If you know me (and you can hear what I have to SAY live on Dee McCrorey's Blogtalk Radio Show by clicking on the MP3 player on the left of this page) and if you know about ECMG as personal publicitists and agents, we are not only about getting out there and helping our clients find work or business. We are also about helping our clients build personal and professional brands via a personal publicity strategy and up until now, I saw our brand of personal publicity as our "ePR" service since we meet and greet so many of our clients and connections via direct email campaigns.  I am, however, There is a lot of talk surrounding the whole Web 2.0 Profile building strategy as it pertains to one's online personal news and personal brand.  This is a good thing to do for anyone looking for work or new business opportunities. While most social media is very much a norm with the Gen Y crowd, it's starting to take hold in the business and professional worlds (I just got invited to join a start up social networking site for entrepreneurs today  - but I won't provide the name until I find out if I like it or not!). Linked In and Plaxo have been around for many years (I have met a few clients via these sites) and while they are starting to really take hold in the business and professional networking arena, I still think that you need the super direct approach. My motto is to be in and get in as many channels of introduction as you can to be recognized and visible to the people who will matter to your success! Let's put it this way, with our ECMG (traditional model), I can't tell you how many times we have introduced a client to a company and the company ends up interviewing them not even knowing that they were even looking for such a person to hire.  Needless to say to network effectively on these sites you have to connect in the right manner or you will be passed by and you have to still have some traditional (old-school) tactics in place (i.e. direct introduction via cold calls and emails) too!

However, I think it is crucial that ECMG incorporates more online social networking/Web 2.0 profile (ePR) programming into our traditional PR/agent representation service and business model! That being said, I will soon be offering Web 2.0 building/ePR services to those who want to build up effective profiles and get more exposure via online networking/social media as well as help our ECMG (direct campaign) clients secure a better place and more exposure on some of these social business networking sites, become better connected to the right people who can and will lead them to the right opportunities whether it means for job placement or business development as well as maintain the client's Web 2.0 content for them automatically and upon demand.  We will continue to produce the collaterals that we currently produce for our client campaigns, but also utilize this copy for social media profiles and then some (every social media site has their own little bells and whistles for profiles) in addition to our online portfolio set up (a component of our ECMG Service that also getting a face lift VERY SOON). 

I will be announcing our WEB 2.0 PROFILE BUILDING/ePR Service on our site in a few weeks. This will be a separate or add-on to our current ECMG Services.

As I see it (and due to the fact that I have been getting REQUESTS for this type of service), there is a huge need for Web 2.0 profile/strategy building since most executives --i.e. Babyboomers and/or Gen Xers who are not so well versed on social media or who are either pressed for time to be able to set up profiles in general or ones that are of substance or who have no time or patience to maintain them (since that is another important part of being a part of online networking/social media communities).  Needless to say, I am trying to be my own best example and build up my profiles on the specific sites that I feel are of substance to the goals my clients have.  I have been a member of Linked In and Plaxo (now called Plaxo Pulse) for MANY years, but I really did not think that online networking and or true social and new media (videos, blogs and the like) was the exact vehicle for myself, my biz or my clients. OH -- if you see me on these sites now (I am starting in a few others too), bare with me - they are works in progress as my clients come first you know! I am changing my mind about it all, but I still think a direct (or old school approach) via personal endorsement through agent representation is also a key to building up good visibility for job and new business search purposes.  Yet more and more people are turning to online communities to communicate more than ever before. There is also research out there now that pertains to the fact that people are communicating within social networking sites then ever before (rather then email, read: Are Social Networks Replacing Email Yet?), geeze I need to get on this for myself and help my clients be ready for this change!

I am offering our Web 2.0 profile/ePR strategy building services to those who are looking for employment or looking to for new employment changes, but also to those looking for more business (since we handle consultants and small business).  As a matter of fact, more and more recruiters (in-house and outsourced) are looking to online networking sites to connect with good candidates - candidates of all levels (see Recruiting Employees 2.0), and journalists/editors are looking for content online as well (both written and videos).  Traditional Press Release Blasts are being taken over by blog posts, streaming video and online networking sites. This is why I think anyone who is looking for a job or new business needs to blog and talk about their personal brand, but again there is a key to effective blogging too and if you are an executive looking for a new job don't think that posting your video on YouTube will help you land your next CEO gig. For the most part, Linked In and Plaxo are leading the pack as far as being good social networking vehicles for executive level people, with several others falling in behind and so I am exploring them all.

More good reading about this topic is on Sally Falkow's Blog. She has a great post about Web 2.0 content on websites which pertains to my strategy for my client campaigns and my own business.