From the Gen Y Perspective » Being Brazen

Brazen’s Executive Social Media Bootcamp

Emily Jasper — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 18:02:54 +0000

Living in my world, I forget there are many people who aren’t using the tools available at their fingertips. We plan weekend trips and wedding showers through Facebook, and Google is practically a teacher. Smartphones make it easy to share every thought, and even Angry Birds has become its own movement in pop culture. And then I try to look up marketing executives online and they have no digital footprint.

I can understand privacy, but to not exist online? How can you be a leader in your field, especially if your business is all about making a name for your brand, and not have any representation of your capability online? To not even have a LinkedIn profile, or perhaps worse, consider it a hassle instead of an asset?

Not everyone is “doing” social media, and it isn’t a fad that will go away. It is a layer that adds color to your portfolio and can create a portrait of yourself as a professional. If you have a handle on it for yourself, imagine what you could be doing as a representative of your company.

If you’re ready to take your social media efforts to the next level, Brazen Careerist can get you there. Register now for Brazen U’s premier Executive Social Media Bootcamp, a rigorous 4-week online course that will help you develop and implement a winning social media strategy – whether social media is 10 percent or 100 percent of your job.

Untitled from Brazen Careerist on Vimeo.

This course is for people who know that just having a presence on Facebook and Twitter is not enough. This class is for people who want to use social media to connect, engage, market and sell your product or message – and learn how to do it right and have maximum impact – and is applicable to any business, corporation, non-profit, government agency, or freelancer.

Brazen’s Executive Social Media Bootcamp is offered 100 percent online, so you can enroll from anywhere around the country (or world, for that matter) and participate from the convenience of your office, home, favorite coffee shop, or any location you choose. The course will take place on a private, secure, and password protected website that can be accessed only by program students. Brazen will send information and detailed instructions on how to access and use the site to all participants a few days before the start of the course.

The Executive Social Media Bootcamp is a mixture of curated readings, videos, live and exclusive pre-recorded segments. And if you can’t make one of the live web conferences or Q&A calls, they will make the transcript and video available for download afterward for all participants. Take a look online and see the number of great speakers and programs lined up in the agenda. You’ll be pretty impressed.

Brazen will also offer a weekly, live networking opportunity to students via our mothership, Brazen Careerist, where you’ll get the chance to meet and network with our featured speakers and your fellow classmates. Studies show that you are more successful in a course if you know and respect your peers and it’s a great way to build your professional network of other social media experts. Trust us, you’ll be among people that you’ll want to know!

The program begins September 6th and runs until September 30. If you’re interested, go online and enroll now. Brazen is offering a reduced registration rate of $245 if you register before August 31. I highly recommend this to those of your looking to answer the question: How will I differentiate myself?

Movers and Shakers

Emily Jasper — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:00:42 +0000

Hey all, I’m at the National Association of Women MBAs Leadership Retreat. I have the opportunity to meet some amazing women doing some pretty amazing things. Look for some of my reflections when I get back next week. Until then, I have a post on Brazen Careerist just on this topic: “A New Kind of Business Mover and Shaker.”

Check it out!

Take a Spin: Brazen Careerist’s Networking Roulette

Emily Jasper — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 13:18:32 +0000

In sorority recruitment, we used to have a system to meet as many potential new members as possible. We’d conduct rotations where we’d try to learn something about these women beyond “she’s nice.” When you have just a couple of minutes, you really have to work hard to get those great factoids about a person that makes you want to talk to them again.

It’s been a number of years since I’ve been working the rounds at recruitment, so when Brazen Careerist’s Networking Roulette came my way, I thought I’d have a hard time.

Nope. Like they say, it’s just like riding a bike.

Networking Roulette is great for the busy person who wants to meet people outside their normal circle. It’s also awesome if you’re in a location where you haven’t quite figured out the networking scene yet. You log in, write a little profile for yourself, then BAM! you’re matched up and see the clock start ticking down.

Having just three minutes to talk to someone, you really need to get at the heart of things. Sure you could spend the first minute saying, “Hello, how are you? Where are you from? What do you do?” OR you could be smart, include some basics in the intro, and your conversation can kick off with, “I saw you just started your own business, what challenges are you facing?”

See? All of a sudden you’re getting into the meat of the conversation because you aren’t worried about pleasantries. We can assume since we’re Brazen folks, we’re already pretty awesme. Now you just want to get to the awesomeness faster! You can “Fan” your match in the moment, and then know you’re probably going to want to come back to talking with them. Watch out, you have 20 seconds left! Leave on a great question for follow up because after three minutes, BAM! you’re already matched up again.

I have to say, if you’ve never done Networking Roulette before, you may want to do a couple practice rounds. You can prepare by reading about the upcoming events on BrazenCareerist.com, checking out which topics might interest you. Take a moment to really think about your intro: “What are you looking for?” and “What are you providing?” are some tough questions if you don’t take a moment to think about them. I even wrote up my answers beforehand so I had something meaningful for my matches. Then click on the Roulette wheel and get started.

Don’t worry, if you get through a couple of matches and need a break, just close the box. I know I realized I wanted to update my Brazen profile because I had moved recently. Then I clicked on the Roulette wheel again, and I was on my way! If you are going to take a break, do make sure you close the window. If you’re still signed in, you could be matched to someone while you’re away, and you don’t want to be a flake who doesn’t answer!!

Networking Roulette is working pretty nicely for me. I’m getting my MBA and have some later evening classes when in-person networking events may be going on. Even if I log in for just 20 minutes of Roulette, that’s potentially six different people I could meet! I have to say, that’s probably more than if I went and spent $15 on cocktails and got stuck in some awkward conversations. After the recession, conversations stopped being about amazing things people did and instead turned to begging for jobs. That’s not the case with Roulette, and you can meet some great people.

Remember what I said, getting to the heart of it?

Go online, take a spin, and see where you land. After your first match, your blood will be pumping, your fingers itching to type some more, and that adrenaline from the timer will make you want to say, “Bring on the next one!” And hey, if you do have an in-person event to go to, you know your experience with Networking Roulette will let you rock it the next time you’re out there shaking hands.