Young Entrepreneurs Know Their Social Media

By Mindy on July 29, 2009

"Everything is in a state of flux, including the status quo."-- Robert Byrne

Aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere: it's time to brush up on your social media skills. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are quickly becoming the new "status quo" of communication, especially for our generation. Over at Mashable, Greg Rollett has a great article about how young entrepreneurs are using social media to break the status quo:

Of the 30 entrepreneurs profiled for the 2008 Inc Top 30 Under 30, 18 have personal or business Twitter accounts and 19 host personal or corporate blogs. One can only expect 2009’s list to increase these numbers and put a larger emphasis on social media as it starts to encompass more and more aspects of their business landscape.... Gen-Y is eager to change the way business is done and they want to do it now. Technology and new media are playing a key role in how these young organizations are not only started, but how they get funded, how they spread the word and how they pay their bills.

The post quotes a Wall Street Journal article that says that 70 percent of high schoolers plan on starting their own business, while 80 percent of universities now offer classes on entrepreneurship. There are profiles of several young entrepreneurs who used blogs, Twitter, and more to start successful online ventures. Aaron Petzer, who started Mint.com when he was only 25, came up with a unique way to help consumers track their savings and spending habits online. Much of his success, though, lies in how the company uses Twitter and social media to provide customer support.

Yesterday, we talked about how entrepreneurship is about identifying a need you can fill, and then finding a new way to meet it. Once you've created an innovative way to meet that need, social media can help you leverage your ideas. Want more? Chris Brogan lists 50 ideas for using Twitter to help your business, and the people behind Twitter bring you Twitter101, a guide to using the site to better serve your customers. BusinessWeek addresses how businesses can use Facebook to build profits, and at the Evan Carmichael blog, Guy Kawasaki gives 10 ways entrepreneurs and job seekers should use LinkedIn.

Check out The Links for more career tools:

The Simple Dollar Collects the Best Career Advice: This finance/career blogger asked his Twitter followers to give their best piece of career advice in 140 characters or less. Some of the answers are predictable, but there are a lot of good tidbits. "It’s not how many resumes you send out, it’s how many hands you shake," said @The_Weakonomist. Another idea from @MoneyMateKate is "Take an acting class, HUGE for public speaking/presentation skills."

Cube Rules Says Humor Isn't Your Interview Friend: "Humor is especially dangerous in an interview if you know the person doing the interview. You think, because you know this person, you can have an easier time with humor, but the reality is the hiring manager is under more pressure to ensure you get the work and can implement the department goals. That pressure doesn’t get them in the right position to hear humor." Even if you can gracefully work in a few grins, remember that your interviewers are looking for someone who can seriously meet their needs.

Secrets of the Job Hunt Says 5 Out of 500 Resumes On Target: Career expert Hannah Morgan sorted through a stack of 500 resumes to find that only 5 accomplished their goal of catching her attention. She notes that most of the reject resumes contained "resume killing phrases" like "team player," "strong work ethic" and "met or exceeded expectations." Check out the post for more phrases that you should cut out of your job-seeking vocabulary.

CareerAlley Asks, "Are You Smart Searching?": CareerAlley is great about pulling together collections of resources to help you fine-tune your job hunt. Today's post gives you a game plan for what they call the "intelligent job search." One important factor: know what you are actually worth in today's job market.

"50 Social Media Icons" courtesy Tech Writer Boy via Flickr Creative Commons