My work at StraightArrow involves me taking on the role of a social media manager. Some people have asked me, “So you just browse Facebook all day?” while others are baffled or even mystified by the prospect of businesses actually paying people to post updates and share content for them.
To illustrate, let’s use your resume as an example. Your resume functions much like a typical advertisement (such as a billboard, TV commercial); you can hand it out for anyone you seek to introduce yourself to or even impress - potential employers, in particular - for them to get a good idea of who you are, what you’re all about, and why you’re the best candidate for the job. In a similar manner, your social media profile functions as a digital ad. With recruiters doing background checks - and some “strangers” stalking you, too - it would be best to treat your social media account like a brand page.
To make things easier, think of your profile page as your brand page.
The importance of proper social media management
Since social media acts as the world’s online gateway to getting to know you better, your reputation is affected by everything you post and share. When you start thinking of your social media account as your brand page, you’ll soon realize that the best practices for handling brand accounts advocated by inbound marketing are definitely applicable to your personal account as well.
Here’s how to balance professionalism and fun in your social media accounts:
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Become familiar with your audience on each platform:
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Facebook – Family members, friends, officemates.
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Twitter – The younger (or tech-savvy) group of your family, friends, possible fan base.
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LinkedIn – Employers.
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Tumblr – Friends, opinionated individuals who express their thoughts and feelings (which we can sometimes even relate to).
I’d like to share a bit about my own experiences with social media. I started out with having one social media account for my family to see and another solely for my friends. As a matter of fact, I got really good at maintaining both; however, the process of filtering and classifying them eventually became too tedious to do on a regular basis.
This is where audience familiarity comes in. By learning the audience of a specific platform, you can effectively determine who to add, follow, connect to, and accept as a new contact. This helps you filter what you post online and who can see them.
Thus, I eventually realized that I didn’t need multiple accounts; I just needed to know who could see the content I posted - and how to personalize my settings as well.
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Carefully create and curate:
Knowing your audience on social media also allows you to determine what to post. This is to avoid embarrassing #ThrowbackThursday posts, or having your employer find your humiliating blog post from when you were 13 years old, or even having your elderly family members reprimand you for posting dry or mature humor.
(And no, I’m not speaking from personal experience. Okay, maybe.)
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Increase your network, but don’t add strangers:
A friend of mine once told me not to add my officemates on social media sites. I disagree - adding them on Facebook means you are open about your life to people you spend 9 hours a day with, every day. It also says that you’re not hiding anything from them, which is always a good sign. As for people whom you don’t really know personally, it’s still okay to add them, as they could be your gateway to building a stronger network of contacts. These are your leads; your possible employers, partners, and consumers. However, you still need to be careful in choosing who to add.
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Engage well:
Interact with your friends; it is after all, a social media platform. Handle negative feedback or situations skillfully, and keep a positive outlook.
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Keep your posts appropriate for a professional setting:
Generally, whatever you post on social media becomes a reflection of how you’re actually doing in real life. Posting pictures of yourself at a party is fine, but avoid posting details about, say, how drunk you got. Remember, this is your brand; protect yourself from haters or trolls (people who throw rude comments at you or try to provoke you, and experience immense joy when you respond) by appearing respectable at all times. Additionally, your social media account is your portfolio, so make sure it’s one that stands out in a good way.
If you’re still worried about your privacy - which is, admittedly, a valid concern - social media platforms provide you with safeguard options. Facebook allows you to choose who can see your posts, while Twitter and Instagram can be set to “private” in order to prevent people who are not your contacts from seeing your updates. You can even choose to accept or reject photo tags from friends.
One last piece of advice: always remember your password and never forget to log out. Remember: You are your brand. Build it up by posting wisely; once it’s on the internet, everyone can and will see it. Ultimately, you can choose to either manage your accounts yourself or outsource the work to an expert Social Media Manager to handle the job for you.
Want to learn more about how to manage and optimize your Facebook page to build up your professional image? Link us to your page and we'll give you a rundown of where it's doing well and how it can do better.
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