Social Media for the Soon-to-be-Hired

As the voice of Jacques, WonderGroup's social media munkey, I have a Twitter search set up to find mentions of our company. So, when someone tweeted (on Twitter— If you don't know what that is, listen closely) that she was excited to have a phone interview with WG, I picked it up. I followed her on behalf of the company and waited for a return follow. None was forthcoming. So I went and checked her Twitter feed. There were a handful of people she was following, most of them celebs, and two followers, including WG's own Jacques Munkey. I was disappointed.

Social media is a big deal at WonderGroup. Everyone here participates in at least one medium (Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, StumbleUpon, and the rest) and most people have multiple social media forums. We believe strongly that SM represents a revolution in communication. And, when it comes to ad agencies, we aren't alone (just better).

So, ad boys and girls, if you're applying to jobs, know this: We will look for you in cyberspace. If you have a blog, we'll read it. Twitter, follow it. Facebook, stalk it (if we can). Linkedin, YouTube, podcast— If it's out there, we'll find it. So follow these guidelines:

1. Get on social media. Really. You have to look switched-on to get noticed in advertising, and social media = current.
2. If you're on, keep it current. If you're on Twitter (the gateway drug of SM) then tweet now and again. Follow people, not just celebs.
3. If it's current, make sure it's appropriate. Appropriate doesn't mean vanilla. Just don't put anything up that you don't feel comfortable having EVERYONE see. If you don't mind being asked about it, leave it up.
4. If its appropriate, make sure it's interesting. Anything can seem interesting if you're enthusiastic about it. Social media should be a forum for your passions, not just proving you exist. Use it to show your personality, without having to tell your personality.

And if you think social media is dumb, and you have no place for it in your life, you're entitled to that opinion. But you might consider writing a blog post about it.

PS: WonderGroup just launched its Wander side of the website. You can check out who works at WG, and see all our social media, plus some non-ad artwork.