Professionalize your Social Media Accounts If there is anything out there that can damage your reputation more than anything before you meet a person, it is having an unprofessional profile on any social media account. Thousands and thousands are making mistakes and leaving them up to be seen. So here is some thought provoking material on how to escape the unprofessional masses and get you above and beyond the squalor. It doesn’t exactly take a social media education to figure these things out.
Types of Professional Social Media Account Firstly, plan your type of professional account. Yes, that’s right, there are different types of accounts that can be considered “professional”. If you are an events planner or in the mainstream media, then you will be the go to guy for the new and up-coming events. This means that you should be in touch with what’s going on and should know how to set up events. It’s really about who you work with. If you are an academic or political scientist you may want to start critical thinking on your account. Sharing articles can build a reputable timeline or twitter account and people will be following your every move. You may have a goofy side or wild side this is not exactly “professional”. It is important to leave that off of your facebook profile. Most people don’t know that people can see all of their photos even if they put the settings on private. Be careful with all of the political statements you make, or the relationship statuses you make, or even the photos that you like. All of those things are able to be seen by companies and others. Less is more on facebook. This means that the less you have on there the less you have to worry about.
Managing Your Facebook Account Also make sure that everything on facebook is up-to-date and accurate so that employers see consistency with your other accounts and what you are saying. Facebook is not the place to rant and rave. It is definitely not a place to share your emotional baggage so no matter how tempting it is, don’t do it! Too many people get caught up in facebook and start getting involved to the point that they lose track of all that they have said and done. This goes along with thinning through all of the information and garbage around you and making sure that you are connected with good quality individuals. If you know that you have less than reputable friends making comments on your profile it is a good idea to start weeding it out and I’m not just talking “Farmville friends”.
Take everything into consideration because employers may want to see someone who is up-to-date and keeping current on their profile. Management is as important as hygiene sometimes and can be impressive when an individual shows consistency and care for what is going on around him or her. So in order to get yourself out there in a good light you need to figure out how you want people to see you. Do you want to be the political activist that people defriend, the trendy individual who posts all the latest and greatest, or someone who consistently posts comments that make people think. All of these things can help in your social media educational experience. Photo Credit: mrceviz, magicmarie