule?

Google now requires that any links that could be construed as being paid be given the “rel nofollow” attribute to ensure PageRank is not passed along to the page being linked to (you can find information from Google about this issue here: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en).

If this confuses you, read on. We’ll clear it up.

2. What are the Dangers of Not Complying?

If you don’t play by Google’s rules, you could face extreme penalties. A company that repeatedly breaks the “new law of online linking” could have its website delisted on Google, or it could drop from page 1 of search results for a given keyword phrase to page 2 or 10 (or worse). Either can have devastating impacts, and it can take an extensive amount of time to get relisted or to recover your ranking.

3. What Types of Content are Impacted by the Rule?

The most significant content type that needs “nofollow” links is any press release located outside of your web properties. This includes press releases that are distributed through online “wire” services. But any other type of content that Google could deem as being “paid” content should also have “nofollow” links. Examples could include guest blog posts and paid article placements. If you are not sure whether or not your news distribution service conforms to the new rule, ask them–or contact HRmarketer and we’ll let you know. Those who are using HRmarketer software for press release distribution are OK.

4. What Does the “Nofollow” Tag Look Like

First, it’s important to remember that the rule affects anchor-text links. An anchor-text link is a link hidden under text. In the examples below, the words “anchor text” are the anchor text, while the links go to HRmarketer.com:

This is a link to HRmarketer.com with “nofollow” in the anchor text.

Here is the HTML: <a href="http://www.hrmarketer.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">anchor text</a>

This is a link to HRmarketer.com without “nofollow” in the anchor text.

Here is the HTML: <a href="http://www.hrmarketer.com/" target="_blank">anchor text</a>

Note that the two sentences look the same. The only difference is that Google doesn’t follow the first link (that’s good), but will follow the second link (that’s bad).

5. What Can You Do?

A: Make sure that third-party websites (including press release distribution services) or agencies that are posting your press releases are using “nofollow.” As we mentioned, those who are using HRmarketer’s press release distribution system are OK, as our distribution partners all use “nofollow” links, as do our syndication sites.

B: If you are unsure whether Google will view a link as being paid, then err on the side of caution and use “nofollow” links. For example, even if a guest blog post isn’t a paid opportunity, it’s best to use “nofollow” links.

C. Don’t worry about using “nofollow” links on your website or blog. You want the links there to be followed, so that they can benefit your SEO.

D. Stay on top of the rules! Or make sure your marketing/PR firm knows them. The rules have been changing rapidly, and Google (and other search engines) will continue to make adjustments that affect how search rankings are determined, and should affect your SEO strategies.

E. Look for an upcoming post on this blog to learn about other ways to get visibility for your news announcements, now that Google has eliminated press releases’ “link juice” SEO benefit.

Post written by HRmarketer / SocialEars HR team member Andy Benkert .

'What's Hot in HR' This Week: Job Aggregators and the Passive Candidate

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Fri, 23 Aug 2013 09:23:00 -0700

Our "What's Hot in HR" newsletter comes out each Friday, and the hot topics discussed this week our job aggregators and the passive candidate.

To see the content (articles and blog posts) that have helped make these topics trending, the influencers discussing them, as well as the most popular HR content of the week, check out the current edition here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/whats-hot-in-hr/August23_2013.html

To see five ways to act on hot HR topics, visit: http://hrmarketer.blogspot.com/2013/07/whats-hot-in-hr-5-ways-to-act-on-it.html

To have “What’s Hot in HR” emailed to you each Friday, sign up here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/Newsletter_Signup.php

What's Hot in HR This Week?

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Fri, 16 Aug 2013 09:57:00 -0700

This week's hot topics in our popular "What's Hot in HR" enewsletter are contingent workforce, disparate impact and employee participation.

To see why these topics are hot, the articles and other content that are driving the conversation on them and the social influencers who are engaged in the conversation, check out the new edition here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/whats-hot-in-hr/

To see five ways a marketer of HR software or services can act on hot HR topics, visit: http://hrmarketer.blogspot.com/2013/07/whats-hot-in-hr-5-ways-to-act-on-it.html

To have “What’s Hot in HR” emailed to you each Friday, sign up here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/Newsletter_Signup.php

The 4 Most Popular Content Pieces From the Past Week

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Fri, 9 Aug 2013 09:31:00 -0700

Each week, we post the four most popular HR content pieces of the past week in our “What’s Hot in HR” enewsletter. They are determined by looking at several thousand active online HR influencers, then analyzing how often the content is linked to by this group in original tweets, retweets, LinkedIn posts and Facebook updates.

Here are the four content pieces that HR has been talking about the most this week:

Switch & Shift — Millenials: How To Get Your Work Noticed, by Shawn Murphy

TLNT — 5 Important Ways Social Media Can Go Mobile in the Workplace, by Assaf Eisenstein

LollyDaskal.com — Get To Know Your Fears, by Lolly Daskal

Harvard Business Review — Build a Career Worth Having, by Nathaniel Koloc

In addition to showing the top four content pieces, "What's Hot in HR" also details trending topics in HR, as well as the content and influencers helping make them hot.

To access the current edition, and to view the archives, go here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/whats-hot-in-hr/

To have “What’s Hot in HR” emailed to you each week, sign up here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/Newsletter_Signup.php

‘What’s Hot in HR’ This Week?

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Fri, 2 Aug 2013 09:26:00 -0700

This week’s hot topics featured in our “What’s Hot in HR” enewsletter are pension plan, reference checking and workers’ rights.

The free newsletter informs you of the latest trends and most popular content in the human resources marketplace in just one page each Friday. Our SocialEars HR software, which analyzes the industry’s social media conversations and online content (articles, blog posts), is the engine driving the newsletter.

To see the content (articles and blog posts) that have helped make these topics trending, the influencers discussing them, as well as the most popular HR content of the week, check out the current edition here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/whats-hot-in-hr/

To have “What’s Hot in HR” emailed to you each week, sign up here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/Newsletter_Signup.php

Hot in HR: Work-Life Balance, HR Tech, Strategic HR

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Sun, 28 Jul 2013 14:25:00 -0700

You play with your kids, and you think of work you need to get done. You get your work done, and you feel guilty about not playing with your kids.

It sucks, right?

In addition to examining the content
making topics trending, "What's Hot in
"HR" provides historical trend analysis
and details the influencers discussing
the week's trending topics.

How can we get ourselves home to our kids, and play with them without stressing ourselves about work? How can we have work-life balance, or at least something approaching it?

One way is to get more work done in less time."What's Hot in HR," our newsletter that allows readers to keep up on the latest news and trends in HR, is one small way to be more efficient.

The free newsletter informs you of the latest trends and most popular content in the human resources marketplace in just one page each week. Our SocialEars HR software, which analyzes the industry’s social media conversations and online content (articles, blog posts), is the engine driving the newsletter.

Not coincidentally, work-life balance is one of the trending topics in the latest edition of “What’s Hot in HR.” The newsletter reported that conversation about work-life balance heated up due to Glassdoor releasing its third annual “Top 25 Companies for Work-Life Balance” report. A key finding was that our ever-growing attachment and access to technology is leading to the decline of work-life balance. Another headline from the survey was that Yahoo made the list despite the much-talked-about and oft-criticized decision this year to ban telework.

The other two trending topics in the latest edition of “What’s Hot in HR” are:

HR Technology Conference
Strategic HR

Check out the latest edition to learn about why they are hot topics, the content and influencers helping them become hot topics. Plus, you also can find out the four most popular content pieces (articles, blog posts) in HR from the past week.

To access the current edition, and to view the archives, go here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/whats-hot-in-hr/

To have “What’s Hot in HR” emailed to you each week, sign up here: http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/Newsletter_Signup.php

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

The Top HR Twitter #Hashtags (Revisited)

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Jul 2013 06:00:00 -0700

Hashtags have been an important way to expand reach and visibility on Twitter. And with LinkedIn and Facebook adding hashtag capabilities this year, hashtags are more important than ever.

Given that, we felt it was time to update our popular post from last year “The Top HR Twitter #Hashtags.” In that post, we provided two lists—created Oct. 16, 2012—of the top 25 hashtags among HR voices, one for a one-week time frame and the other for three months. This post includes lists—created July 22, 2013—for the same time frames.

We’ll get to the lists in just a moment. First, some quick background. To compile this list we used our SocialEars HR software to monitor the tweets of about 10,000 people actively tweeting on HR topics—this included influencers, media outlets, journalists, analysts, HR professionals, recruiters, consultants, etc.).

So, let’s take a look at those top hashtags. A note on the display: the number in parentheses is the ranking on the same list in 2012, while “NR” means the hashtag did not rank in the top 25 in last year’s list.

One Week

1. #HR (1)
2. #leadership (4)
3. #TChat (2)
4. #socialmedia (9)
5. #recruiting (24)
6. #business (18)
7. #HRBlogs (NR)
8. #shrm (21)
9. #marketing (19)
10. #career (NR)
11. #emplaw (NR)
12. #innovation (NR)
13. #ausbiz (NR)
14. #law (NR)
15. #bigdata (10)
16. #socbiz (16)
17. #cloud (22)
18. #management (25)
19. #legal (NR)
20. #technology (NR)
21. #diversity (NR)
22. #dthr (NR)
23. #sales (20)
24. #SAP (NR)
25. #employmentlaw (NR)

Notes:

1. #HR is still No. 1.

2. Biggest jump: #recruiting from No. 24 to No. 5. Also notable: #business from No. 18 to No. 6, #shrm from No. 21 to No. 8 and #marketing from No. 19 to No. 9.

Three Months

1. #HR (1)
2. #leadership (3)
3. #TChat (2)
4. #SHRM13 (NR)
5. #leadfromwithin (15)
6. #socialmedia (7)
7. #business (17)
8. #quote (8)
9. #bigdata (12)
10. #dthr (10)
11. #recruiting (NR)
12. #marketing (18)
13. #HRBlogs (NR)
14. #career (23)
15. #shrm (20)
16. #cloud (16)
17. #ausbiz (NR)
18. #management (24)
19. #innovation (NR)
20. #peopleskills (NR)
21. #socbiz (13)
22. #SAP (NR)
23. #diversity (NR)
24. #sales (21)
25. #sapphirenow (NR)

Notes:

1. Again, #HR keeps its spot at the top.

2. Biggest jump: #leadfromwithin from No. 15 to No. 5 and #business from No. 17 to No. 7.

3. Hashtags around popular conferences are often volatile in the rankings. A conference hashtag is used much more around the time of the conference. Since this list was generated not long after the SHRM 2013 conference, it’s not surprising to see #SHRM13 rank No. 4 after being unranked last year, as that list was generated in October.

#HR

Since #HR consistently ranks No. 1, does that mean you should use it in all your tweets and LinkedIn and Facebook comments?

No.

For two reasons.

1. #HR is used so heavily on Twitter that it can be hard for your tweets to get noticed.

2. It is best to use a variety of hashtags on multiple tweets at different times for a given piece of content you are promoting (we don’t recommend multiple LinkedIn and Facebook comments). So, you could use #HR on one tweet, but use other hashtags in others.

Final Thoughts

Smart hashtag usage can significantly impact the visibility of your tweets—and eventually likely will do the same for LinkedIn and Facebook comments.

One part of smart hashtag usage we haven’t mentioned is being topic specific. For example, the hashtags you use to promote content relating to background screening should be different than those used to promote content on big data in HR. Use software like SocialEars HR to find the long tail of suggested hashtags for your content topics.

And if any of those content topics fit the popular hashtags above, try them out. If you do, you’ll probably like your results.

Learn more about how SocialEars HR can help you get more visibility for your content with a demo.

Related Content:

- The Top HR Twitter #Hashtags
- 7 Tactics to Get More People to Read Your Content
- Twitter Tools: What the HR Influencers Use

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

5 Ways To Increase the Visibility of Your Next Blog Post

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Thu, 18 Jul 2013 10:29:00 -0700

After publishing a blog post, I enjoy seeing how many views it gets and how much social activity (e.g., tweets and retweets, likes, shares, pins) it generates. Of course, I enjoy it far more when a post gets a lot of reads and social engagement.

There are strong business benefits to having a successful blog. How do you make posts, and thus blogs, more successful? Here are five actions we recommend:

1. Use a “Family” of Keyword Topics

When people write about a topic (e.g., employee engagement), they often include other topics* (e.g., employee motivation, company culture, employee retention, disengaged employees, engaged workforce, employee satisfaction). We consider this a “family” of topics, since they are related. Without just dumping keywords on the page, use as many of the topics as appropriate. For example, when people write about big data they frequently write about cloud computing, business analytics and data security*. If you are going to write about big data, you can get greater reach and better SEO by working in one or more of those keyword topics.

* List generated using SocialEars HR’s Content Analyzer.

2. Incorporate Popular Content on Topic

Improve the quality of your post by reading popular, successful content on your topic. Also, by linking to this popular and trending content from your post you will generate more traffic.

For example, I found a post on Social Media Today on increasing blog visibility with images. It is related to my topic, but doesn’t take away from any of my suggestions, so I’m linking to it here.

3. Share on Your Social Channels

This seems an obvious step, but it is one some fail to take, or they only share on one channel one time (e.g., sending one tweet and doing nothing else) while ignoring others. Also, make sure to use best practices for a given channel. For example, when you share your content on Twitter, consider sharing multiple times on multiple days with multiple hashtags. For example, you might use the hashtag #employeeengagement for your employee engagement content. Other hashtags you might consider using include #leadfromwithin, #HRBlogs, #bealeader, #engagement, #TChat, #workplace and #leadership*.

* List generated using SocialEars HR’s Hashtag Recommender.

4. Reach Out to Authors of Related Content Via Social and Blog Comments

Make other blog writers aware of you and your content.

One way to do this is on social, such as through @mentions on Twitter (to writers' Twitter IDs) that include a link to your post. This often results in social sharing to an audience interested in your content. Even when social sharing does not occur, those doing a search for an @mention you use will have access to your content.

*Use software like SocialEars HR to get a quick list of influencers who are engaged online with the topics related to your content.

Another way is through commenting on other authors’ content in a way that is not overly promotional, linking to your content when appropriate. Well-thought-out comments on the content or on popular LinkedIn Groups demonstrate expertise and bolster your reputation, and, of course, people who click your link add to your readership.

5. Follow Authors of Related Content on Social

When you follow other authors, it:

A. Allows you to read content on topics related to the topics you write about. This is good for building topic expertise, but sharing content is also excellent for expanding the size of your social networks.
B. Will make it possible or even likely that they will follow you, and even share your content.

Wrapping Up

Take at least a couple of these actions and your blog posts should get more readers and more social engagement. As you consider these actions, however, realize that how many more readers and how much more social engagement will in large part be determined by your posts’ quality and their appeal to relevant audiences. So write great blog posts, and then go about promoting them in a diverse and intelligent fashion. If you do that, when you go to check page views and social activity, you should be happy with what you see.

Learn more about how SocialEars HR can help you do these five steps and expand the reach of your blog with a demo.

Related Content

- I Signed Up for Google+, and Content Marketers, So Should You
- Blogging Tips for the Non-Brilliant
- The Nitty-Gritty of Social Sharing

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

What's Hot in HR: 5 Ways to Act on It

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 13:02:00 -0700

Employee Vacation, Employer Penalties and Twitter Recruiting were all trending HR topics last week based on how often they were written about and how often influencers in the HR marketplace shared content and commented on social media on them.

That’s interesting. So what?

As a marketer of HR software or services, knowing what’s hot on social in your marketplace is valuable. Here are five things you can do with this information:

Educate your clients. If it’s a hot HR topic, chances are it’s on the mind of your clients. Be a valuable resource and send them a link to the best content on these topics—e.g., “Hi Mary, I know you’ve been thinking about updating your company’s vacation policy. I found this great article today on the subject that I thought you’d find interesting."
Use it for sales follow-up. Want to follow up with a prospect but you’re afraid of being a pest? Be a resource. This is a variation of No. 1 except with prospects, not clients. For example, “Hi John, last time we spoke you expressed interest in using social for recruiting. I found this great article on the subject that I wanted to share with you. If you’d like to discuss it let me know."
Write a blog about it. Ride the wave and piggyback your content on what’s hot, Here’s a blog we wrote on the subject: http://hrmarketer.blogspot.com/2013/02/create-more-content-marketing-buzz-with.html. It works and you’ll get a lot of visibility of you make a practice of doing it. Try it.
Tie your next press release to the topic(s). This is a variation of piggybacking—sometimes called Newscrafting. Find a way to work the topics into your next news release. It’s an art. We did a webinar, “5 Press Release Strategies to Improve Your Online Visibility,” on the subject, and how to apply it to your PR strategy.
Be social. Share it on your social sites, follow the influencers who are sharing it, comment on it.

To get updated each week on the hot topics in HR, try out our free weekly e-newsletter, aptly titled “What’s Hot in HR.” It not only provides the hot topics, but also details popular articles and blogs on the topics and shows influencers engaged with them. Sign up for the e-newsletter at http://www.hrmarketer.com/home/Newsletter_Signup.php.

Post written by Mark Willaman, the founder and CEO of HRmarketer.com and Fisher Vista Marketing. Connect with Mark on LinkedIn.

3 Lessons for Creating Better Online Content for a Short-Attention-Span World

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 10:55:00 -0700

Few people read to the end of online articles, and many don’t even bother to scroll past the introduction.

Those are among the findings of “You Won’t Finish This Article: Why People Online Don’t Read to the End,” an interesting and fun piece on reader habits by Slate technology columnist Farhad Manjoo.

But what do those findings mean for content marketers? Here are three key lessons.

1. Wow Them Quickly

By the end of online articles, a good portion of the
audience is no longer there, so wow them quickly
and make your main point early.

Don’t start your content slowly, then build it up to a crescendo. Wow your readers at the start, or they’ll never get to the middle. The first sentence is more important than the last sentence. Spend time crafting that lead!

2. Make Your Main Point Early

No matter how strong your lead is, some readers are still going to navigate away. So don’t have a long introduction before stating your main point, sometimes called the nut graph. State the purpose of your blog post, article or other content before readers have to scroll, or risk having 10 percent or more navigate away knowing little more than your headline.

3. Emphasize Quality Over Brevity

While the article’s findings promote brevity, you don’t want to lose quality for the sake of writing shorter pieces. Longer, well-crafted content that has value to your target audience is much better than short, flimsy content that has little value and fails to support its claims. After all, it’s not necessary for potential customers to read your entire content piece to make the conclusion you really want them to make: “This company really knows what it’s talking about!”

For Those Still Actually Reading

Hello, anyone there? Just seeing if anybody is still left. If you are, thank you. You have a longer attention span than most. But when you produce content, remember that we’re in a short-attention-span world, so write for that reality.

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

4 Ways to Do Smart Content Recycling on Social Media

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Tue, 9 Jul 2013 10:48:00 -0700

Are there times when you don’t have any news to promote on social media?

If so, you should consider looking to your old content, provided that it isn’t outdated or obsolete. Creating quality content is expensive and difficult, while re-promoting it on social media is cheap and, for the most part, easy.

And you may be pleasantly surprised at the results you get when you publicize recycled content on your social channels. For even if you heavily promoted that content on social media initially, many people were unlikely to have seen it, such as those who:

weren’t following you then but are following you now
were on vacation or leave during the original promotion
just didn’t happen to be checking their social media accounts frequently at the time

Plus, maybe you’ve gotten better at using social media in the meantime, including:

posting on more social media sites
using popular hashtags on Twitter.

The end result is you can get your previously published content in front of many more eyes by re-promoting in on social media.

The hard part about the process is picking the content. You can just wing it, but you’ll be more successful if you use an analytical approach. Here are four ways to do so:

1. Do a content audit/inventory.
By performing an audit, you will know all the content (white papers, articles, blog posts, infographics, videos, etc.) that you could promote. Unless you are doing a website redesign, you probably just need to do a basic audit to see what types of content you have on what topics, and whether that content is current or not. This will give you a menu of possibilities for social media re-promotion, and also—since you’ll probably see some redundancy or holes in your content menu—could generate some ideas for creating new content or updating existing content.

2. Study your website and blog analytics.
By looking at your website and blog traffic statistics, you can see which content continues to be popular. This is the content you most want to re-promote, since it is still resonating.

3. See which topics people search on to find your website.
View the topic searches people use that led them to your site, then check to see past content you have published on those topics. This content should also be re-promoted. If you don’t have content on those topics, start creating some!

4. Consider trending/popular topics.
If you have content related to a trending or popular topic, do your social media re-promotion of it while the topic is hot. Consider changing the title of your recycled content to piggyback on the hot topic, and certainly use popular hashtags associated with the sharing of news on that topic.

Try a few of these out—especially if your company is steadily increasing its social media followers and creates quality content your audience wants to read. They might become a regular part of your content promotion strategies on social media.

If you need help with your content marketing and/or getting increased visibility for your HR business contact an HRmarketer or Fisher VISTA representative today.

Post written by HRmarketer / Fisher VISTA team member Eric Anderson.

Me or We? Why it Matters for Online Visibility

HRmarketer.com Blog (Anonymous) — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 09:05:00 -0700

The same-old ways that marketers have used and publicized press releases aren’t sufficient anymore, David McInnis — founder of PRWeb (since sold to Vocus) and the news-marketing platform Cranberry — argued in an HRmarketer-sponsored webinar Wednesday.

David McInnis

Some background from McInnis:

It’s important for companies to create at least one press release per month, given that news is always original content. Search engines love original content, as do consumers. Plus, news is more authoritative than other types of content, builds trusts and confidence and gets more shares than other content.
There is, however, a major problem. Press release visibility has declined in 2011-13. One reason is Google’s Penguin and Panda updates. Another factor is online press release distribution services have created restrictions on editorial such as requiring companies to include their names in press release headlines, and removing the opportunity for additional keywords, which hurts SEO.

McInnis’ suggestions for marketers to improve their news release online visibility:

1. Learn the art of drafting. Drafting, also referred to as newsjacking or topicjacking, is associating your content with popular news or topics. By using drafting, it’s possible to increase page views several hundred percent.

2. Learn the language of “we.” After years of a “me” cycle, where individual confidence and a desire to be No. 1 were rewarded, our society is now in the upswing of a “we” cycle, where people’s priorities are on things such as being a team player, showing personal responsibility. As a result, if your press releases have “me-type” language, you should consider adjusting how you are doing them. To learn about writing a way that connects with the “we” society, visit, www.pendulumgift.com.

3. Don’t be greedy. Write for “we.” Point the spotlight at a customer, partner or vendor (one advantage: they will share your news with their networks). Also acknowledge shortcomings, both your industry’s and your own; this adds humility, transparency and authenticity. And if you have the guts, consider giving a shout out to your competition. You should also avoid being greedy with your link strategy. Only about one-third of your links should point to your online assets, with another one-third to another authoritative article/site and the remainder to other sources.

4. Write for people. Marketers have gotten accustomed to writing for search engines and for links. Develop accurate personas (e.g., competitive, spontaneous, methodical, humanistic), and find someone in your organization that can write for those personas.

5. Sending a wire release isn’t enough. You need to follow through with content marketing strategies if you want people to actually read your news. Among these is putting a different version of your press release on your site than is on the online distribution service. Consider changing the headline to add keywords. This new version will be viewed as original content, separate from the version on the online distribution service.

Ultimately, McInnis said, if you want to increase your visibility and SEO, put out a press release that starts a conversation, that gets people talking about and linking to your news on social media. And how do you build conversations? By writing for people in a way that connects with them.

To listen to a recording of the webinar, visit http://www.hrmarketer.com/content/?cat=8.

Post written by HRmarketer / SocialEars HR team member Eric Anderson.