Last week, I wrote about hearing John Jantsch speak during his recent visit to Atlanta. (John  is the author of Duct Tape Marketing and the soon to be released, The Referral Engine.) He pointed out a hierarchy of the customer’s experience as marketers see it:

People must KNOW – LIKE and TRUST you…This leads them to:

TRY – BUY – REPEAT – REFER

To sell, you must “create a better customer experience,” which helps solve lead generation issues for those who are seeking customers and clients. Clearly, these marketing fundamentals now rely on creating necessary feelings of trust and encouraging people to try and buy via online channels. It is no surprise that being online and establishing a presence there (in what John calls the “free real estate”), helps move people through the necessary channels for success today.

However, Jantsch made an important point:

“The fundamentals of marketing have not changed,” despite the fact that the tools are different.

I thought that was such an interesting point, and one that is often overlooked. Yes, the mechanisms have evolved and the ways to connect and establish “deeper relationships” are different today than even a year or two ago. (Twitter, anyone?) However, the main points are not different. The  idea is to establish relationships and trust. That is an age-old goal for anyone selling something.

The same is true of job search. I recently helped a client who works in a marketing capacity. He refuses to embrace the “free real estate” of social media for his job hunt, insisting that he does not want to be too self-promotional. This was surprising, coming from a marketing professional, and frustrating for me. I worry that he is approaching his search with only a percentage of what he needs to be successful.

Many of you probably also bristle at all of this “social media for the job search” talk. You may remember a time when all you needed to do was send out a resume, make a few calls, and you would be hired. Unfortunately, those days are over. But, one thing has NOT changed…To easily land, you needed to be able to make a few calls. Today, a “few calls” may translate into having several hundred followers/friends on Twitter, many hundreds of connections on LinkedIn and a professional Facebook page that allows you to leverage relationships with long-lost high school friends and new contacts all in one place.

Having an optimized resume is crucial, but adding a layer – a “social” or online version that is more interactive and allows readers to dig deeper is becoming more important. Just a cover letter was the norm. Now, your calling card may be a blog.

John said it well – “How you move HAS changed, but the point is to create awareness.” That has ALWAYS been the point of job search.

John suggests engaging in social media with this in mind:

• Listen first
• Claim your free real estate
• Publish content – or limit your ability to succeed.

For job seekers, I’d suggest thinking the same way. Connecting and building relationships has always been the point. Yes, there are a lot more ways to get there today. To be successful and efficient, you want to build deeper relationships and expand your network beyond your immediate circle. I cannot think of a better way than by engaging in social media.

Think about it this way: If you needed to get from your home to a friend’s house, and the only way was through treacherous traffic, wouldn’t you appreciate a new bridge that could take you directly there, bypassing the aggravation of bumper-to-bumper cars?

Think of social media as your bridge. If you stay in traffic, it’s going to take you a lot longer to get where you want to go.