Branding via Twitter lands Boston PR pro a new job in Naples

A few months ago, Shannon Palmer was a Boston-based public relations professional working for a mid-size agency, who desperately wanted to relocate to Southwest Florida. Not wanting to offend her employer by posting a resume online, she instead looked to the social media tools she used every day for the benefit of her clients.

“It’s such a powerful networking tool, and I needed to aggressively network from afar,” she says.

Her approach was two-fold: Create a Twitter account that still allowed her to be herself but under a name that would be difficult for colleagues and management to know it was her; and create a LinkedIn account where she could post her work experience, her education and her skills.

Her Twitter name included the place she wanted to move to and the industry she wanted to work in. She then began

to follow public relations pros, marketing and human resources folks and many Southwest Florida businesses, as well as any and every account that posted job

In her profile, she made it known that she was seeking employment in Southwest Florida and that she currently lived in Boston. “I tried to be as specific as possible without risking anything,” she explains. She also was cognizant of everything she posted, making sure nothing could be termed as negative.

But as any avid social media buff will tell you, you are best received by others when you provide valuable information rather than outwardly selling yourself or your services. “That’s the most ineffective thing to do, because people get so annoyed with you,” she says.

So, even though Ms. Palmer was actively seeking a job, she didn’t put that message out there right away. Instead, she shared her job-hunting experiences with her followers, which allowed her to connect with fellow job hunters; plus, she posted general statements about the public relations industry to demonstrate that she was knowledgeable about her field.

What transpired was that she found the Social Media Club of Southwest Florida on Twitter and was invited to join its steering committee. When she flew down in July for the club’s official launch party, she met someone from Jaguar Data Systems, a local company that has provided strategic marketing services to businesses for more than 20 years. The next day as she flew back to Boston, she was entertaining a job offer.

Today she is Jaguar’s social media marketing manager and is living in Naples, all thanks to social media.

But as she points out, what made her efforts so successful was that she approached it with a very succinct strategy.

“I didn’t just tweet every day about random things. That’s what made it so effective,” she says. “I watched everything I said, and I branded myself.” 