There are a lot of articles out there that will tell you what not to have up on social media. For some, it’s for security reasons, for others it’s about landing a job. I want to explain why you should have social media on the mind and what it takes to build your own brand.
That’s right, you’re a brand. Think of any iconic company out there and your mind will flash to elements of their brand. Be it a logo, tagline or slogan, the brand is what’s memorable. If you’re out in the market looking for a new position, new clients or a new profession, you need to think about how to brand yourself. Are you the stalwart professional who does it by the book and gets the job done? Are you the wacky creative who flies by the seat of his pants but still manages to turn out brilliant work while defying authority?
These things matter. When branding yourself professionally during a job search, you have to be true to who you are or you could potentially end up in a bad situation for you and the employer (see last month’s posts for examples).
So, how do your begin to develop a brand for yourself that will help you get the job? Here come the bullet points:
-
- Make sure your email isn’t something like Corona_luvr@hotmail.com. There are so many things wrong with that I don’t even know where to start.
- Your profile shouldn’t be a picture of you at a bar, setting something on fire or any combination of those two things. Candid is fine, tacky isn’t.
- Be prepared to offer fresh content via a blog that isn’t just what you ate for lunch. Let employers know that you have the brains to do the job.
- Be consistent. We all have mood swings when it’s a good day or a bad day, but your online brand should be solid as a rock.
- Deal with your past. This could mean going through years worth of social media content and deleting posts where you ranted about your boss or shared how messed up your weekend was. It’s got to go.
That’s just to get the creation of your brand started. What happens once you get all that sorted and ready to roll? You’ve got to keep building it and manage your reputation carefully. Look at it like this: Paris Hilton is still getting work, which means someone out there is doing what they can do to polish that girl’s rep. Time to do the same for yourself.
- Google yourself and your business name (if you’re a freelancer). You have to know what is out there and being said about you.
- Ask past coworkers/clients for recommendations and reviews. LinkedIn has this built in, but you can put them elsewhere as well.
- Learn to become politically agnostic. We live in a weird time when it comes to politics, but who knows what your potential bosses and coworkers think, so for now? Keep a lid on it.
This type of stuff takes time and dedication. Many people start strong and then let the effort fade away, but if you’re serious about your job search or in an field where staying on top of things like social media matters, then this is where the race is won or lost.
Next up will be the grandfather to many of these social media sites: your portfolio of work. Before social media there were rarely places where you could leave yourself as open as a portfolio.
See you next week!
No comments:
Post a Comment