Social Media Use

Public

Discussion:

Paul,

I think you are correct in your observation that the medical field for some reason tends to have a slower adoption rate for digital media, namely, social media. Referencing Everett Rogers' Innovation Adoption Diffusion curve, you have your Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and your Laggards. One could argue that by now, those who are not using social media are in the Late majority or even Laggard portion of the adoption curve. For some reason, certain social groups will be late adopters of innovation such as social media and I believe your observation of the medical field seems to be true.

You stated you use Facebook and LinkedIn but you implied that you use LinkedIn to develop job leads when you stated "but most of our leads are still coming from online postings and cold-calling." This makes me wonder if you are using LinkedIn for some of the other reasons outlined in the course. For instance, have you attempted to use LinkedIn to recruit PAC members, guest speakers, employers who may want to conduct mock interviews, etc.? Have you taught students how to use LinkedIn to brand themselves and to build PLNs? Because career professionals are so focused on finding jobs, it can be challenging to break from the mindset that social networks should be used in the same way job boards are used - to find jobs. They can be used for this, but in a much different way. I recommend that you read the blog article entitled "Reverse Job Search" in the Lounge which talks more about how "job search" is different on social media. That article can be found at http://lwire.us/?l=WXAN.

The other thing I'd like to point out that may be helpful is that this is the reason why research is so important to a social media strategy. LinkedIn is a huge network just as Facebook and Twitter are but there are many niche networks that exist. No one will ever know all the networks that exist because there are too many so it requires investigation to see which are most relevant for you and your goals. So, for instance, here is a list of 25 social networks for the medical field - http://bit.ly/IDegTU. You may want to explore those niche sites to see if they better serve your purpose. If you are currently using LinkedIn solely for job search, I just want to point out that this isn't leveraging the tool for all its worth. Many companies may not use social media for hiring specifically, but because social media allows you to establish relationships with people you might not otherwise have an opportunity to meet in the real world, don't think of it in terms of which employers are hiring through social media - think more about how you can use social media to expand your employer network so that if and when companies are hiring, you have a large word-of-mouth network established and you have close relationships. If you have close relationships, it is more likely any recommendations of candidates you may have will be more heavily considered in the event one of your connections is hiring.

Social media usage should never replace other tactics such as cold-calling and scrolling through job boards, but rather, it should be used in conjunction with all tactics available to maximize the results you and your career services department can produce.

Thanks for the great post - I wanted to dissect all aspects of it and I hope it helps. I look forward to more of your posts and questions.

Robert Starks Jr.

Paul, I think you are correct in your observation that the medical field for some reason tends to have a slower adoption rate for digital media, namely, social media. Referencing Everett Rogers' Innovation Adoption Diffusion curve, you have your Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, and your Laggards. One could argue that by now, those who are not using social media are in the Late majority or even Laggard portion of the adoption curve. For some reason, certain social groups will be late adopters of innovation such as social media and I believe your observation of the medical field seems to be true. You stated you use Facebook and LinkedIn but you implied that you use LinkedIn to develop job leads when you stated "but most of our leads are still coming from online postings and cold-calling." This makes me wonder if you are using LinkedIn for some of the other reasons outlined in the course. For instance, have you attempted to use LinkedIn to recruit PAC members, guest speakers, employers who may want to conduct mock interviews, etc.? Have you taught students how to use LinkedIn to brand themselves and to build PLNs? Because career professionals are so focused on finding jobs, it can be challenging to break from the mindset that social networks should be used in the same way job boards are used - to find jobs. They can be used for this, but in a much different way. I recommend that you read the blog article entitled "Reverse Job Search" in the Lounge which talks more about how "job search" is different on social media. That article can be found at http://lwire.us/?l=WXAN. The other thing I'd like to point out that may be helpful is that this is the reason why research is so important to a social media strategy. LinkedIn is a huge network just as Facebook and Twitter are but there are many niche networks that exist. No one will ever know all the networks that exist because there are too many so it requires investigation to see which are most relevant for you and your goals. So, for instance, here is a list of 25 social networks for the medical field - http://bit.ly/IDegTU. You may want to explore those niche sites to see if they better serve your purpose. If you are currently using LinkedIn solely for job search, I just want to point out that this isn't leveraging the tool for all its worth. Many companies may not use social media for hiring specifically, but because social media allows you to establish relationships with people you might not otherwise have an opportunity to meet in the real world, don't think of it in terms of which employers are hiring through social media - think more about how you can use social media to expand your employer network so that if and when companies are hiring, you have a large word-of-mouth network established and you have close relationships. If you have close relationships, it is more likely any recommendations of candidates you may have will be more heavily considered in the event one of your connections is hiring. Social media usage should never replace other tactics such as cold-calling and scrolling through job boards, but rather, it should be used in conjunction with all tactics available to maximize the results you and your career services department can produce. Thanks for the great post - I wanted to dissect all aspects of it and I hope it helps. I look forward to more of your posts and questions. Robert Starks Jr.