At one time, social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, to name just a few, were for the younger crowd. They have grown in popularity over the years, and now millions of people of all ages and backgrounds around the globe use these sites to stay connected, to network, and more. As a mystery shopper, you may be wondering just how such sites can help you out with your job.
Making Connections. Provided you don’t put anything too personal on such sites, you may consider using these sites as a way to make and strengthen connections. Many mystery shoppers get to know their fellow mystery shoppers through regular interactions on mystery shopping forums, and you may have met others at mystery shopping training courses, conventions, and more, too. The fact is that your industry connections can really provide you with a solid avenue to get assistance, feedback, and more when you need it, and these social networking sites provide you with a great way to really get to know the mystery shoppers who you have already met elsewhere just a little better.
Professional Relationships. You may not think much about your need to deepen and strengthen your professional relationships with your mystery shopping providers, but the fact is that many experienced mystery shoppers do got some perks because they are well known to their providers. It is, after all, the seasoned, experienced mystery shoppers who have proven themselves to their providers and who their providers trust who get the plum assignments. These are assignments that often don’t even hit the job boards for the average mystery shopper to take a stab at. You can use social networking sites to make yourself more well known to your providers so you have a shot at these assignments, too.
A Word of Warning. As with any mention of social networking sites, you do want to proceed with using these sites with a bit of caution. Knowing people through forums and working on assignments, including both fellow mystery shoppers and those at the providers’ offices alike, doesn’t necessarily mean you know these people enough to trust them with your most personal of information. For this reason, you may want to set up a separate account for the business side of your life and keep your personal life out of the picture. You will also want to avoid including any personal information such as your home address, your phone number, information about your family, and so forth on sites that you allow others you don’t know very well to access. While there are some dangers to be aware of, you likely will find that the benefits should be taken advantage of albeit with an ounce of precaution.
As you can see, social networking sites, when used properly, can indeed help you to further your career as a mystery shopper. Go ahead and take a closer look at what you can do with these sites today, and then start putting these useful tools to use to further your mystery shopping career!
Iwould love to work for mysteryshop..
A very thoughtful article.
It would seem that more caution should be used because of the nature of Social Networks. True, security levels can be set, however, what ever is posted to be viewed is “public” and may be viewed by a public whom you do not wish to view it. The potential is there to blow your cover as a Mystery Shopper, especially in a small community. It seems to me that the potential hazzards would outway the potential benefits.