Social by design

The U.S. economy is healing. Unemployment has dropped below 9 percent for the first time since early 2011, which means more jobs are being created. In order to find employment, job seekers need to keep abreast of the latest creative trends in the industry. Advertising, for example, has undergone an immense evolution over the past few years with the introduction of social media and optimized searching. However, the two may be more linked together than previously thought.

Asking for the public's attention is a sensitive issue. Businesses, of course, want to turn heads and get people listening, but failing to spark immediate interest can cause consumers to tune out indefinitely. Advertisers need to review the messages they are sending out into the marketplace, as campaigns that are too narrow often cause consumers to look the other way. The goal of any campaign should never be to isolate the public. In today's consumer market, messages need to be social by design.

Job seekers need to understand that in an evolving marketplace, buyers care more about what their friends are interested in than demonstrating to brands that they enjoy their products. On Facebook, for example, businesses cannot measure their success through how many "likes" they get on any given post. Those comments are irrelevant. A better way for businesses to measure their return on investment (ROI) is by analyzing how often posts are circulated to social media outlets. Actionable articles posted on Facebook should be designed to create conversation. Businesses need to design content that people want their friends to know about. A simple sale or photo often does not achieve that goal.

One such profession that many businesses are looking to create in their services are analytics jobs. People who can effectively measure the success of online interaction, in terms of sales, increased subscribers or even viral content, positively impact new age marketing campaigns.

Industry professionals are emphasizing the need for social by design content. Campaigns need more than great material - they need to have customers in mind and provide readers with an easy way to redistribute the content to their friends.

In 2011, the main focus was on optimizing content for search. Moving forward, organizations will realize that optimizing content for social outlets may have a greater impact, as social content also affects search ranking. In the upcoming year, job seekers and employers may realize just how hand-in-hand social media and content marketing really go.

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