Can Social Media Research Live Up to the Hype?

by Caroline Leach | Jun 3, 2018 | Social Media

Data is the new oil, says The Economist. Data scientist is the best job in America, says Glassdoor. Social data can solve business challenges, says Adweek.

Data is everywhere. It’s touted as the panacea to fix every problem. And it certainly has that potential.

Except … when it doesn’t fully solve a problem, as I discovered this spring.

To understand why and how how professionals are using social media to build their careers, I conducted a study.

I went into it incredibly excited about what it could reveal. I vetted and chose a survey platform. I designed the survey questionnaire. I tweaked it until Survey Monkey gave it a “perfect score.” I sent the survey to any and every group and individual in my network. I shared it in all of my social networks. Multiple times.

I was convinced this would result in upwards of 1,000 responses, although I set a more “realistic” goal of 500. I was sure it would uncover new and fascinating insights about why and how people are using social media to boost their careers. I believed it would identify a myriad of new topics and areas to explore in social media in this blog.

Did it do all of those things?

Well, I humbly report that it ranged broadly from “yes” on some to “no” on others. I shared the survey results in a series of posts called Boost Your Career through Social Media, Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5. (Note: opinions expressed in this blog are my own).

The main goal of the survey was to learn how fellow professionals are using social media to build their careers. Specifically, it addressed:

1. What social media people use professionally and personally
2. Why they are active on social media professionally
3. How their social media activity has helped their career, others’ careers and their employer.

As I reflected on the experience, here’s are 5 things I learned.

It’s hard to get people to respond to surveys. Intellectually, I know this. But of course, I believed my survey would defy this rule. Why? Because (1) I thought the topic was interesting, (2) I cast a wide net in reaching out to diverse groups of people, and (3) I repeated the call to respond to the survey through multiple channels.

Yet at the end of the fielding in March 2018, I was happy to have 100 responses, a tenth of my original goal.

This may point to the need to up my promotional game. Maybe a play on a BuzzFeed-like headline is in order, such as “What’s your social media type? Take this quiz to see which ‘Game of Thrones’ character are you in social … ”

What I’ll do differently in the future is make my surveys shorter — under 10 minutes to complete, rather than 15. Maybe there will be an annual survey each spring to view trends over time. It could attempt to relate social media behavior with career outcomes such as finding a mentor, landing a new job or scoring a promotion.

On a quarterly basis maybe there will be a shorter, topical survey. Or perhaps a simple question in an LinkedIn post. Because experimentation applies to social media (see below), it makes sense to experiment with survey design, length and frequency.

Social media for career building is in its early days, which creates opportunity. Although 98% of respondents are on LinkedIn and 47% are on Twitter for professional use, some of the comments told a different story:

• “I use social medial personally, not professionally”
• “I don’t really use social media to build my career. I see social media as just that, social.”
• “I rarely use social media”
• “I don’t post on LinkedIn”

My conclusion? These are the nascent days for social media and careers. At first, this disappointed me. But the flip side is the big opportunity for all of us. This is especially true for people navigating transitions to new jobs. According to a 2017 CareerBuilder study:

• 70% of employers use social media to screen candidates
• 57% of employers are less likely to interview a candidate they can’t find online
• 44% have found social media content that caused them to hire a candidate.

People follow thought leaders in social media to learn, which creates opportunity. Among the top reasons for being active in social media professionally, learning continually was cited by 77% of respondents. In comments, people said they followed thought leaders as part of their learning agenda.

Why not parlay your expertise and experience into becoming a thought leader in social media? Whether you realize it or not, you have a unique and valuable perspective on your profession and your industry. By sharing that in social media, one post at a time, you can establish yourself as a thought leader.

Dorie Clark talks about the importance of content creation in her Harvard Business Review article, What You Need to Stand Out in a Noisy World. “The fact that you’re the one creating content, rather than simply quoting others,” she says,”makes you an expert in many people’s eyes.”

Of course, the caveat is that you should never share confidential or proprietary information about your employer. When in doubt, ask the advice of your supervisor and/or err on the side of caution and don’t share.

Actor and former NFL player Terry Crews reminds us about the power of your unique voice. In his interview with author Tim Ferriss for the book Tribe of Mentors, Terry says, “When you’re creative, you render the competition obsolete, because there is only one you, and no one can do things exactly the way you do.”

No one has had your unique experience, and no one can write about it the way you can. If that sounds daunting, you can start with small steps. I call them experiments. Try sharing your perspective in a LinkedIn post or in an article. See what resonates with your audience, and tweak your approach as appropriate.

Keep at it long enough to gain some traction. Here I’m inspired by Tim Ferriss and the dozens of book rejections he’s received as an author. Thank goodness he persisted. We get the benefit of his learning as a result.

Observing others and experimenting are the ways to learn and improve. This survey was a form of observing others and seeing what works for them. Same thing with engaging with my social feeds in LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Keeping an eye on what content is getting high engagement and what people are sharing are sources of inspiration. Sometimes my observations become blog posts, as in the case of How to Seize the Moment in Social Media.

Experiments are also big for me. This survey is one example. Asking “what would happen if … ?” helps me identify what to do next. One time I blogged every day for a month to see what I’d learn. Another time I posted to LinkedIn every weekday for a month, to test the data point that doing so was necessary in order to reach 60% of your network.

It’s hard to reliably predict what will resonate with people. In our data-driven world, I was sure this series of posts of my research would be highly engaging. Perhaps I didn’t promote it well enough. In looking at which articles over the last year have gotten the most engagement, this series didn’t crack the top 10.

What were the top articles? The ones that shared the results from my experiments, like posting to LinkedIn every weekday for a month. Or they covered lists and how-to’s, like 7 Things Not to Do in LinkedIn, How to Kill It in Social Media and 12 Ways to Get a Great LinkedIn Profile Photo.

This post is the 49th article I will have posted to LinkedIn since May 2017. In contemplating my 50th article, I’ll share what I learned from posting an article to LinkedIn nearly every week for a year.