Web2.0 toolbox for fashion professionals: 10 social networking tools which could be effectively used for professional networking in fashion industry.
Social networking became a fact of life and it offers a huge potential for professional networking.
The topic of this post is selection of the best way to use social networking site by a fashion professional for self promotion.
This posting is not an overview of social networking and blogging sites in general, there are plenty of such very comprehensive and thorough overviews on the web today and there is no need for another “dissertation” on the topic.
It is, however, a common sense overview of online social networking tools for fashion professionals whose social networking experience and web experience overall could range from nonexistent to some use of social networks as a personal hobby.
Thus the focus is: services applicable for
- “real people”, not Internet geeks who ” know everything”.
- fashion professionals who want to promote themselves on the web in order to get a job, expand customer base or just advance or expand personal/fashion brand.
criteria for selection of social networking services to be included here:
criteria #1: all of them must be genuinely free: no obligatory charge, no mandatory service fees, no cost for basic service.
Thus , all services included in this list are basically free. There may be some “for fee” advanced features, however. In some cases fees for these “for fee advancements ” are priced so moderately and they are so effective that it makes perfect sense to consider such “for fee” upgrades (Flickr Pro would be a good example), but this list includes only sites which offer sufficiently good service in their free level.
criteria #2: all of them are easy to use: no special training needed, no unreasonable extra time for handling and maintaining account.
well…to be clear you cannot find 100% effortless services on the web. All services would pose some challenge and require some time which you have to spend to get a result. My criteria is that results obtained from a web2.0 service far outweigh amount of efforts and time spent on it. However, each of you can judge it for yourself because each of us has different understanding of what our time and efforts are worth.
In anyway, all services included in the list are fairly easy to use. Practical standard for this ” fairly easy to use” criteria is that all services included in this list are intuitive enough to work with without buying a book or a manual. You are still encouraged to use web based tutorials and, first of all, read carefully “help” pages and all documentation of services. In the meantime, all services selected for this posting are reasonably simple and need no “rocket science” to learn.
criteria #3: they are really necessary.
All services included in the list are designed for practical use with a purpose of promoting your professional agenda, marketing, personal branding and self promotion. Some tools included in this list are intended for professional networking (LinkedIn , Fashion Industry Network) but some of them (Facebook, Twitter) are social networking sites which could be used for professional networking but were not originally designed for such purpose. My criteria is to include in the list only services which are intended for professional networking or services which are potentially efficient and effective for professional networking .
method of classification:
- tools are listed in the order of their importance as I see it according to criteria listed above
- I separated tools into three groups :
- must haves
- discretionary tools
- tools to consider with caution
- each service included in this list will have a special overview. The purpose of this post is a “big picture” , a context in which you can see hierarchy of services and potential of their joint usage.
- all “how to use” , “advantages” and “disadvantages” notes are limited to the potential in fashion professional networking. In other words, the purpose of this comparison is not to compare these services from all possible points of view, but from professional networking point of view only.
Must have tools:
Tool # 1: WordPress.com
Genuinely free, state of the art blogging/hosting platform which is the best free social networking service around.
website features include :
- excellent built-in statistics and analytics – counters of hits and visitors, showing referral links, where your visitors came from, breaking down data posting by posting ( separate statistics for each posting ) and much more
- features which allow you to include all necessary metadata when you post your images to make images more searchable on the web
- very effective tagging of the posts, a feature which increases traffic on the blog significantly
- allows multiple pages (although additional pages are limited, they are still extremely useful)
how to use: you can post your portfolio with your commentary, make a professional blog with your vision of fashion industry, or combine those two making it essentially a substitute of your personal website
Tool # 2: LinkedIn
Superb professional networking tool which allows you to present your resume.
Disadvantages: it does not have any portfolio presentational features, so it works the best only for fashion professionals who already have visuals and portfolio posted somewhere else and can include a link to portfolio from LinkedIn profile.
How to use: create account with a resume and all required features, get endorsements and recommendations as well as participate in professional groups. This will kill two birds with one stone: keep you up to day on what is going on in your niche of the industry and will give you necessary professional exposure. Features such as “my website”, “my portfolio” , “my company” offer you opportunity to create outbound links to your portfolio website and/or your personal website . You have to have them to make the most of Linked In membership. This problem could be solved quickly and with no unnecessary expenses by using WordPress.com blog/blogs (read the portion about wordpress.com).
Tool # 3: Flickr
Flickr originated as online photo management and photo sharing site but it definitely grew into a phenomenally powerful and easy to use portal for sharing any visuals including illustration , art and video. Unlike LinkedIn, Flickr is not intended as a professional tool so you have to “reinvent” Flickr to be effective in your professional networking efforts . Good news is that Flickr could be easily used as a professional networking tool because it has all necessary features for that:
on Flickr you can
- create and maintain contacts
- you can participate in groups by interest and make your visuals available on the web ( photos of your designs, or your styling photos as well as images of your fashion illustration projects)
- collect endorsements and testimonials
- organize your Flickr visuals in albums and collections and use it as an extended portfolio when you need it.
Your visuals from Flickr are easy to integrate in a variety of other social networking services
how to use : put your portfolio on the site, organize it in collections and submit into relevant groups. Make a link to your Flickr page from your linked in account and WordPress.com blog.
Tool # 4: Fashion industry network: is a “fashion industry LinkedIn”. Despite the fact that it is less powerful than LinkedIn , due to the very fact that it is strictly fashion oriented makes it a must have for a fashion professional. Also, since it is genuinely free, it is essential for any fashion professional to have a FIN account. This service is easy to use, easy to maintain and it could be extremely useful for fashion professional networking.
how to use: FIN offers all essential professional networking tools ( groups , contacts ,résumé , links to portfolio and personal websites) and ,what is very important, you are updated via email with news about all relevant contacts which makes networking process efficient and less time consuming.
Create account , sign up for relevant groups , post your resume and links to your portfolio ( wordpress.com blog , Flickr gallery), participate in relevant discussions.
useful discretionary tools to consider if you have time and interest
Tool # 5: Blogger.com
Another state of the art genuinely free and very easy to use (easier than wordpress.com) blogging service.
disadvantages:
- there are no embedded statistics and analytics tools (however, you can set up Google Analytics which allows you to track statistics but it requires special efforts while wordpress.com has that functionality built-in)
- tags for your posts on blogger.com are much less effective than tags on wordpress.com.
Obviously, Blogger.com is an excellent service that has its own advantages and it makes perfect sense to have both wordpress.com and blogger.com powered blogs/websites. The thorough side by side comparison of blogger.com and wordpress.com could be found on the web . My commentary is limited in scope by application in fashion professional networking only.
Tool # 6: Squidoo
Very interesting concept which allows you to create a hybrid of a blog and a small website ( they call it “lens”) which could be an excellent hub incorporating links and blurbs of all your other networking instruments. You can have all updates from your blogs, slideshows from you Flickr account in one place.
Squidoo lens could be an excelled networking tool of its own because Squidoo is a community and any lens is appealing not only to web in general but to relevant groups and audiences of Squidoo members.
Squidoo lens could be at the very least an excellent traffic driver to your blog or Flickr gallery, or, at its best, an excelled networking tool by itself.
Disadvantage of Squidoo is that this service offers extremely limited control of appearance of your lens.
Tool # 7: Slideshare.com
Very interesting concept which is a sort of “Slideshow Flickr” which allows you to post your PPT presentation or PDF on the web. It is a relatively new service and I personally did not have time yet to use it effectively , however I am going to do so. So far it seems that a slideshow posted on the slide share is very visible on the web and that the slideshow is an excellent vehicle for a fashion portfolio. So, two plus two together it seems like a promising service which yet has to be tested in action for fashion networking.
Tool # 8: Facebook
Most commonly used social networking service, could be an effective social networking tool if used properly. Options for creating your own page (not just a Facebook profile), creating groups and participating in groups offer some potential for professional networking.
However, it is very difficult (although, not impossible) to get through Facebook “noise” with a meaningful professional message, so I would consider a Facebook page (do not confuse with a Facebook profile) as a secondary and optional way to reinforce your professional networking efforts.
Tool # 9: Twitter
Is a very effective micro blogging and social networking tool of keeping your audience informed about your new updates. As I see it, Twitter is effective when/if you have already established an audience that maintains interest in what you do. It is hardly a starting point for a professional networking and may be considered as another supplemental tool which could amplify your overall professional networking efforts.
tools to consider with caution:
Tool # 10 Style portfolios.
Advantages:
Excellent concept of fashion portfolio site where portfolios are posted across of fashion industry niches and fairly well categories by these niches.
Placing together jobseekers and prospective employers creates excellent potential for both.
Disadvantages: it is not really free. Even worse than that, it is unpredictable in its policy: “DURING OUR GRAND RE-LAUNCH, ALL PORTFOLIOS ARE FREE! WE WILL CONTACT YOU WHEN THE FREE PERIOD ENDS. CANCEL AT ANY TIME.” What this practically means is that at anytime the site owners can approach you with a bill and you will have to either take off your portfolio (to which you possibly pointed a lot of links) or you will have to pay a fee.
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