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Monday, March 12, 2012
TRENDING STORIES IN BUSINESS & MARKETING Beware: Top 10 Scams of the Year [INFOGRAPHIC] Happstr, the App That Finds Your Happy Place ... Literally Here's What Happens When You Hate Your Job ALL STORIES IN BUSINESS & MARKETING 3 Ways to Woo a Startup Into Hiring You Sunday, March 11, 2012 11:31 PM Lauren Drell With the unemployment rate hovering at 8.3%, there's a lot of competition for jobs. You know you've got the right attitude, the right qualifications and the passion a young tech startup needs. So how can you convey that to a company? By standing out. Engineer Loren Burton created a website to show Airbnb how much he wants to be a front-end developer for them. The Airbnb gig didn't pan out, but Burton is "happily employed" elsewhere. And his website went viral on the web, getting a lot of eyeballs and eliciting Are You There, Ridejoy? Itâ?Ts Me, Margot (Your New Community Manager!)"), submitted five ideas for developing the Ridejoy community and combed through her social profiles to make sure everything was kosher. But the other thing Margot did -- and the others didn't do -- was create a three-minute long slideshow explaining why she should be hired. This wasn't some boilerplate slideshow -- it was perfectly personalized for Ridejoy and even poked fun at the co-founders' hairdos. "It sounds cliche, but I really did enter into the application process with a 'go big or go home' mentality, with the understanding that if it didn't work out, I still learned a lot in the process," says Leong. "It took two weeks to research Ridejoy extensively, conceptualize and then create the presentation." So, yeah, she seemed cool and passionate. The Ridejoy guys put Margot through a rigorous interview process, including a weekend of work. "After deciding she was the real deal, we sent her back our own slideshow with an offer," says Shen (see below). The anecdote of Leong's antics has been tweeted more than 500 times, and the slideshows have garnered more than 26,000 views, says Shen. More importantly, Leong accepted the position, and Shen says she's been "kicking butt for us" as the Ridejoy community manager since January. 2. Make Yourself Indispensable Back in 2002, Craig Creuziger was looking for a job in Denver. "I had 50 resumes out there, and I was working with the career counselors at the college, but there was no response," says Creuziger. Frustrated, he took a three-week hiatus to clear his head. He returned to his job search with vigor and a greater sense of purpose. He knew a guy who knew a guy who knew a guy at Thought Equity, then a 10-person startup in Denver. Creuziger went in for an interview, which went well. "In term of quality and skills and go-getterness, he was perfect for a startup," says Holly Haman, a Thought Equity alum who was on the team when Creuziger interviewed. Haman is now on her sixth startup and knows what kind of person does well in the fast-paced environment -- and Creuziger was it. "It takes a special kind of person to excel in a mach-5 startup, so we really liked him and wanted to hire him, but were still in startup mode and didn't have the resources." So at the end of the interview, the HR person told him, "You're exactly the candidate I'd love to hire, but we don't have the budget to hire you." Not surprisingly, Creuziger was upset. "At that point, I felt a little deceived -- if I'm doing it all right, what else is there to do?" says Creuziger. But instead of banging his head against the wall or giving up on his job search, he offered to work for free. Thought Equity couldn't pass up that offer, and Creuziger "needed to be doing something." "He would show up every day in suit and tie, and we didnâ?Tt have a desk for him, so he sat at a conference table in the middle of the office, cold-calling customers for a product that hadn't truly completely launched yet ... and he was doing that in front of the president of marketing, the VP of sales and the CEO," says Haman. "For me, I treated it like I actually did land a job, even though I wasn't getting paid," says Creuziger. "My mindset was that I'd do this until they hired me." And it happened. He worked for free for about six weeks, then was a "low-paid intern" for three months. On January 1, 2003, Creuziger was officially hired. His position spanned three departments and was a continuation of what he's done in previous months -- but with pay. Creuziger says of his strategy: "I burrowed myself in, and I added value to become indispensable so they would say, 'Let's make sure he stays.'" "It was my first job, so I went at it a little blindly," says Creuziger, looking back on his time at Thought Equity. But it paid off. He was with the company for eight years and climbed the ranks, leaving as a senior sales manager in 2011. "I was able to gain a lot of experience." Creuziger has advice for others who are having a tough time finding a job. â?oI think you have to go in and demonstrate your value, give them an opportunity to test that value out for free at low risk," he says. "They have limited resources, so if you position yourself in a way that allows them to get value for free, it'll make it painful for them to get rid of you." But be sincere. "The approach works if you're genuine about it, otherwise it comes off as an act of desperation," says Creuziger. 3. Start Small Cocken had big dreams for Fitocracy "We spend quite a bit of time reaching within our networks and spamming out job descriptions to recruit, but every single one of our employees was originally a user who was incredibly passionate and fell into our laps," says Richard Talens, co-founder of gamified fitness app Fitocracy. So when someone told Talens and his co-founder, Brian Wang, about a user named Jared Cocken, they perked up. Cocken was the creative director at the Wonderfactory, and Talens was told he was "the most brilliant designer he's ever met." Cocken was a Fitocracy user who was extremely passionate about fitness and became increasingly involved in the Fitocracy community. Talens and Wang took note, but "never thought" Cocken would come work with them. "Brian, Dick and I met over (a macro-balanced) lunch to chat about what they were doing with their 'little fitness site,'" recalls Cocken. "We hit it off instantly. Smart, driven, charismatic and friendly, with a deep and practiced understanding of their market; I could tell these chaps were going places, and fast." Cocken felt that Fitocracy had the power to change lives and true meaning. "In less than a year, Fitocracy had used an incredibly simple mechanism (the dopamine response you get from 'push button/get treat') to build a network that was littered with success stories of people individually losing hundreds of pounds, changing their lives; staving off weight-related conditions like diabetes, or having the energy to play with their kids for the first time in years," says Cocken. "Suddenly my mind was racing with the potential. Government-issued education on health and fitness is severely lacking in almost every country. What if Fitocracy could work with the world's top nutrition and fitness experts to help corporations, schools, and governments to raise awareness? To create an unbiased and efficient system for tracking and improving your health; the health of a nation?" Cocken says he wanted to be a part of Fitocracy, but already had his hands full at the Wonderfactory. He signed on an adviser so he could help with the app's mobile strategy. "One thing led to another ... a few weeks later, my metaphorical bags were packed," says Cocken. And just like that, Fitocracy had a Dick, a Wang and a Cocken. What have you done to nail a job? Let us know in the comments below. Social Media Job Listings Every week we post a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we publish a huge range of job listings, we've selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting! Social Media Manager at Escalate in New York City Social Media Marketing Intern at Likeable in Boston Senior Operations Engineer / Senior Sysadmin at New Relic in San Francisco Image courtesy of iStockphoto, knape 49 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed Sunday, March 11, 2012 8:26 PM Matt Petronzio This has been quite a week in digital culture. Between Apple's revealing of the new iPad and the beginning of the 2012 SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas, Mashable has a multitude of new digital media resources for you. Don't worry if you've fallen behind -- here's our weekly features roundup. This week we've covered 10 Google Search tricks you might not know, the dos and don'ts of Facebook promotion and 10 free must-have travel apps for Android. We also have essential Pinterest boards for SXSW, four ways to make your ecommerce site more visually appealing and a video explaining everything we know about the Apple event. We even got a peek at Pinterest's Palo Alto headquarters. So, dive in -- there's plenty of resources to read through. Editor's Picks 12 Essential Pinterest Boards for SXSW 2012 We've collected 12 comprehensive Pinterest boards that'll have you navigating SXSW 2012 and Austin, Texas like a pro. Peek Into Pinterest's Palo Alto Pad/a> Despite Pinterest's beautiful interface, the company's HQ is surprisingly bland -- until you get inside. How Reddit Saved One Man's Life Commenters on a what was supposed to be a funny photo unintentionally diagnosed one man's mysterious tumor. How Gen Y Women Fare in Today's Workplace/a> In tandem with International Women's Day on March 8, let's explore the state of today's Gen Y woman in the contemporary workforce. 22 SXSW Panels You Can't Pass Up This Year Whether it's your first or 15th year, it pays to have a SXSW plan of attack. Check out our list of must-attend SXSW talks and panels. Apple Event: Everything We Know/a> Apple put all of the rumors to rest at its event Wednesday, revealing the long-awaited new iPad, or as CEO Tim Cook calls it, "the poster child of the post-PC world." Social Media 6 Airlines Reaching New Heights on YouTube Flying doesn't have to be a drag -- some airlines are using the video platform to show their lighter side. 7 Tumblrs That Make Fun of Photo Cliches We have found seven single-serve sites that mock photographic conventions, cliches and other crimes. How the U.S. Military Shares Its Rich History With Facebook Timeline The Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines and Coast Guard have all taken to Facebook Timeline to tell the story of U.S. military history in a visual and engaging way. 5 Huge Digital Marketing Trends You Can't Afford to Ignore As we anticipate a connected, increasingly mobile future, here are five big marketing ideas to embrace now to get ahead of the curve. 10 Google Search Tricks You Might Not Know Looking for a quick answer among Google's millions of search results? Here are a few tricks to help you out. 20 TV Shows With the Most Social Media Buzz This Week/a> Which TV shows generate the most buzz on social networks? Find out each week from our social TV chart. How Brands Are Using Promotions to Market on Pinterest Some pioneering brands have launched promotions on Pinterest in recent months. Here's a look at what's working and what isn't. How to Allow Subscribers on Facebook Facebook's "Subscribe" option allows you to share certain content with the wider public without having to give up your privacy. How Twitter Reacted to the New iPad Announcement/a> Who is buzzing about the iPad after Apple's big event and where are they? This interactive chart will explain. International Women's Day 2012 Tweets Flood the Twitterverse The Twitterverse has spoken, and it's really excited about International Women's Day. How NFL Legend Warren Sapp Tackles Social Media NFL Legend Warren Sapp is a hit on social media. He recently talked Twitter and football with Mashable. Why Some Musicians May Not Own Their Social Media Followers Musicians and their labels are coming to terms with the question: "Who owns the artist's social media presence?" 5 Social Media Campaigns Rocking International Women's Day We've rounded up some of the dynamic campaigns happening across the social web for International Women's Day. Social Demographics: Who's Using Today's Biggest Networks/a> More than 66% of adults are connected to one or more social media platforms, but who exactly are these people? KONY 2012: Is the Viral Campaign a Scam? KONY 2012 has begun to receive significant backlash from organizations and publications questioning the authenticity of the campaign. For more social media news and resources, you can follow Mashable's social media channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Business & Marketing What You Need to Know Before Running a Facebook Promotion There are some simple, yet important do's and don'ts when it comes to Facebook promotions. 3 Winning Tales of Entrepreneurial Inspiration Last week we asked you to tell us who inspired you to be an entrepreneur. These are the winning responses. How Your Business Can Get the Most From SXSW What are you doing at SXSW Interactive to help your business? ??Here are 10 tips to make your trip to Austin count. Are You Falling Into the Pricing Trap? Are you not making enough money for your service? Here's an inside look on how to escape the pricing trap. Why Big Consumer Brands Have Yet to Tap Pinterest's Potential Mashable spoke with reps from a handful of agencies about whether they're recommending that their clients start pinning. SXSW Networking: 6 Ways to Up Your Game Mashable spoke with reps from a handful of agencies about whether they're recommending that their clients start pinning. How Product Announcements Affect Apple's Stock Price/a> The anticipation for and announcement of new Apple products sends the company's stock price into a tizzy. Here's a look at the data. How to Approach International Online Search Marketing A look at how to better approach international online search marketing. 3 Tradeoffs Your Startup Should Consider Before Partnering Once you know your product works and is in demand, you may consider bringing on a partner. Consider these three tradeoffs before making the decision. For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable's business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Tech & Mobile 10 Sad Substitutes for Hits You Can't Stream on Netflix Netflix's ongoing licensing troubles have intensified recently with the loss of nearly 1,000 Starz titles. Here are 10 films that pale by comparison to their popular counterparts. 3 Innovative Business Uses for the iPad The iPad is revolutionizing many industries. Here are three groundbreaking standouts. 10 Free Must-Have Travel Apps for Android We've collected 10 handy Android apps for travel planning and assistance. 7 Hot Apps to Watch at SXSW 2012 Here are seven startups (and their marketing ploys, for better or worse) that we think have a chance of breaking out at SXSW 2012. 9 Astounding Photoshop Transformations/a> We've found nine incredible YouTube videos that walk you through the Photoshop transformation process. A Day in the Life of the Internet/a> The Internet is a big place. How much data is generated and consumed on a daily basis? This graphic breaks it down. 9 Mobile Apps That Help You Find Cheap Gas Looking for the best bang for your buck when it comes to gas? Here are nine apps that will help you out. Is There Too Much English on the Internet?/a> This infographic looks at the Internet's rapid growth in different languages and in non-English speaking regions. Windows 8: Everything You Need to Know Microsoft is re-inventing its core software, Windows, but what exactly is Windows 8 and how will it change the user experience? iPad HD: 9 Last-Minute Rumors A couple of hours before Apple unveiled the new iPad, everyone was still trying to predict what it would be. Why Mobile Commerce Is on the Rise/a> CultureLabel.com has put together an infographic that highlights the outlook for the mobile commerce industry. The Evolution of Animated GIFs/a> The history and function of animated GIFs is vast. Here's how an outdated format breathed new life again. Social Media Privacy: 3 Questions to Ask Before Authorizing Third-Party Apps To determine how user data is being stored and used, we need to answer three separate questions. Getting A New iPad? Here Are the Top 25 Free iPad Apps To Get You Started/a> A look back at the 25 top free iPad apps of all time. 4 Ways To Make Your Ecommerce Site More Visually Appealing No one wants to shop at an ugly store, so why would you shop on an ugly ecommerce platform? Check out these tips to spruce up your site. Apple's New iPad: 9 Features That Matter Apple has just unleashed a new iPad on the world, with many upgrades over the previous model. Here are the new features matter most. New iPad: Is Your Content Ready for the HD Tablet Revolution? The way tablets like the new iPad present websites and apps will put pressure on brands to catch up. Here are 3 key things to anticipate. Why Bands Need Better Mobile Websites Now/a> Playing at SXSW is a huge opportunity for bands to connect with new fans. But are most bands' mobile websites up to snuff? 4 Ways Restaurants Should Use QR Codes Here are four ways restaurants can effectively leverage QR codes to improve the overall dining experience. For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable's tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, courtneyk. Survey: Telecommuting Becoming More Prevalent [INFOGRAPHIC] Sunday, March 11, 2012 7:53 PM Charlie White Working from home is on the rise, and more companies are trusting their employees to be more productive in their own home offices than they might be at the workplace. Digging deeper, Wrike, a company that makes collaboration software (so it has a stake in this game), conducted a survey with 1,074 respondents, asking them a variety of questions about working from home. The results showed that telecommuting is far more prevalent than we thought. In fact, 83% of the respondents said they work remotely at least part of the day. Some of us here at Mashable have considerable experience with working at home -- many of us work at home at least 20% of the time, and some of our far-flung global staff telecommute 100% of the time. For instance, I've been working from my home office for various online sites for the past 12 years, with no ill effects thus far. Working from home is not for everyone, but for many of us, it turns out to be more productive -- especially when doing highly concentrated activities such as writing, editing and researching -- than it is in a room full of beloved colleagues. But it's not all sweetness and light. See the infographic below for accurate examples of the drawbacks. Beyond those details, find out even more fun facts about the telecommuting revolution in this cute chart, and then let us know in the comments what you think about working from home. Do you believe telecommuting will become more prevalent in the coming years? Infographic courtesy Wrike.com/Tony Keller Skillshare Launches 'Schools' for Brands Sunday, March 11, 2012 1:12 PM Sarah Kessler Whether they're teaching classes about authentic Moroccan tagine cooking or how to live rent-free in New York City, peer-to-peer learning startup Skillshare lets its users market their classes online. Now it also wants to be a place where brands, small businesses, non-profits and other organizations can market classes taught by their employees. The startup launched branded hubs for organizations called "schools" this week. Its first partner for the new feature is GE, which launched a traveling workshop for teaching people how to use power tools (and other classes) at South by Southwest. Brands list the classes their employees are teaching on Schools pages. They can also choose to feature classes from other Skillshare users. GE didn't pay for its branded hub, but eventually Skillshare plans to turn the feature into a new revenue stream. Small businesses have from the beginning used their Skillshare profile pages and classes to promote themselves. However, accounts designed for individuals don't serve the needs of large organizations. Establishing "schools" in addition to "classes" increases both Skillshare's potential offerings and profits. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock To Follow or Not To Follow: Should Small Businesses Follow Everyone Back on Twitter? Sunday, March 11, 2012 11:25 AM Christine Erickson This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business. Marketers know that Twitter is a valuable tool used to reach out to thousands of customers. But it's not just the output of content that's valuable -- the people and other businesses you follow on social media are of equal worth. Unless your account is private, you have no control over who is following you (unless you block them). However, you personally select your followers. But as a business with thousands of followers, is it wise to follow every single person who follows you? SEE ALSO: How to Turn Social Feedback into Valuable Business Data "Don't fall into the trap of something I call a 'courtesy' follow -- that is, following someone that has followed you out of a desire to appear grateful," advises Sheena Medina, community manager at Fast Company. Medina, who says this "does nothing but fill your stream with noise," cites President Barack Obama's account, @BarackObama, which at one point was following 702,586 users -- the most on Twitter. The account, overwhelmed by tweets, is in dire need of a bit of damage control. But, unable to dump seven hundred thousand followers at once, the admins must slowly reduce its followers in order to keep the President's social media-friendly image in tact. On the other hand, some say that businesses should follow back, so that their followers may DM them privately. "Here's a way to look at it -- would you put up a web page without adding your email address or a contact form so that people could reach out to you privately?" asks Laura "@Pistachio" Fitton, inbound marketing evangelist for HubSpot, and lead author of Twitter for Dummies. "As a business, not following someone back means you're telling them, 'Thanks for your support, but you're not important enough to us to be willing to listen to you privately.'" Fitton says she tries to reply to all of the genuine direct mentions, and when possible, she will thank or respond to @-mentions and retweets. "Above and beyond that, stuff like retweeting their content, asking them questions and truly listening to their answers, giving them interesting stuff to interact with are all good ways to engage your community," she says. Both Fitton and Medina encourage businesses to refrain from using an automated "thanks for following" mention. If you do decide to follow everyone, authenticity is key. Your followers will be able to tell whether they're talking to a robot or a person -- and a real person is always more valuable on Twitter. If you do decide not to follow everyone on Twitter, Medina advises to be strategic about curating your stream on Twitter -- knowing your audience helps, but you must also think about what sort of content is going to be useful and entertaining to you. "We're not one-dimensional people," says Medina. "And increasingly, businesses are using Twitter to show how multifaceted they are. Your stream should reflect the dynamics of your personality and business." As a small business owner, do you follow every follower back? What ways do you show appreciation to your fans? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. Image courtesy of iStock, matspersson0 More Small Business Resources From OPEN Forum: - Pinterest for Brands: 5 Hot Tips - Community Managers Share Best Productivity Apps and Tools - 4 Tools for Better Agency-Client Collaboration		TOP STORIES TODAY 3 Ways to Woo a Startup Into Hiring You 49 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed Survey: Telecommuting Becoming More Prevalent [INFOGRAPHIC] To Follow or Not To Follow: Should Small Businesses Follow Everyone Back on Twitter? Skillshare Launches 'Schools' for Brands TOP TOPICS Trending 4,838 followers Social Media 63,650 followers Mobile 4,451 followers Apps And Software 740 followers Business 32,287 followers Twitter 50,829 followers Gadgets 7,291 followers Apple 40,621 followers Startups 8,370 followers Marketing 8,134 followers
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