Keeping Your Social Media Professional

Story by: Erika Dawkins

Alot of professionals tend to think the things they do and post on their personal social media accounts, separates them from the eyes of potential hiring managers or their current employer simply because they set their account to private.

What many don’t realize is that employers are using creative ways to get a closer look into who you are on social media. Some employers will go as far as having the hiring manager or HR staff do research to determine if they have any mutual friends with the potential new hire and contacting the mutual friend on social media to give them a closer look into the things you post on social media.

This can also apply to business owners, as potential customers may also be scoping out the owner to get a better idea of the person behind the business.

Here are a few tips to help you keep it professional on social media:

Stay away from certain topics.

Posting things that spark an argument vs. a discussion can make you look combative to potential employers. Political opinions are another big part of this. While your post may have 100% positive intention, that doesn’t prevent someone from hijacking your post and turning it into something it was not intended to be.

Don’t put everything on social media.

As hard as it may be to hold back, every meme that may be funny, may not be professional. In instances where you can’t keep it to yourself, it is better to share it to your story vs. giving it a permanent place on your profile. This includes unsavory photos of yourself or others and using offensive language. If you wouldn’t show it to or say it in your place of employment, don’t share it.

Complaining about work.

Don’t post comments complaining about your current job. Whether you are posting about dreading going to work the next morning or how ready you are to get away from the office for the day, it does not set a professional tone for those reading it.

Check your privacy settings.

Set your privacy settings that requires your approval before someone can tag you in something or before something can be shared to your profile. While you’re editing these settings, check to see whether you allow cross-site posting (for example, if your Facebook account is set to automatically post to Twitter) and turn these settings off to ensure one ill-considered post does not turn into many.

Clean up your connections.

Keep a close eye on the people you accept as friends or are currently friends with on social media. If you have some rather questionable acquaintances on your Facebook page (let’s say that person who primarily has pictures featuring illegal activities, or someone who posts unbecoming stuff on your page) remove them.