You might not have considered it, but social media can boost your career. Pinterest isn't just for your secret travel board and not-so-secret cupcake obsession, and Twitter isn't just for stalking your favorite beauty bloggers. These social media sites can be real game changers when it comes to boosting your career and making connections. For example, photo sharing sites like Instagram can help spread the word over your artistic abilities or keep followers up to date on how you're developing your skills, and platforms like Twitter can help you create real connections with go-getters you admire or higher-ups you one day hope will interview you.
But even if you're aware of the potential of your social media handles, are you doing anything that'll help you get noticed? The great thing about social media is that we're all on there because of one thing: We're nosey. We want to know what you're up to, what the world's up to, what's changing, what's growing, and what's becoming interesting. And you can answer all those questions while adding in a humblebrag all at once, if you do it right. Below are seven ways you should update your social media profiles to boost your career. Whether it's becoming more consistent on your platforms or being more open to how you're growing, each of these will help you get a little closer to your goals.
1. Make All Your Profile Pictures Consistent
This is a small tweak, but it goes the distance: Make sure your profile pictures on all your different sites are the same one. It'll help your fans and followers spot you across different platforms, making it easier for them to pay attention to you.
Social media writer Shane Purnell mentioned to career development site Platform Giant, "The main point is you need to be consistent in how you present yourself online and a series of professional photos across multiple platforms is a great start toward developing a consistent personal brand. Invest a few dollars for a signature photo or two."
If you have the same picture spanning across every account you're active with, you're building yourself a recognizable image.
2. Share Your Latest Projects
If you're working on something big or new that you're proud of, share it with your people! Put it up on your portfolio website, add a line about it on your Twitter profile, or share a series of photos on Instagram. Maybe create a mood board on Pinterest that centers around it, or share articles on Twitter that have to do with the same topic. The point here is to toot your own horn, but also appear resourceful at the same time.
Career advice writer Corie Hengst at career-development site Levo suggested, "Even when you stay at the same job for quite some time, you’re constantly learning and doing new things — so make sure your page reflects that! Add a line to your profile any time you...wrap up a big project that you’re proud of accomplishing." The people that follow you are interested in what you're up to, so share!
3. Ask For Recommendations And Then Share Them
If you have people singing your praises, ask them to put it down on paper. If someone really connected with your article, retweet what they wrote. If a client was thrilled with your graphic design, share your work with their opinion as a caption on Instagram. The point is, capture the praise and share it with your community.
Hengst offered, "So, a client or coworker is raving about your performance on a recent project or at a recent event. Would she be willing to commit her kind words to writing in a short recommendation?" And ask them to be as specific as possible — well thought out, specific comments add so much more weight than general "she did great" ones.
4. Become Known As An Expert
If you want people to pay attention to you on social media, then you have to be a resource to them. It can't just be a parade of your achievements — they're going to need something back. So share interesting and relevant articles on your industry, share photos that are eye-catching and pertinent, and do it over and over and over again to the point where your followers expect that kind of helpful content from you.
Dan Schawbel is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, told Mashable, "You have to start generating a lot of content, either written, audio, video or all three. It also requires you to become a resource and a valuable contributor to your community."
You'll become the go-to in your community, and you'll attract like-minded followers and industry workers that could help you grow and expand.
5. Stay In Touch With Your Followers
Remember, your social profiles can't be all about you. Instead, take an interest and build relationships on your platforms.
Hengst recommended, "Did a connection add a new job to her profile? Comment on the update or send her a congratulatory message." It can be as easy as replying to a tweet, commenting on a few Instagram photos, or sharing an article and tagging someone in it — all these ideas help you become closer to people, which can lead to referrals, collaborations, and new hires!
6. Create Tribes
If you want to get serious on connections, start beefing up your follow list with people that you admire, look up to, or can learn from. Create your tribes and become friendly with the people in them — you never know who can offer you an opportunity or who can teach you something new.
Schaebel shared with Forbes, "Focus first on finding a community of colleagues and mentors. Review your mentors’ Twitter lists, see who other people are following, use Twitter’s suggestions of whom to follow, and use WeFollow and Listorious to identify new contacts."
Twitter's suggestions are especially helpful — you can easily find popular people in your industry, conferences and networking groups, and in-common connections through that feature. Mine through it and you can stumble upon your next break.
7. Follow People Who Show You Love
If someone keeps retweeting you, constantly commenting on your Instagram photos or repinning your projects, then you have a fan. Keep them close and show them love! According to entrepreneur writer Belle Beth Cooper at business-development site Fast Company, "Just by monitoring mentions of my username, I can find people who are interested in the posts I write, and then quickly follow them or favorite their Tweet." They're interested in what you do or appreciate your talents, which means they'd probably be quick to recommend you if the opportunity arose.
Show them some love and let them know you're open to collaborations or being referred out — you never know where they can pass your name.
Images: lichipan/Instagram
