Getting Started in Social Media

Career Catalyst

Loraine Kasprzak Engineers can derive professional benefits from Advantage Marketing Consulting Services, LLC Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, Twitter, and other social media. Here is some practical advice on using these tools effectively, whether you are a veteran or a relative novice.

hen you think of social media, do you think of Connect and join the conversation sharing photos on Facebook with your friends, With social media tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Wwatching a YouTube video, or checking Twitter Google+, and Twitter, you can easily keep track of friends, for breaking news? While these are all enjoyable leisure- colleagues, and acquaintances. Who in your network just time uses for social media, social media can also be useful got promoted? Who is looking for employment? Who has in your professional life — to help you solve technical prob- the expertise you need for a new project your company was lems, advance your career, follow industry developments, or awarded? As many chemical engineers are discovering, build your reputation as a technical expert. social media puts this information at your fingertips. The simplest way to look at social media is as a collection “LinkedIn is a great tool to connect with professionals in of tools that allow people to connect, interact, our field,” says Richard and share with others online, often in real Byrnes, Director of Engi- time. Blogs, for example, are commonly neering at King Industries used to publish content — articles, photos, (Norwalk, CT), in the video or audio recordings — in a familiar AIChE LinkedIn Group web page format. Facebook, Twitter, discussion. “It has also allowed me Google+, and LinkedIn let you create a to reconnect with many profes- user profile, connect with others on the sionals from my past with the site, and share your content with your U.S. Navy and DuPont.” connections via short messages and To ensure that your interac- links. Applications such as YouTube tions are meaningful, it helps allow you to upload and share video to think of social media as a big content, while Reddit and Digg cocktail party (1), with many con- enable you to submit and vote on versations going on at once. Think news articles. about what you would do when you Engineers responded to a walk in to the party. You wouldn’t just recent AIChE LinkedIn Group barge in and start blabbing, and you discussion and to a questionnaire wouldn’t try to join every conversation posted on AIChE’s blog, at once. You would find a conversation ChEnected.com. This article (the that seemed interesting, and you would first of a series) incorporates some listen, comment, ask a question — and of their comments and insights. only then offer your own opinion, story, Illustrations by Rich Byrnes

or useful information. After you have done this a few times, forums, www.cheresources.com and www.eng-tips.com, others start to pay attention. People, some of whom you may when I need feedback or help with specific issues, and to not have even met yet, will join your conversation. support others’ queries.” This process — participating in and initiating meaningful conversations — works well in social media, helping Engage effectively in social media you build relationships and connect with a broad audience in You don’t need to be on every social networking site. your industry. “Decide what you want to accomplish using social media. Then select a service that best suits your purpose, whether it’s Career development and more social, professional development, promotion, or collabora- Gone are the days when an engineer could work at tion,” advises ChEnected.com survey respondent R. Maqbool one company his or her entire career. “Many people will Qadir, P.E., President of Enpro Solutions (Dublin, CA). likely change jobs seven to ten times over the course of Engineers who answered the ChEnected.com question- a 30- to 40-year career,” says Lisa Rangel, Managing naire say that LinkedIn is their preferred platform for: Director at job-search consultancy Chameleon Resumes • looking for a job or business opportunity (Rutherford, NJ). • building a professional reputation Faced with the prospect of so many job changes, you • learning from and collaborating with other professionals are wise to take responsibility for your own professional • tracking industry developments. and career development. “Today, taking ownership means They use Twitter mostly to follow news stories, and having an online presence with a LinkedIn profile or a blog, prefer Facebook for connecting with family and friends. or on your professional association or alumni network,” Whatever social media platform you use, keep in mind Rangel advises. “Not only does this help recruiters find you, that most of what you publish becomes public and search- it establishes your professional reputation and allows you to able content, so potential clients and hiring managers will be found by publications, project managers, and others who likely find it. “Be careful what information you share. Most seek your area of expertise.” sites have really good privacy settings, it’s just important to AIChE members can network through the Institute’s know how to use them,” says Jared Cocke, a process engi- website, www.aiche.org. AIChE also operates ChEnected. neering student in Berlin, Germany. Regardless of a site’s com, an online community where ChemEs can learn new privacy settings, the photos from last Friday’s bar crawl do skills, find mentors, engage with other chemical engineers, not belong on any of your social sites. and increase their exposure to hiring companies. In addition, Before engaging in social media, find out if your AIChE has a LinkedIn group that is open to both members employer has a social media policy. Many companies are and nonmembers. formulating such guidelines to enable employees to use Participating in social media provides social media effectively, while an opportunity for you to pres- protecting corporate brand ent yourself or your firm as a reputations and confidential and thought-leader. You can do this proprietary information (2). by creating content that is useful to your social network. For Meet three social- example, you can prepare white media-savvy ChemEs papers, case studies, tip sheets, or This series of articles will how-to videos. When you share follow three chemical engineers useful content, it helps you get who use a variety of social media known as the “go-to” expert. tools to accomplish very different Engineers have also benefited goals. (These characters and com- by tapping into the expertise of panies are fictional and are not their peers on industry forums. intended to represent any actual These forums, notes Lionel individuals or organizations.) Sheikboudhou, Department Marissa, age 27 and a BChE, Head at the SARA Refinery in is a process development engineer Martinique, in the AIChE LinkedIn at an alternative fuels company. Group discussion, “are full of experi- Although she is comfortable with enced, talented engineers who are social media, she is careful to keep willing to help their peers. I use two her personal and professional lives

38 www.aiche.org/cep January 2012 CEP Copyright © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) separate. She uses Facebook professional presence online: to keep up with her friends and • Sign up at Twitter.com or family. She created a LinkedIn pro- LinkedIn.com by clicking on file for professional purposes and “join” or “register” on the site’s through it has connected with other landing page. Enter your name and young engineers as well as poten- email and then follow the on-screen tial hiring managers. Marissa instructions. follows several alternative fuel • Set up your profile. In your companies on LinkedIn and bio, include key words that describe tracks alternative fuel news on what you do professionally. Parker, Twitter; both of these activities for example, added “business devel- could help her spot opment” and “specialty chemicals” job opportunities. to his LinkedIn and Twitter profiles. Joel is 49 years old with a • Upload a professional photo to doctorate in chemical engineering. add credibility to your online pres- He has run his own engineering ence. Marissa, for example, added a consulting firm, Pyramid Separa- head shot of herself in business attire to tion Technologies, for 15 years. Joel each of her profiles. set up a Pyramid Technologies blog, and connected it • On LinkedIn, add connections from among your to his LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. His goal is to establish professional colleagues and acquaintances. Joel had several Pyramid as the premier separation technology firm in the business cards from a recent industry conference, and he Northeast. He knows that in the social media world, you sent LinkedIn invitations to those with whom he wanted to have to give to get, so he also actively participates in several keep in touch. LinkedIn industry groups, where he answers questions and • On Twitter, search for industry keywords to find rel- comments on others’ discussions. evant people or companies to follow. Marissa searched for Parker, MChE, is a 37-year-old business development “alternative fuels” and selected several companies, individu- manager at a specialty chemicals company. His LinkedIn als, and industry publications to follow that were tweeting and Twitter profiles give him a professional presence, and about this topic. he often tweets and posts updates with news about his • Add a link to your Twitter and LinkedIn profiles to your company. He follows several industry blogs, and also uses email signature. (Check first to make sure doing so is not Twitter to keep up with industry trends and track the buzz against company policy.) on companies on his “A” list of business prospects. Once a week, he reviews his LinkedIn connections, and sends direct Looking ahead messages — often with a link to an interesting article — to The next article in CEP’s social media series will discuss those in his network he hasn’t spoken to recently. how engineers can use LinkedIn to grow their professional networks, build thought-leadership, and find professional Tips for getting started and business opportunities. Future articles will explore how If you are comfortable using email and the Internet in engineers can use and benefit from blogging and other social general, then you should have no problem learning the basics media tools such as the new Google+. CEP of LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social media platforms. On most sites, setting up an account is free, and online help, FAQs, and/or tutorials are available to make learning them LorainE KasprzaK, CMC, is Managing Director of Advantage Marketing Consulting Services, LLC (1041 Harding St., Westfield, NJ 07090; Phone: a bit easier. The following tips can help you establish a (908) 233-6265; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.advantage-marketing.com). A Certified Management Consultant (CMC) with more than 17 years of experience in marketing communications and strategy, she helps clients connect with their customers to Literature Cited build relationships and sales. She has facilitated the strategic development and implementation of communications programs for her clients, 1. Tobin, J., and L. Braziel, “Social Media is a Cocktail Party: has presented talks on social media, marketing, and branding at Why You Already Know the Rules of Social Media Marketing,” regional and local business conferences, was a business columnist for CreateSpace, Seattle, WA (2008). Union County Voice magazine, and has written for the Princeton Packet Business Journal. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineer- 2. Thomas, D. B., and M. Barlow, “The Executive’s Guide to ing from Manhattan College and an MBA in marketing from New York Enterprise Social Media Strategy,” John Wiley & Sons, Hobo- Univ. Stern School of Business. She blogs about marketing and social ken, NJ (2011). media at www.advantage-marketingblog.com.