Chapter 2: Social Media as a Professional

As I was reading Section 3 of Chapter 2 of Charello’s Essentials of Social Media Marketing, I learned about building my personal brand online. Two big components of building an online brand are LinkedIn and Twitter. LinkedIn is the biggest professional network, so looking for job or career opportunities will be greatly impacted by one’s LinkedIn profile. There are a few things that should be completed to have a proper LinkedIn profile. The first is a profile picture. According to Hebberd, a LinkedIn profile with a profile picture is seven times more likely to be found than a profile without a profile picture. The next important feature is the headline. This is a short blurb to describe oneself. Many people will simply put their job title or description here, but it should be more than that. It is an opportunity to quickly describe yourself as a professional as well as your aspirations to help differentiate yourself from the rest. The next section, the about section, is similar to the headline. However, it allows for a more longform description about oneself, his or her education, work experience, and aspirations. The final important area is the work experience section. This is where all prior work experience goes. Each experience should include details on work responsibilities, and don’t be afraid to go into details. If someone is already interested in your profile enough to look at your work experience, building yourself up in these positions will do anything but hurt you.

As I read through this section, I realized that I have a bad LinkedIn profile. I have filled out the education, work experience, and license and certification sections but none of the rest. I will have to be sure to get a professional headshot taken to use as a profile picture. I will also have to write up content the headline and about sections. The book also suggested posting between four and seven times per week. I have never posted on LinkedIn before, so that may be harder to correct.

The next half of Section 3 was about Twitter use. Twitter, like LinkedIn, can be used professionally. I have never considered Twitter to be a platform for professionals, but the book does bring up some good points. Twitter absolutely can be used to share more real-time updates and show interest in industry related news. However, one’s profile must be optimized to be a professional’s profile. This can be done by using the same profile picture as on LinkedIn to establish the connection to a more professional oriented website. Next, one’s bio should be written similarly to the headline on LinkedIn. However, this will likely need to be modified due to the length limitations of Twitter. Including keywords in the bio is generally a good idea as it will assist in appearing in relevant search results.

After reading through the section on Twitter I realized that I should make a professional Twitter account, and actually use it. I have a personal account, but I have only tweeted twice in the four years I have had it, not the one to five times per day as suggested in the book. I also would prefer that a potential employer not see it, simply because it is unprofessional, not that it is explicitly bad.