Social Media: Your Next Step

Want to take your social media to the next level? Here’s how to do it from our branding pro, William Arruda. 

Beginner 101:

It may seem obvious, but the first thing you need to do is secure your usernames, create profiles and upload headshots. Now that you are set up, here’s how to start making yourself known:

Twitter: As a newbie, don’t start talking, instead start listening. Type in key words related to your area of expertise. Follow people who are talking about the same things that you are interested in.
Facebook: For people who are uncomfortable with their personal life being brought to work, make a choice: decide whether or not you are going to use Facebook for more than just personal reasons. If yes, add your employer and job title to your profile, and go through privacy settings and control who is seeing what—especially important for the Gen Y crowd.
LinkedIn: The information you put here is purely professional. Join groups like alumni and professional associations and any type of volunteer or philanthropic cause that you are involved in.

Fairly Sophisticated:

You’ve used social media to network with people in your industry and outside of it, but how can you double your contacts, get yourself known and have people calling on you? Heed this advice:

Twitter: People are starting to follow you, and it’s time to share original info that you want people to know. Twitter is a great pointing device. “Here’s a New York Times article I found fascinating about…”.  Also, put relevant keywords into your twitter posts.
Facebook: Chances are you have hundreds of friends already—start taking advantage of Facebook as a valuable marketing tool and connect to things in your professional life. Upload photos that show you in industry settings. Share links to videos and articles—anything interesting that relates to your career.
LinkedIn: One of the most valuable features on LinkedIn is recommendations—sending out recommendations for people you’ve worked with, and requesting recommendations from people you’ve worked for. Getting other people to speak for you is powerful. You should also be regularly updating your status.

Advanced:

You are the one that people come to for social media advice, and it’s important to stay on top of the latest developments. Here are some tips:

Twitter: You already retweet and use hashtags to increase your outreach, now you should start using tools like Hootsuite, which tracks people and topics and allows you to schedule tweets in advance. You should be regularly updating, following and contributing to the conversation.
Facebook: “Like” pages of any organizations or professionals that are related to your career. When you have something to share, add comments to these pages, and get your name to appear on the followers’ News Feed. Install Ping.fm and HelloTxt to your smartphone–they essentially allow you to link your Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts so you connect to all three sites at once—an essential timesaver.
LinkedIn: Dig deep and find the way to connect to the right people. Who needs to know you? Do you have a problem you can’t solve? Use all of the Plugins available in the LinkedIn applications, like Amazon.com, to let people know what you are currently reading, or Tripit, which syncs your travel schedule with your network.

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