Improve your social media presence to maximize positive exposure to your profile. Whether you have embraced social media in your professional life or not, the fact is, it plays a large role in how candidates find new roles and companies advertise for talent.
LinkedIn and Twitter are two common networking platforms but others exist as well. Quite often I come across profiles on LinkedIn showing a photo of someone holding a fish they caught; at a party with the background cropped; or profile information with spelling errors haphazardly put together. You may have entered your information some time ago without giving it a lot of thought or didn’t understand the impact it may have on your future success.
Take some time to enhance your social media presence and profiles. Update them utilizing the tips below and get noticed.
Some tips for what a solid professional networking profile should contain.
- Show a professional picture in your profile – Along with your name, this is the first impression of you for many. Show a picture that exhibits professionalism and stimulates interest. You will never know the missed opportunities that you may otherwise have been exposed to without a professional photo.
- Create a meaningful, concise summary of your background and goals to exhibit your professional demeanor and attention to detail.
- Update your experience profile. Your resume is a good source for this content. Update your profile periodically as you make updates to your resume.
- Make professional comments and postings that are appropriate to the content that serves to exhibit your expertise in your professional area.
- Connect with leaders in companies that you would like to work for and help them to see that you are open to opportunities.
- Recruiters tend to get some of the best positions. Make sure that they are aware of your interests in new opportunities as well.
Whatever your goals are for your future whether you are looking to stay in your current company and climb the ladder or looking for new opportunities, improve your social media presence. Take it seriously, you never know who is looking or what might drive your next opportunity!