Brandon Eley » Twitter

Social Media for Students – LaGrange College

Brandon — Wed, 19 Oct 2011 18:58:54 +0000

Yesterday I spoke to LaGrange College students about social media, specifically how employers are using social media to screen job candidates and how students can use LinkedIn, Twitter and blogs to present themselves professionally. The slides for the presentation are available below.

Social media for students

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HYPE Chamber of Commerce Lunch & Learn

Brandon — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 21:21:14 +0000

Below is my presentation slides from my HYPE Lunch & Learn talk today at the LaGrange-Troup County Chamber of Commerce.

Marketing Yourself and Your Business – Your Brand on Social Media

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Social Media Presentation for Mobile Bay AAF

Brandon — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 03:27:59 +0000

Yesterday I was in Mobile, AL speaking at the monthly Mobile Bay AAF chapter meeting about Social Media. Specifically, I was talking about using Social Media, namely Facebook and Twitter, for businesses.

I was expecting a crowd of about 35-40 people, typical of most monthly Ad Fed meetings. We had a great turnout, and approximately 80 people showed up! It was so packed, there wasn’t enough seating or food for everyone. I’ve since found out that it was the largest crowd for a monthly speaker in two years! (I’m honored)

Thank you to Laura Burton and Sarah Jones for being excellent hosts. I really enjoyed dinner and conversation at Felix’s Fish Camp. It was great meeting you both, and all the members and guests of the Mobile Bay AAF.

Below are the slides from my presentation.

Social Media Marketing

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How Important is a Professional Portrait?

Brandon — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:41:18 +0000

I have always just used a random photograph or self-portrait for my website and avatars on social media websites like Twitter and Facebook. My Facebook profile picture is a photo snapped by a coworker in downtown LaGrange. It’s not bad, but definitely out of date and not really “me.” I’ve been considering having professional portraits/headshots taken and was curious… How important is a professional portrait in business? I decided to do a little digging, and was surprised at what I’d found.

Of the top 20 Twitter users (according to Twitterholic), 6 of them are companies or use a company logo or graphic (Twitter, CNN, Barack Obama, etc.). Of the remaining 14 people, 8 of them have professional photos. The remaining 6 include Wil Wheaton (cartoon drawing) and several self portraits (Kevin Rose, Alex Albrecht, Michael Arrington). And Jason Calcanis has a photo of his dogs.

So is a professional portait important? The top 20 might be a bad group to evaluate, because most of them had a strong personal brand before Twitter.

I can honestly say that a user’s avatar does have some importance in whether I follow them. I subscribe to several searches in TweetDeck, and the users with professional, well lit portraits stand out… especially if they are well cropped. I think the best portraits are zoomed especially tight (even to cut off part of the face or forehead) and well lit with very light or no shadows on the face.

I don’t have hard evidence to prove it, but if you want to increase your followers and friends a professional portrait would certainly not be a bad idea.