Laura Gainor Utilizing Social Media = HIRED at Comet Branding

March 10th, 2010 | By Laura Gainor | Posted In: General

I am honored to introduce myself to all of you as the PR and Social Media Strategist for Comet Branding. I have had an interesting adventure as to how I landed myself in this position and I wanted to take a moment to fill you in on my story.

After finding out my husband and I were moving from Charlotte to Milwaukee, I decided to use Twitter as a means to reach out and begin communicating with new contacts residing and working in the city. Through my networking, I quickly came to realize who the social media gurus were and what companies were most appealing to me. One that stuck out was Comet Branding. Then to my luck, @cometbranding tweeted about a position on Thursday, February 11, that had recently opened up and my creativity sparked!

I am a huge believer in “things happen for a reason” and “life is about taking risks,” and this is exactly what I sought out to do. Comet Branding posted the PR and Social Media Strategist position opportunity on the same day SquarePik, an iPhone app allowing you to add a photo with each Foursquare check-in, launched itself to the world. I utilized this social media outlet to tell my story as to how, after all of my personal and professional experiences, I thought I would be a good fit to join the Comet Branding team.

With some quick thinking on the night Comet Branding posted the job opportunity, I created their logo as a large poster and took a YouTube video to kick off my #LauraGainorToMilwaukee campaign. My husband and I happened to be leaving for Milwaukee the next day to find a place for us to live. My plan was to bring the Comet Branding logo poster with me on the plane from Charlotte to Milwaukee, where I would capture creative photos of the logo in each venue I checked in at through SquarePik and Foursquare. Throughout the process I strategically tweeted to @cometbranding to notify them of each check-in, hoping to get their attention.

As you checked out #LauraGainorToMilwaukee on Twitter, you could see the full list of my Foursquare/SquarePik check-ins with links to my Pikchur account, featuring creative photos I took with the Comet Branding logo poster at popular venues around Milwaukee. At the same time, it was also a creative way to show my husband around Milwaukee!

After returning to Charlotte that Monday, I looked to create a non-traditional presentation that showcased my social media efforts as to what I did, and how I did it. As I was creating the presentation, Al Krueger and Sara Meaney provided some great feedback after noticing my tweets from over the weekend. I was able to incorporate their immediate feedback into my presentation.

That afternoon, I launched what is now the Slideshare Presentation that got me hired at Comet Branding. Within this presentation I started out with a virtual resume of what I’ve done throughout my career, while also showcasing my creative and strategic talents. The presentation enabled me to tie the #LauraGainorToMilwaukee campaign together as a means to show I wanted to become a part of their team.

Laura Gainor Utilizing Social Media

View more presentations from Laura Gainor.

The reaction was incredible! Within 36 hours the Slideshare presentation had reached over 1,000 views. I was gaining more Twitter followers and people were contacting me as to how I somehow inspired them or wanted to share my story with other job seekers.

SquarePik tweeted: @lauragainor used SquarePik to document her trip 2 Milwaukee http://slidesha.re/c8XJui (slides 24-36) @cometbranding hire her!

Chaos To Clarity featured my presentation as to how job seekers can make the most of social media.

Following the community responses, Comet Branding contacted me to setup a Skype interview from Charlotte! I had a successful, 1-hour-long interview with Al Krueger and Sara Meaney on February 19^th. On March 1^st I arrived in Milwaukee, as promised, and went to their office where I had my second interview and was immediately offered the position!

I feel very honored to have had my first day in my new desk at Comet Branding on Wednesday, March 3^rd. I look forward to being a part of such a growing team and continuing to utilize my knowledge and talents to help our clients grow their brands! It will be an exciting adventure and I invite all of you to stay up to date, via my Flickr account, with daily photos of my experiences of working for Comet Branding. Please be sure to also connect with me on Twitter! @LauraGainor

Laura Gainor

PR + Social Media Strategist. Writes about written and visual content development, community building and other ideas in social media.

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http://www.rebeccamargis.com RebeccaM

As I follow both you and Comet Branding on twitter, it was interesting to see how this transpired over the weeks. You definitely came up with a clever approach and well deserving of the job you now have, congrats!
http://www.slideshare.net/jboutelle Jonathan Boutelle

Congrats Laura! What a heart-warming story… I’m sure you’ll do well in your new job.
http://www.cometbranding.com Laura Gainor

Thank you, Jonathan! I appreciate your comment. I look forward to being a part of the Comet Branding team and continuing my story. Thanks to you and Slideshare!
http://www.cometbranding.com Laura Gainor

Rebecca – thank you for following my story with Comet Branding! I appreciate your kind words. Best wishes to you and I will continue to follow your Tweets!
http://roymorejon.com Roy Morejon

Laura, this really is a great story, and Comet is lucky to have you on board. Congrats and best of luck to you and Brian; Charlotte misses you both!
http://www.cometbranding.com Laura Gainor

Thanks Roy! I appreciate that. It’s great to have gotten in with a great company this quickly. Brian and I have been having a great time in Milwaukee and we miss all of you in Charlotte! Hope all is going well on your end.
http://www.melissabatzner.com MelissaBatzner

Great use of strategic social media. As a soon to be graduate in May, I am looking for ways to differentiate myself and have considered doing a video resume . Any advice on sites?
http://www.cometbranding.com Laura Gainor

HI Melissa. Thank you for the comment. Congratulations on your upcoming graduation! A video resume would be a great way to differentiate yourself. I recommend getting familiar with http://www.vimeo.com and create your own video profile! Best wishes!
http://cometbranding.com/news/?p=447 Milwaukee Business Journal: Online Effort Makes Job Hunter Stand Out (March 15, 2010)

[...] “I am a huge believer in ‘things happen for a reason’ and ‘life is about taking risks,’ and this is exactly what I sought out to do,” she wrote recently on Comet Branding’s blog. [...]
http://jaxseoworks.com/ Ken

Hi Laura!

An impressive display of experience in use of a variety of social media paths to effectively share your passion and talent.
Many articles recommend use of social media to network and build communication, but your article goes on to show how successful it can be. Your article also shares some good examples in a variety of media.
Thank you for sharing your success story and sprinkling it with great examples.
Congratulations.
http://www.cometbranding.com Laura Gainor

Hi Ken! Thank you for your comment on my blog post. There is so much variety in social media and it’s exciting to find creative ways to utilize all of them. Best wishes to you and thanks again!