I’m applying for a temporary summer position at AOL in their social media department. Below are the questions they asked me along with my answers. I’m sharing this with you for two reasons. First, it fits in with my normal content strategy. Secondly, I want to crowd source ideas to improve my answers. Below are my answers to the question verbatim. I look forward to your feedback.
Please note Each line has a word count limit, not a character count limit. They may mean characters but I’m going to take it literally as in I get 200 words. Also, I’m simply looking for feedback from readers to help me spell check my answers. These answers are still mine in the long run and if I agree with you, I reserve the right to revise my answers a little. Hopefully, if AOL stumbles upon this they will consider it a genius way of using the medium and not cheating.
I fully realize AOL is not another one of my geek clubs and this is a big opportunity to learn from a multi-billion dollar corporation who has been around since the internet started. I’d like to show them my personality, have fun this summer with this opportunity, all while learning from this amazing company and hopefully giving them some tangible results in the process.
In 200 words or less, tell us how social media is changing the way people and businesses communicate (English only, please).*
Social media is simply a medium for staying connected and getting organized online. It is the way that we use social media as a tool that can innovate daily life, business and communication.
On a flight yesterday I sat next to a nice older gentleman from North Carolina who considers himself an internet neophyte (not in those words). Eventually we started talking about my career and he asked me to explain how people communicate online when tone seems to get lost. This question applies perfectly to how social media changes the way people communicate with businesses. An inarticulate person offline is still incapable of magically growing those skills. Just because you own a computer does not mean you’re a great writer. In fact, many people throw out grammar and spelling all together and replace them with acronyms. The only fortunate improvement with online communication is that you have the opportunity to really think through what you want to say and edit yourself (or hire someone to edit for you). Unfortunately, someone who is not articulate or punctual online is still going to be a poor communicator who shows up late offline.
Social media offers us a two way communication flow that is sped up in real-time but in a less intrusive environment that gives people the opportunity to respond when it’s convenient for them; Chris Brogan calls this “Any-When.”
Since data online is stored forever, it’s easier to track online communication. One example of using social media as a tool for online and offline communication is research. In minutes you can view people’s online resume through LinkedIn, learn about their recent activities on Twitter, see if you have any friends in common on Facebook, and introduce yourself via e-mail through a mutual connection. Once you meet in person, set up a highrise account (37signals.com – affiliate link) and organize your contacts in a social media friendly contact retrieval manager (CRM). Finally, set up recurring reminders to contact people you like or find relevant to your industry using your new CRM. Your CRM could include reminders for meetings, a follow-up hello, sending thank you notes for referrals, birthdays, etc. Social media used as a tool works like an icebreaker that will enhance your off-line communication by increasing productivity, organization, and efficiency. This is just one example of how social media gives us an unprecedented opportunity to communicate with vendors, staff, and prospects.
Social media also has other useful business applications like doing market research for a new product line, tracking customer loyalty and engagement or crowd sourcing blog post feedback to improve content like I did with my answers to these questions.
In 200 words or less, tell us why you are the right candidate for the job (English only, please).*
I’m highly motivated, active online, always learning, blogging, reading and attending events daily. I can definitely get the word out and hit the ground running. In addition, I currently use social media as a career, therefore hiring me allows AOL Lifestream to leverage that knowledge and use my experience to enhance its social media endeavors. I am currently on over 3,000 social networks (learn why by visiting sniki.org/about), but let’s be honest, I really only need to use the primary sites; Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, LinkedIn, TubeMogul, and of course, AOL Lifestream.
It’s hard to definitively prove that Twitter has direct results on my sales but I can prove that I’ve made the majority of my Twin Cities friendships and business connections are from social media and Twitter specifically. Twitter has also saved me from a few boring Saturdays with the T.V. and got me into concerts, the wine and food expo, tech events, helped me find tweetups and things to do when I’m traveling. Blogging connected me with book publishers and authors that have sent me as many as 5 complimentary books a week. Those relationships are the direct result of social media.
Over half of my clients found me online via social media. At this point I have over 8,000 followers on Twitter, nearly 2,000 friends on Facebook (not including the ones that follow my company), nearly 200 subscribers on YouTube (with videos that have been viewed over 3,000 times), and a monthly blog following over 1,200 monthly. My leverage online has given me the opportunity to speak at events like the Ohio Growth Summit, work with the National Defense Academy, large agencies and corporations, over 70 small businesses, and at one point I was even offered a book deal from the National Mail Order Association. I have experience working at events with clients like Bacardi, Grey Goose, FFA and AdFed. Thanks to organizations like MIMA, AMA, PRSA, 4H, IAYI, Girl Scout, the Army Reserves and Delta Delta Delta I’ve had the opportunity to work in programs, event planning, leadership roles, high-stress situations and have experience with handling the nuances of these situations in a timely and professional manner.
In 250 characters or less, finish the sentence: “I like AOL Lifestream because…” (English only, please).*
Can I just say “ditto” to this video? http://bit.ly/WhySocialNetworkingRocks
I like AOL Lifestream because it lets me manage all of the primary social networks at the same time. It’s convenient, modern, and a nice aggregation tool with applications for all of my hardware devices, but you already knew that. You can also combine all of your feeds and use them on a desktop or on the go. It’s a handy little tool, but remember tools are only mediums; it’s what you do with them that matters.
Social media is great because it levels the playing field for small businesses and people trying to build up a personal brand. Lifestream gives users an opportunity to manage all of these tools without going to multiple places. When you are building a brand it is important to get user feedback and people trust their friends and others like them more then a marketer they don’t know. So having a tool like AOL Lifestream is essential for a casual user who doesn’t want to waste too much time traveling site to site. For power users AOL Lifestream can still be a great tool when traveling and on-the-go.
My Final Answers:
Questions 1.
Social media is simply a medium for staying connected and getting organized online. It is the way that we use social media as a tool that can innovate business communication.
On a flight, I sat next to a nice older gentleman from North Carolina who considers himself an Internet neophyte. While talking about my career, he asked me to explain how people communicate online when tone seems to get lost, this question applies perfectly to how social media changes the way people communicate with businesses. An inarticulate person offline is still incapable of magically growing those skills just because they own a computer. On the other hand, the Internet stores data perpetually so you have the opportunity to continually enhance content.
One example of using social media as a communication tool is research. In minutes you can view someone’s resume through LinkedIn, get acquainted on Twitter, and discover mutual friends on Facebook. After meeting in person, a social media friendly contact retrieval manager (CRM) can come in handy for tracking reminders and notes. This is just one example of how social media gives us an unprecedented opportunity to communicate with vendors, staff, and prospects.
Question 2.
I’m the right candidate for the AOL internship because I’m active online, always learning, blogging, reading and attending events. In addition, I currently use social media as part of my career, and have over 4 years experience leveraging that knowledge to enhance social media endeavors for myself and clients.
I am currently on over 3,000 social networks (learn why at sniki.org/about). Let’s be honest, I really only need to use the primary sites; Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Foursquare, LinkedIn, TubeMogul, and of course, AOL Lifestream.
I’ve met the majority of my recent friendships and business connections from social media. Thanks to social media I’ve received opportunities to go to events, received discounts, and freebies. Blogging connected me with book publishers that have sent me as many as five complimentary books a week.
Social media has given me the opportunity to speak at events, work with large organizations like the National Defense Academy,and build a small agency that services over fifty clients. I received experience working in programs, event planning, leadership roles, and high-stress situations thanks to organizations like 4H, Bacardi, Army, and TriDelta. These skills taught me how to handle the nuances of high-pressure situations in a timely and professional manner.
Question 3.
Can I just say “ditto” to this video? http://bit.ly/WhySocialNetworkingRocks
AOL Lifestream lets me manage all of the primary social networks at the same time. It’s convenient, modern, and a nice aggregation tool with applications for all of my hardware devices, but you already knew that. You can also combine all of your feeds and use them on a desktop or on the go. It’s a handy little tool; but remember that tools are only mediums; it’s what you do with them that matters.
Social media is great because it levels the playing field for small businesses and people trying to build up a personal brand. Lifestream gives users an opportunity to manage all of these tools without going to multiple places. When you are building a brand it is important to get user feedback and people trust their friends and others like them more then a marketer they don’t know. So having a tool like AOL Lifestream is essential for a casual user who doesn’t want to waste too much time traveling site to site. For power users AOL Lifestream can still be a great tool when traveling and on-the-go.
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