[A version of this article first appeared on the Regis University Career Services blog.] If you’re looking for a job or looking to develop yourself professionally, social media can be a powerful tool. Part 1 of this trilogy will examine the process for personal branding and marketing yourself as an expert in your field/industry by setting up an online presence for your social media activity.
Here is a quick, three-step process to get started.
Step 1 – Establish a home base for your online activity. This can be a website or a blog. The idea is that this home base houses your content, which you can then share on social media sites to expand your voice and reach. Check out free blog hosting sites at WordPress, Blogger (owned by Google), Typepad or Posterous (recently acquired by Twitter), along with the microblogging site, along Tumblr. To take it one step further, secure a domain in your name and then operate your blog on one of these platforms to give yourself even greater validity.
Step 2 – Determine your voice. You can become an subject expert and create content about the most current trends and news within your industry and field. Topic ideas could include writing about what’s on the horizon within your field or taking a look back at its history and how that’s impacted the trends of today. Whatever your voice is, make sure it’s interesting and keep it professional. You want to keep content within your industry because that’s where you want to work or grow within. If it’s a field you want to work in someday, that’s fine too.
Step 3 – Make your online presence interactive and visual. Articles that include reference links, pictures, videos, and audio files have been proven to have a higher level of engagement over those that are just text. Internet users have no patience; they need multimedia to keep their interest.
This is just Part 1 of this 3-part series. Check back for Part 2 next week!
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