When used correctly, social media can be a valuable means of networking—especially during a job search. However, if you are sending the wrong message with your social media profiles it can damage your career.
Here are 3 ways to optimize your social media outlets for professional networking:
1. Build a personal brand
Your personal brand is the persona you share on social media. You may not purposely build an online image, but viewers still form one. They create this image based on what you post. Start building a personal brand by being intentional with your online content. From pictures to posts, share the best and most professional version of yourself. Keep your message consistent across all profiles to strengthen your image. This gives employers and connections a clear sense of who you are.
2. Complete Your Profiles
One of the quickest ways to create an unpolished profile is to have incomplete information. Understandably, you may not want to disclose everything about yourself online; however, filling in your professional information will help with networking opportunities. Additionally, if you are applying for jobs and an employer checks out your profiles only to see that they are half filled out they may suspect that you have something to hide. Maintaining complete, up-to-date information on your social media outlets is the best way to make the most of them.
If you don’t have any social media profiles, now is a good time to sign up! Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are all beneficial for professional networking.
3. Refine Your Information & Pictures
Perhaps you are a social media veteran, with profiles you have updated for years. In this case polishing your profiles means combing through all of your information and photographs to remove anything that could be construed as unprofessional. When looking through everything you’ve uploaded keep in mind the message each article of information is sending, and strive to convey your best, most professional self. With more and more employers checking out job applicants online, one of the easiest ways to take yourself out of the running for a position is to have unprofessional, insensitive, or sloppy pictures or posts online.
Social media is a powerful tool when used correctly, and polishing your profiles will set you up for career-building success.