 Live from Las Vegas, Nevada, it's The Cube at IBM Interconnect 2015 brought to you by headline sponsor IBM. IBM Interconnect in Las Vegas, Nevada, this is Cube on the ground and I'm here with Jeff Sheehan, he's one of the VIP influencers for IBM and we're here just talking about social media for business. So Jeff, can you tell me a little bit about how you became a VIP influencer and your realm in social media in general? Basically I've been involved in heavily in social media for the last five and a half years. I've been a marketing sales for over three decades, worked with some of the world's largest companies including IBM, Intel, Hewlett Packet, Apple to name a few. And so what I've been doing is just building my network in a brand. I have over 300,000 followers now on Twitter so I've been aggressive in that area. I also linked them and I've been teaching LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Google for the job search. Social selling, spoken at numerous conferences throughout the U.S. in that area. I have a radio talk show, Tech Marketing, and interview people from tech companies, marketing challenges and what tools and solutions that they suggest to their particular compatriots and what have you within the tech space. And also I run a career ministry in Atlanta to help jobs, seek as fine jobs, all volunteer effort, but just to help facilitate that. Sounds like you're doing a lot. Yes, correct. Awesome. So you mentioned something that I found interesting, using social media to find a job, is that correct? Yes, correct. Can you talk a little bit more about that and some methods that people can use that? You'd be surprised that the number of people out there really don't know how to use social media. They don't know how to use it to facilitate getting a job or connecting with the right people. I come across hundreds if not thousands of people really have no clue how to use these tools. They think they can sit behind a desk all day and get a job. I mean, applying through the job boards and what have you. But they need to take the initiative to go out and position themselves in social media and go out and be found from an inbound perspective and also to use the tools to well facilitate face-to-face meetings with potential hiring managers to on acquisition managers at respective companies. So very, very useful as far as making connections. I mean, I know in my particular case, I've made tremendous connections and that's one of the reasons I'm here now because of the fact that after building a network and social media, IBM invited me to come to this meeting in a meeting last November to talk about some of their challenges and what they're trying to do and help facilitate some dissemination of the information pertaining to the conference and that. So very, very helpful. However, it's not a panacea. You have to use them as tools to get out there to meet people and create those relationships. What are some of the best tools that people can use? Which networks? I mean, the number one business tool is by far LinkedIn as far as connectivity. However, Twitter is a great tool for driving demand and driving awareness for yourself and making connections that you can take through to LinkedIn to email, excuse me, to phone calls in their face-to-face meetings. And it's happened to me, I've met people throughout the world. I had either Skype conference calls with them, I met face-to-face and I was just explaining the young lady earlier today, is I've met as far away as Phnom Penh, Cambodia, where I had a face-to-face meeting with someone I had met on Twitter and this young guy was actually one of the top entrepreneurs in all of Asia. And I would never have discovered that if I hadn't been through social media. So very, very effective tool for building awareness and creating connections with people. Yeah, definitely. So you mentioned you have over 300,000 followers on Twitter. How can we find you on Twitter? How do you say that, how do you recommend other Twitter handles and other people to get more influencers or more followers? Basically, my Twitter handle is at Jeff Shen, J-E-F-F-S-H-E-E-H-A-N. And as far as getting followers, I mean, it's been a long process. It hasn't happened overnight. I've worked my tail off with regard to that. But finding the right people, producing content that people, that will resonate with people. I publish a lot of articles pertaining to marketing, social media, PR, as well as I create my own quotes and republish quotations from others. It helps motivate people, inspire people, and people generally like that. And I've created a network throughout the world and again I've made some tremendous connections as a result. Awesome. So what else are you working on outside of social media and IBM? I'm working on another book and maybe a second book after that with one of the topics of the book. One is with regard to millennials' fresh outs, with regard to that and taking the material we currently have in the existing book and using some of that for that millennium book. And then also something back in marketing. That was my original intent with regard to the Twitter network, is to have a network for distributing the book. It was focused on marketing, but it kind of got away from me due to my volunteer efforts in the job search arena and using content from that to produce the book, which again, it's feeling significant. It's about 330 pages. So it's not a lightweight e-book or whatever. It's very substantive with regard to an A to Z of the job search process. Awesome. So you're kind of always doing some market research on social media, how it works, best practices, etc. What are some best practices for social media? I think being engaged is one, but continue to work and be consistent with your approach. Connect with the right people, follow the right people. They're going to engage with you accordingly. And I try to, my follower to follow, following to follow ratio is fairly consistent. I believe in connecting with almost anyone that reaches out to me as long as they're not a bot. Because in fact, you never know who you're going to meet that might help facilitate an introduction to another person accordingly. Or might have some ideas that can possibly translate into opportunities for yourself or others that you know. And I try to make connections to help other people find jobs or find opportunities that can really help deal life better. I'm in a stage of my life where I can afford to do that and try to help others and pay it back, pay it forward accordingly. You know, I was blessed with a long career in the high-tech industry and I'm quite fortunate to regard that. Awesome. So what are some ways you actually do interact with these new followers, some methods that you take? I try to thank them for following me when I can. I try to mention them, try to retweet their materials. Connect with them on LinkedIn. And then I carry it through the emails or phone calls and face-to-face meetings when I can. For instance, one young, one lady I discovered, she's a singer. She's actually in Belfast in London, Ireland. And she sounds exactly like Sarah Brightman. She's phenomenal, but relatively undiscovered. Another gentleman that is associated with her, he's in the Channel Islands in England. He's actually handicapped. He's in the wheelchair, but he's phenomenal voice. And so people like that, you can discover incredible people with all kinds of talent throughout the world that you can help facilitate, maybe them becoming discovered accordingly. If you put some effort into trying to create some outreach for them and connecting them with other people. Awesome. So it's a lot of fun. Very, very enjoyable. I have a real passion for it. I'm working 16, 17 hours a day on this, because I have such a passion for it. In Toronto, we have so many of those connections in that. I have my radio show, one gentleman I met, his name is David Bradford. And I hope all of you listen and follow him. It's at David Bradford on Twitter. He's a philanthropist. He's an executive chairman of a company called Hireview, which is in Salt Lake City. He considers himself one of the most connected people in the world. He wrote a book called Opry again, and Larry King wrote the forward for it. Eric Schmidt is quoted in it, chairman of Google, and Steve Wozniak is also someone else who's within the book itself. But I met this gentleman through Twitter by following him and following back and retweeting him. Went through to LinkedIn, connected with him on email and the phone call. He was a guest on my radio show last fall, but phenomenal down-to-earth individual, and he's so well connected. And I think everyone should really follow this guy and take the lead with what he's been able to do. Also, he was with Meg Whitman, he was the finance chairman of Mitt Romney's last presidential campaign. It just shows you the kind of people that you can meet if you really work Twitter and some of the other tools that are out there in social media. Now, if you peel back the onion back a few years ago, before Twitter, before LinkedIn and that, there's no way that I could possibly met someone with his stature on the scheme of things, unless I happen to sit next to an airport or sit next to a plane or whatever. But through these tools, you can make those connections which will really help you tremendously or help others with regard to that. I'm trying to make connections with him, with other people that can perhaps benefit from an association with him, or he can benefit accordingly with that. Great. That's what it's all about. Awesome. Well, I found you on Twitter and pinged you there, so we definitely know it's a great tool. So thanks for talking to us today. It was great having you on here. Wait, here's the... I'd like to give you this. It looks like he's written a book, so check that out. You want to...? So where can people find this book? It's on Amazon. Great. And it's called Hired. Yes. So if you guys are looking for a job, go read this book and get some great tools to find jobs online, some good methods. Awesome. Ariana, and I'm Ariana Agrado here, and you're watching The Cube.