Change the way you think about social media

You're using it personally, you're using it to share photos, to stay in touch with family, you're tweeting while you're watching TV shows—at least, that's what I like to do. But there's also big potential professionally, and that goes beyond just thinking of LinkedIn. The truth is, there's also a lot of potential on Facebook or through Twitter. One of my favorite things on Facebook is using Facebook groups to connect with other professionals. There's a ton of different groups for every interest, but there's also a lot of industry-related groups. I'm in some different PR and marketing groups. There's a ton for small businesses and entrepreneurs, which I am as well. It's such a great way to meet other professionals, whether you're starting out looking for a new job and you want to meet new people, or you want to connect with them and say, “Hey, can you give me some insight into a day in the life of your job?”

I think taking a step back and thinking about how we think about social media has a lot of potential. Another place to connect with professionals and talk about different industry specific topics is Twitter chats. You can hop in and learn a lot, and it also gives you the opportunity to reach out to other people. These kinds of groups are taking a bigger audience and breaking them down into groups that you're interested in. Whenever you have a smaller group of people, it's so much easier and less intimidating to network or at least start following people. It's a really great place to find other people that you probably might not have come across their path otherwise. Change your perspective; do more than just post photos and share updates about different things.

Clean up!

Now that you’re changing the way you're thinking about social media, we're going to talk about cleaning up your photos. Take a peek at your accounts and see what you're really putting out there. Pay attention to your privacy controls. One thing I like to think about is, if I don't want my grandparents to see it, then I probably don't want to share it publicly. I look at people's social media accounts when I'm hiring. If I'm going to trust you with a client's account down the road, I want to make sure you can handle your own.

These days, you never know what is going to get screenshotted. You never know what crazy Facebook thread will go viral. You need to be careful about what you're putting out there, but also know what you're commenting on. You never know who knows other people as well, so it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Use discretion

Keep your interview process or job offer off social media. Of course you're excited looking for a job or you might have got a job offer. If you want to share with your friends and family that's great, but don't share it on social media. One good example of why is when I was at a lifestyle PR agency and was in charge of our internship program, and also did hiring for our department of social media. We're always looking at social media accounts, though at the end of the day it's kind of the last thing we'd take a peek at just to see what kind of stuff they're interested in. We're not just trying to dig up dirt on people—that’s definitely not the goal—but especially working in social media I want to see if you're interested in social media, interested in PR, tweeting about things, or sharing on your social media accounts.

One example is when we were down to the wire and ready to pull the trigger on hiring someone. When I went through some of their accounts, one of the girls had been tweeting this other company every single day, “I really want to work for you…are you guys hiring?” So she was really amped about that company and you know, at the end of the day, you might not be at our company forever, but I want someone who is super excited about our company and not just looking for their next step. I can kind of relate this to dating, in a way. You go on first dates to see if you're interested or first dates with a couple of different people but you're probably not telling them, “I had a first date with this other person.” You might be seeing what's out there and what is best for you, but keep it under wraps. Businesses don't necessarily want to see that, and the flip side is, you can get a job offer, and maybe you haven't signed papers yet, but people have had their job offers revoked because they shared information that technically they weren't supposed to yet. I think we're so trigger-happy and we want to post exciting things on social media, but do keep some things off until papers are signed, you've got your offer, and you're in your first day.

Something you should look into are your employment agreements. Some places do have social media clauses now, which say some projects can’t be talked about publicly. Be aware of what you're posting, and be careful what you're posting from work. You don't want to get in, excited about the job, and then get axed because you didn't read fine print on your contract.

Personal branding

You’re talking about how you’re presenting yourself to the world. I do branding for other business at Bold & Pop. It's really about how you want to be presented. Look at yourself like you are a business. What do you want to be known as an expert for? What kind of things are you going to be talking about? Use the things you've learned in college or your internships and present those features to the world. It's really about how other people see you and how you’re presenting yourself. It’s the big picture of personal branding in general.

Build your online portfolio

As you look for jobs, it’s really about how you can set yourself apart more than anything. In such a crowded industry, how do you set yourself apart so you can actually land those jobs? Really, it’s about presenting yourself. It's become a lot easier to develop personal websites through Wix or Square Space. There's a ton of different portfolio building websites, and even as you're early on, it's about taking the experiences you had throughout your education that you can apply to your career. To get past the resume pile, having a website that allows you to show people that you really are interested and paying attention to what's going on and how it's applicable to the industry. The best part about that is if you're a writing blog post on your website, then you can also share that on social media.

Even if you're early on, show your passion. Employers want to see what you know. It all ties back to being professional on social media. If you have some kind of website, that's great, because it gives people a chance to get to know you a little better. If you come in for an interview, and you've gotten past my resume pile, I've looked at your website, read your last five blog posts, already feel like I know you and you're paying attention.