Social Media Trends: How to Build Your Personal Brand

The Social Media Era

With over 4.9 billion active users, social media sites are the most popular place for people young and old to share information, photos and videos in real-time. Some of the world’s most popular social media sites have over 1 billion active users each. Whether you realize it or not, the type of content that you are posting on your social networks is building your personal brand.

Social Media Smarts

Like it or not, the posts you make to your social media sites are being scrutinized by potential employers as a measure of suitability for a position within that organization. For the most part, potential employers are looking at those social media posts from an experience objective. In other words, do your tweets, LinkedIn posts, Facebook updates, Instagram reels and other posts show that you are familiar with the industry that you are seeking a position in?

Simply put, your social media accounts indicate much more than your job experience. They can also show potential employers your dedication to a career path, as well as how seriously you take your interactions with management. For example, if your posts contain a lot of negativity about your current or former employers and peers, that may give the perception that you are difficult to work with.

What's more, posts about wild adventures, parties and brushes with the law may also give the impression that you may not be a reliable employee. Furthermore, highly charged political beliefs posted on social media may indicate to employers that you may not be an ideological fit into the business.

Building Your Personal Brand

While potential employers are not looking to violate any constitutional rights or stifle freedom of speech, they are potentially critiquing what you post and how you post it as part of their vetting process. Nonetheless, the potential that social media has to detract from your job search can be reversed simply by turning your social media platforms into another source for your achievements.

In other words, utilize various forms of social media to create posts that highlight your knowledge, as well as your achievements in the industry you are pursuing a career in. Social media users on Twitter and Instagram will find these sites to be excellent outlets for those types of posts.

With over 930 million users worldwide, LinkedIn is a great place to build your brand. This professional networking social media site also enables you to make observations about the industry you are interested in. What's more, you can write about educational issues, as well as highlight thought leadership articles and link to those via social media posts. LinkedIn’s online communities and group pages enable users to connect with other professionals within their industry or connected industries worldwide.

As far as Facebook goes, the lines are a little blurred as to what appropriate posts are, especially since Facebook is meant more for social interaction. However, Facebook offers all sorts of privacy controls, which allow you to make only certain information available to certain “friends", allowing you to block photos, posts, video sharing, and other elements from your timeline. For those on the job hunt, it makes a lot of sense to leverage those controls to keep what should only be shared among family and friends from outsiders, and not HR departments, businesses and other external entities.

Marketing Yourself Through Social Media

Social media marketing is particularly popular on sites like Instagram and even TikTok. Businesses are utilizing content creators on these sites to create videos and posts that market their products and services to other users. You can utilize these same concepts to create or enrich your personal brand. By creating content around your professional knowledge, you can connect with other professionals and businesses that share your same needs and values.

Consistency is Key

Regardless of which social media sites you use to engage with other professionals, make sure that you are keeping your personal brand image, voice, and tone consistent. Spending the time to create well thought out posts, and posting frequently, will keep your profiles at the forefront of your followers’ feeds. And when you’re at the top of the feed, your followers will remember you when it matters most: when they need a solution or the perfect fit for that open position in their company.

What’s Next?

Successfully transforming your social media into a creator of opportunity means taking a long, hard look at what you have posted, what you have liked, and what you have written. What's more, you need to look at those elements through the lens of a potential employer and adjust the focus as necessary. With the right adjustments your social media profiles can turn your personal brand into a positive marketing tool.

Need more help optimizing your online brand during a job search? We’ve got you covered! Our team is made up of IT and Engineering recruitment experts who are ready to help you connect with a new career opportunity. Contact us today!