Your business card is an important part of your brand, and that of your company. It’s an essential part of the business networking process. A good business card can say a great deal about you above and beyond a URL and contact information. When designed well, a business card can elevate your status with and make you memorable to whomever you pass it on to.

The first recorded use of business cards dates back to the 15th century in China, where it was used as a calling card among business men.  After its migration to Europe a couple hundred years later, the standard business card was used as a form of advertising for trade merchants that often included a map and directions of where the vendor’s product or service cart was located.  As printing became more popular in the 1800’s the business card finally reached the United States, quickly becoming a popular form of advertising and networking among businessmen and the general public.

As the business card gained in popularity, there became two distinct types of uses: visiting cards and business cards.  In the 19th century in the United States, visiting cards were used primarily by individuals as a way to establish social obligations.  A stack of cards would be housed in the hallway and became a catalogue of visitors as an early form of “While You Were Out” phone messaging that we are familiar with today.  Business cards were widespread among men and women and across classes.  People were looked upon in poor taste if they visited or attended an event or made a social call without one.

As our lives have become more virtual and network-based, our vision and idea of the business card has continued to evolve.  The traditional paper business card still holds true but the rise in popularity of iPhones and mobile devices has changed the way in which we exchange our contact information.  Even a Facebook friend request can be seen as a virtual, casual form of business card exchange. 

Popular iPhone virtual business card applications like Hoccer, Bump, and others have begun to take the place of the traditional business card.

• Hoccer. A free downloadable iPhone application offers the ability to exchange your contact information with a simple throwing gesture.  The application must be opened by both parties who must complete a throwing motion to exchange their information.

• Bump. With over 10 million downloads, Bump is one of the most popular iPhone contact exchange applications. Two people open the application and bump their iPhones with their hands.  After only a short setup, all your contact information is easily transferred.

• LinkedIn. With their most recent iPhone upgrade, LinkedIn now offers a contact information transfer service.  Both parties must have their bluetooth activated on their iPhone in order to exchange their contact information.  While in London, I was able to quickly exchange contact information by just sitting next to someone during a conference or dinner.

For non-iPhone users there are also alternatives to exchanging virtual contact information as well.

• Business Card Readers. Blackberry and iPhone users can use a data capture application that takes a picture or scans the business card right from your mobile device.  Another great application for this and other data capture purposes is Ever Note.

• SnapDat.  Create an exchange a virtual business card online with anyone.  In a matter of minutes, you can create a very professional business card to exchange on social media networks and other online communities.

• Pokens. Pokens are social business card (and isn’t everything social these days?).  After selecting a poken and setting it up, you are able to quickly exchange contact information with other poken users and are able to upload the contact information by inserting the USB from the poken into your computer.  These are great for large events and conferences where you can connect with a large number of people very quickly.  No iPhone, Blackberry, or Droid required.

So, what’s your experience with these technologies?  Do you use them or know others who do?  Is the paper business card dead, or are these new toys more novelty than game-changer?

Photo Credit Create It Displays and You Renew.

FTC Disclosure:  All products and applications listed and reviewed in this blog post were purchased and paid by Xceptional HR.  I did not receive them as a gift with the exception of the Poken.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is an author, new mother, and human resources professional with a passion for recruiting and all things social media.  She has over 10 years of experience in human resources & recruiting.

Her company, Xceptional HR provides businesses with social media, recruitment, and human resources strategy and consulting.   Jessica’s book, Tweet This! Twitter for Business was released January 2010.  Follow Jessica on Twitter, LinkedIn, & FaceBook.

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Last week, my post featured a short video by my friend the Recruiting Animal about how to stand out on Twitter.  This week I thought I would go more in depth about how Twitter can be used in your job search.

Being in the job search is tough, and as a job seeker you are not alone (especially with the more than 15 million who are out of work and in the job hunt).  People don’t always prepare adequately for the job search, although they should be giving themselves a solid six months to get everything in order before they can expect results.  This provides the opportunity to grow and build your network using  both traditional (face to face networking) and non-traditional methods (social media networking).  Keep in mind that this can all be done while you’re still employed.  Don’t wait until you’re actively looking to build your network!

One non-traditional networking tool is Twitter.  Think of Twitter as a virtual cocktail party with more than 27 million people in attendance.  Like any traditional cocktail party or networking event, there are conversations (known as your twitter stream) that happen all around you.  Twitter is no different.  If your goals for Twitter are primarily business-based, it is extremely important to selectively join and be present for key conversations among decision makers or influencers in the industry in which you are looking for work.

These tips will help you turn Twitter into the ultimate networking tool:

• Follow People. Following others and retweeting or reposting their tweets is a great way to begin to build a relationship.  Use Twitter directories which are essentially online yellow pages to search for influencers in your target industry, location, or by keyword like Twellow, and We Follow.  Here are 15 more great Twitter directory sites courtesy of Mashable.

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Be found by making sure to include keywords that are searched by recruiters and hiring managers in your Twitter bio.  Consider words including industry specific software programs, certifications, and words that are repeatedly listed in job board advertisements.  Recruiters use keywords within your tweets and your bio to find you.  Make it easy to be found including key words and a link to your blog or profile.

• Hash Tags (#). Hash tags are used in Twitter as a way to sort and search by topic.  Some common hash tags for job seekers including #jobs, #jobhuntchat, #jobsearch, and #jobadvice.  Using your iGoogle account, you can set up an RSS feed of common keywords and hash tags in Twitter Search.  Setting up your RSS feed is a great time saving tip!

• Find Recruiters. I almost always suggest that job seekers take an aggressive approach to their job search.  Just as recruiters source and search for you, job seekers can seek out and connect with recruiters, human resource professionals, or hiring managers using social media search tools.  Twitter directories are a great start, but there are more advanced tools like Follower Wonk and Twitter Search which can help you further focus your search.  Both of these offer advanced search options, allowing you to search by keyword and even zip code.  Follow Wonk provides advanced bio search options.

• Building Relationships. Chris Brogan provides a crude yet effective example of social media networking and how to build relationships.  He likens immediately asking for a job or sale just after meeting someone to sticking your tongue down someone’s throat just after meeting them.  Basically, don’t ask for the sale until you have an established relationship.  Social media is undoubtedly a great way to connect, but can be somewhat superficial.  Networking takes time!  Make sure you establish a meaningful relationship with someone before asking them to help you.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is an author, new mother, and human resources professional with a passion for recruiting and all things social media.  She has over 10 years of experience in human resources & recruiting.

Her company, Xceptional HR provides businesses with social media, recruitment, and human resources strategy and consulting.   Jessica’s book, Tweet This! Twitter for Business was released January 2010.  Follow Jessica on Twitter, LinkedIn, & FaceBook.

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Your personal brand is divided into two parts, your Personal Brand Image and your Personal Brand Identity, where the Personal Brand Image is how your peers perceive you and your identity, personality, values, skills, and abilities. Your Personal Brand Identity is who you really are (identity, personality, values, skills, and abilities) and what you want to communicate to others.

There are a lot of ways in which you can align the two, but today we will focus on networking and events.

When you see someone at a restaurant, in a meeting room, or at a networking event, you will automatically add definitions to your image of that person. If she is having lunch with a head hunter that you recognize, it will probably empower certain areas of her brand image such as skill level and professionalism, while having dinner with her daughter will add to her image of being a good mother, emotional skills etc. The bottom line is, your brand image is affected by the company you keep.

Using Facebook and LinkedIn to meet with the right people

Let’s say you want to meet with a certain type of person, to pick their brain, to hang out or to make inquiries about if their office is a good place to be looking for work. The first thing I normally do is to find out if there is anyone in my network that fits the profile, or if there is anyone that knows someone with the profile I am looking for. So how do I do this?

First I go to my LinkedIn account, looking around for certain skills, positions and interests of the people that I know personally. If somene fits the profile, then I just contact them. I do the same on Facebook, but the search possibilities are much more limited. OftenI find that I do not know the right person directly but that my connections know someone, which is almost as good. Let your connection help you get connected.  Ask for an introduction.

Finding the events where you want to be seen

You have now met with the connections in your network and also with some of their connections, but you still wants more. Maybe you are looking at the local chamber of commerce and other traditional networks for the right events to practice your networking skills. If you do that, it is a great start, but I have found that looking at which events my connections go to is much more efficient as far as find the best ones. The good thing is that Facebook and LinkedIn lets you do that easily.

LinkedIn lets you list the events that your connections are visiting by going to the events section. Here you can see them ordered by date or popularity. You can also recommend events to your connections.

On Facebook, you cannot actually list the events of others, but you can keep track of the one you are invited to and who else is attending. Go to the events page where you will see upcoming events and also the upcoming birthdays of your connections.

How do you use the social media networks to network offline?  Share your tips and success stories in the comments section.

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There’s a new kid on the block of Social Media Networks, and it is not a small newcomer, but a giant. Google Buzz is the name and it has a huge user base since it is connected to Gmail. It just launched last Tuesday and it already has more than 160,000 posts and comments each hour.

So how can Google Buzz impact your Personal Brand?

Keep your Google Profile updated

In my opinion, Google Profile has been a bit disconnected with no clear purpose other than SEO up until now. Your Google Profile is also your Buzz Profile, so if someone searches for you on Google Buzz, they might end up reading your Google Profile as well. Check out this post by my fellow writer Ryan Rancatore on how to Create The Perfect Google Profile In 7 Steps to optimize your Buzz searchability.

Another part of the Google Profile is how your social search results appears. Take a look at here to see how the sites listed in Google Profile affect your social search content (you have to be signed in to Google to see the results).

Find people in your industry, and follow them

Just like on Twitter, you can follow the key opinion leaders of your industry to learn from them and also follow companies or employees of companies that you are interested in working for. Add insightful comments to their content. In the early days it is easier to stand out because the active user base is small, so make a splash now! It shouldn’t take too much effort to get them to follow you, at least not in the beginning.

Showcase your skills

To get followed and maintain your follower base, create useful and interesting blog articles, photos, videos and other content that are of interest to your industry and future employer or client. Google Buzz has multimedia support built-in, so use it!

I think it is important to look back on one’s core values every now and then, and reflect on how you have defined the way you differentiate yourself from everyone else. Let that show in the way you post and communicate on the different social networks.

Keep focused

With an increasing number of social networks, it is vital to make sure that you maintain and evolve as necessary your strategy for how to act in the social media landscape. There is a risk that you and your message may get diluted if working in too many channels at the same time.

To make sure that you know what is being said about you in different online channels, you should set up search profiles. Google Alerts is quite good, but has serious limitations in reliability (especially for non-English sources). If you have basic programming knowledge I would recommend using Yahoo pipes! to make a specific search profile for your needs. Or, you can sign up for the beta test of the Rynge Media Monitor a tool which will continuously monitor several key phrases from a variety of sources.

Add Google Buzz to your set of Social Media Icons

On your webpage, blog, resume etc., add a Google Buzz icon together with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter if you are planing to use the new service.

For more information on how to use Google Buzz, have a look at this guide.

In what ways do you think Google buzz can be used to market your personal brand? How are you using it now, and what’s your plan going forward?  If you are not using it, why is that?

If you are a Gmail user, follow me on Google Buzz.

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