Week 5 EOC: Social Networks And Job Hunting

With 750+ million users worldwide it’s easy to see that Facebook (and social networks in general) are a big deal. But for companies they’re more than just a way to share what they do, they’re a way to communicate with the customer in a personal way and for some a way to find their next employees and for potential employees to find their next job. In fact according to a recent WSJ article “Candidates have been 50% more likely to apply to positions they found through Facebook than through other means.” (WSJ Online 8/8/11) and while in general Facebook only accounts for 1% of job hires, the article also claims, “If current growth trends continue, Facebook could rival traditional job boards in 2012.”(WSJ Online 8/8/11). But what of marketing?  According to Marketing: an Intro for Education “Companies such as Jet Blue, Sony, Microsoft and McDonald’s are now developing a new breed of brand ambassador programs to organize and supercharge consumer –to-consumer interactions about their brands.” (p.144) And they find people to be their brand ambassadors through social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter and sometimes through personal blogs. Companies have found a way to find people who already love their product brand and make them into virtual sales representatives for their companies. A lot like how a company will use a celebrity or band to help promote their brand, now they’re using individuals with large social networks and a deep passion for their brand to help promote their company.  And for what you could potentially get from this, it could be a sweet deal as the book points out “Perhaps more important to many brand enthusiasts, they get insider access to company information such as new products or services in the works.” (p.144). I could think of at least one particular company I wouldn’t mind getting access to the latest and greatest ideas from.