As you may know, Ignite Social Media is a close knit group who has grown rather quickly in the last year. Since I started, the agency has doubled and we’re still growing. In that time, we have chosen carefully to ensure we’re getting people that are the perfect fit for each opening and it hasn’t been easy. I know that when I get a huge batch of resumes there must be someone in the lot that could do the job at hand, but none stand out and I still struggle to pull a few decent options out of the mix. Getting a job is about marketing yourself successfully, which is more important than ever as the applicant pool begins to swell in this economy. So, with that in mind, I figured I’d share my advice for getting a job using social media.

Start with the PEOPLE you are trying to reach

• Have you looked up the company online? - Do they have a website and have you taken the time to really immerse yourself in the information they are putting out there for you to find?
• Do they have a blog? – If not, does their website have a voice or personality you can identify with? Do they have a mission statement or other content that can clue you in to their way of thinking?

Okay, so maybe I have a bit of a penchant for action sports when it comes to examples of companies that could use social media, but Burton snowboards is a great example of a company that caters to a niche interest with a wide reach. There are definitely die-hard snowboarders that eat, sleep, and breathe the sport, but it also attracts plenty of fan interest and winter dilettantes. I mean, even Brian Chappell snowboards.

The beauty of niche audiences is that social media can be used to create customized networks of communication for them when other more mainstream methods aren’t practical. Producing a magazine is expensive and time-consuming work for a small audience. Hosting a blog, however, is neither.

So I took a quick survey of what Burton already has going on in terms of social media, and where they could use a bit of help.

Continuing with the series, 26 Social Media Marketing Examples in Detail, I will cover one of my personal favorite brands: Kraft Foods. Coincidentally, just this weekend I interacted with many of these social media marketing efforts so I’m excited to share my experiences with you.

Here is what they are doing:

• My Recipe Box: This is a section of KraftFoods.com that answers a consumer need: a better way to find and organize new recipes. Just this weekend before I went to shop, I browsed the website for new recipes I would like to try, saved these to “My Recipe Box”, and was able to export the contents of my chosen recipes to a specific shopping list. If I already had the items in my pantry, I was able to delete and save the updated shopping list. As more people discover this feature, I see the need to build out easier ways to share/swap recipes between members – but for now I was pretty impressed with the feature. Also having the shopping list organized by category saved me from making laps within the grocery store.

This might come as a shock to many of you, but unlike my colleagues (who I often mistake for zombies each morning), I do not drink coffee. I know, I know. It’s borderline inhuman. However, I do enjoy a cup of hot tea on occasion, so I decided it wasn’t too crazy of me to pitch in with Lisa’s series of 26 Social Media Marketing Examples in Detail by exploring a gourmet coffee and tea company. That said, let’s take an in-depth look at Joffrey’s, a provider of gourmet coffees and teas for, well, longer than I’ve been alive.

So what has the “preferred provider of espresso coffee for Walt Disney World” been up to?

You can’t go through your feed reader these days without running into a number of posts about corporation x’s new use of social media.

However, I’d like to dig back into the Dark Ages of 2004 to pull out this nugget of social media goodness from an industry close to my heart.

I love taking backpacking trips, and like many modern backpackers, I have discovered the importance of lightweight gear. The lighter the load, the more miles I can cover in a day and the more I enjoy the trip. One typically heavy piece of gear is a water purifier that makes the water you pull from lakes and rivers potable. I can’t recall where I first heard about the MSR MIOX purifier, but I remember it sounded like a good, lightweight product. So, like any good member of my generation would, I looked it up on Google.

Busy week this week. I’ve got 4 presentations in 3 days. Two are open to the public, so I wanted to let you know about them.

Fidelity Investments “Leadership in Technology” Executive Speaker Series

Tomorrow night, March 24th, I’m presenting at NC State University’s Computer Science Department on “Social Media is a Cocktail Party” (the concept, not the book). It’s part of the ongoing Fidelity Investments “Leadership in Technology” Executive Speaker Series. I had the honor of watching former Red Hat CEO and current Lulu CEO Bob Young present at this series earlier this year. He set a high bar, and I’ll do my best not to lower it too far.

The event is at 6 p.m. in Engineering Building II. Free, open to the public, lots of free parking nearby. Directions are here.

(If you come because of this blog post, come up and say hey.)

Central Michigan Public Relations Society

Then I’m heading to Lansing, Michigan…

To clarify, I’m not referring to the search functionality but instead to driving site traffic. So, is Facebook the new Google? According to Herd, Facebook has only a third of Google’s traffic in the US. So why is it that Facebook can beat out Google on site references?

Two words: Content Sharing

Unless you’re reading this in our RSS feed, you’ve probably noticed the site redesign that launched late Thursday. I’d love to have your candid feedback on it.

If you’ve ever written a blog post, read a blog, or had an opinion on anything in the blogosphere at all, chances are you’ve encountered a negative comment. In some cases, the vitriol of negative comments are the driving force behind the blog itself (see also: Gawker Media, Inc.), but, in my opinion, constant snark does not a credible blog make.

Balanced is the key word here; incorporating both the yin and yang of the blogosphere. You don’t want a blog that reads like an overly processed, censored corporate document. The rough edges are what give blogs the patina of authenticity that attract readers. But too much negativity, and your blog can seem petty and immature.

Let me give you a little history of my adventures in Social Media: first, there were AOL chat rooms, then came forums, and eventually, Friendster. This led to MySpace and Blogger, then came Facebook and Twitter. All of these social networks, these ways to connect with people and share what I had to share, but nothing ever felt quite right. I felt like I was experimenting with different cliques in high school, but didn’t seem to fit into any group the best. Sure I got along with them all, felt a connection to others in that group, but there was never a social network that really spoke to ME. Then, along came Tumblr, and I was swoon. Tumblr, for those of you who don’t know, is a blogging / micro-blogging platform that has everything I want in one place. It takes my favorite aspects of Twitter, Blogger and Facebook, and rolls them into one beautifully wrapped package. Here are a few reasons why I love Tumblr, though this list is certainly not exhaustive.