Marijean Oldham (Jaggers)

Apr 11

Advice for the College Marketing and Communications Majors

By Marijean Social Media

I was lucky enough last week to get the chance to Skype in to my friend Ken Mueller’s class at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. The class, which Ken, who is the brains behind Inkling Media, developed for the school, is called Marketing 360 and focuses on social media marketing. I got to play long distance guest speaker and address the topic of taking online interaction offline.

I shared several client examples of work that has gone from online social interaction to in person interaction, cementing relationships clients have with their customers. My favorite part of the class, however, was when the students took turns hopping in front of the camera to ask me a question. At the end of class, I asked about the future of the graduating seniors and got to hear that many of them have solid plans; jobs, even! It was fantastic.

Ken asked me to share some advice, which is funny to me sometimes because I forget how long it’s been since I was in college; that these 14 years or so of experience have added up to something. I told the class to write and to read as much as possible and to, above all, be patient in their new roles as junior staffers; that everyone has a few years of paying their dues and they will be no different; that they should take that time to think, build and develop strong portfolios and online profiles.

Afterwards, I kept thinking about that class and the other 20-somethings I know in marketing and communications and the advice I shared with one of them recently. I think the most important idea to think through is your passion. What is it that interests you most? I have a fondness and personal interest in health care and in education — I lean toward clients in these fields and find that my best work gets done in areas where I’m personally engaged. So my advice is this; focus on your passions and the rest will fall into place.

Thanks Ken, and thanks Marketing 360 class! It was great to be part of your evening.

Apr 07

Love0

Crafting the Invitation to Connect: Five Tips for Connecting Success

By Marijean Communications

A few years ago, I received the best invitation to connect on LinkedIn that I have ever received, before or since.

It was so good, in fact, that I kept it, generalized it down and have used it during speaking engagements and presentations as an example of how to invite someone to connect.

Now, in the case of a mass upload of contacts when you’re just getting started, or certain contacts with whom you’re connected a dozen different ways, sometimes the standard, “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn” is perfectly OK. But often, it’s not.

If you are connecting to someone new to your network:

Provide context; remind them how you know one another, who your mutual connections are and where you met.
Tell them why you’re interested in connecting.
Let them know what it is you offer, or how your network might be valuable to them.
If the connection has a new position or has a business recently featured in the news, make reference to that.
Familiarize yourself with the contact by looking for updates, common contacts, a blog, a Google profile, on Twitter or other content that will give you some context for the person you’re reaching out to; it may be helpful to know what’s happening with them on the day you conduct your outreach.

Here’s the “sample” invitation to connect that I’ve referred to so often. Take a look, then build your own.

As you may know, I resigned my position as [TITLE & COMPANY]. It was a rich experience and I value the privilege of access to a very high level of thought leadership during my years there.

Recently, I have begun to work with the [COMPANY] to [DETAILS OF JOB AND INDUSTRY] Using “best practice” as a baseline, we are [INFORMATION ABOUT THE COMPANY’S GOALS AND PURSUITS].

As I value our relationship and appreciate the depth of experience you bring to your profession, please join my network so we can stay in touch on this and more.

Warm regards,

Isn’t that just lovely?

I often refer to this message when I want to set just the right tone when reaching out to a new connection. Feel free to adapt for your own needs, and of course, feel free to connect with me, as well.