Using social media for career progression

Boosting your online identity

Social media & you• When you think about

using social media – think of your personality

• Only use those tools which suit your personality and strengths

• Don’t use a social media tool if you feel uncomfortable with it

• Just like some people like a simple phone and others like a smartphone, different people like different social media tools.

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Personal use of social media• This is what my online identity

currently looks like

Where do you want to be online?

• Your digital footprint is where you have had any activity online. What does your footprint look like?

• Have you ever googled yourself?

• If your prospective employer googled you, what would come up?

Managing your online identity

• Not having any online presence at all can be just as bad as having a negative presence – especially to prospective employers who are trying to look you up!

• You have the opportunity to manage what comes up when people Google you. The rest of this presentation gives you some tips for getting started with this.

Developing an online presence – some ideas:

• Join a professional network like LinkedIn – but make sure you use it!

• Set up a profile on http://Slideshare.net as a place to host your presentations

• Set up a professional blog • Join Twitter to share ideas and create

a professional network

Recommended sites• http://www.linkedin.com/nhome/ • http://twitter.com/ • http://www.slideshare.net/ • For your own blog: http://

wordpress.com/ or https://posterous.com/

A look at LinkedIn• http://

www.linkedin.com/nhome/

• A great way to have a professional online presence is to join LinkedIn – it’s good for keeping in touch with people you have worked with and for professional networking

Image from: http://nowsourcing.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/linkedin-motivation.jpg

Making the most of LinkedIn• A lot of people join LinkedIn but then

don’t do anything with their account.• These next few slides provide some

tips on getting the most out of LinkedIn, you never know, you might get a dream job offer out of it!

Tips for making the most of LinkedIn

• Have a complete profile (including a picture) and ensure your public profile is viewable (this means your profile will come up on a Google search)

• LinkedIn will tell you how complete your profile is in ‘edit my profile’

Tips for making the most of LinkedIn

• Personalise your profile’s URL with your name (go to edit public profile settings)

Tips for making the most of LinkedIn

• If you have them, link your blog, Twitter & Slideshare accounts to LinkedIn

• Add as many connections as you can and keep looking for new ones – just ask people you know, most people say yes! Look people up – you can find old colleagues

• Join a relevant LinkedIn group

Tips for making the most of your LinkedIn profile

• Add your public profile link to your email signature & other places you inhabit online (such as Facebook, Twitter etc.)

• Update your status regularly (but not too regularly!) – if it looks like your last LinkedIn activity was months ago it doesn’t look good!

Tips for making the most of your LinkedIn profile

• Ensure you have an eye-catching ‘headline’ statement – this is the first thing people read when they find you, so your job title might not cut it!

Tips for making the most of your LinkedIn profile

• Speak to your contacts on LinkedIn – comment on their status or send them a message

• Ask people to endorse you & write some endorsements/recommendations

• Answer a question on the ‘answers’ page – show your expertise

Tips for using LinkedIn• If you are in a group, start a discussion, ask

a question or join in a discussion• Search for jobs in LinkedIn (it will also

make recommendations for jobs based on the information in your profile)

• Search for the organisation you are applying to work for and/or people you might work with

• Ask advice via the ‘answers’ section• Introduce contacts to each other through

LinkedIn (ie forward the profile to a connection)

What do you think about blogs?

“Never before has so much been written by so many and yet read by

so few!”

Image from: http://www.consequentialstrangers.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/blogger-o-window.gif

Blogging• Blogging can be a really useful

professional development tool• It is a way you can promote your work• And perhaps, most significantly, it is a

way that you can share your knowledge with the world and receive comments and ideas from others

Some types of blog• A place to keep things you’re interested in

(eg. Videos, other people’s blogs, pictures) – for this I recommend https://posterous.com/

• A reflective practice blog – where you journal your thoughts about your area of interest/your work – for this I recommend http://wordpress.com/

• A themed blog – eg. Music reviews, HR tips, making cup cakes – for this I recommend http://www.tumblr.com/

Blogging• If you decide to create a blog, don’t

forget to share the link on your other networks (like Twitter, LinkedIn etc.)

• A lot of blogs enable you to ‘autopost’ to other services

• Enable people to subscribe to your updates and gain a wide readership

Blogging• Think about what you would like to write

about. Will it be a reflective blog, a themed blog or just a place where you can keep stuff you’re interested in?

• Here are my different blogs just to give you an example:– Personal: http://vahva.wordpress.com/ – Professional:

http://sociallearningonline.wordpress.com/ – Stuff I find interesting/funny:

http://vahva.posterous.com/

Go for it!• Take the plunge!

Have a go at setting up a blog. You can always keep your privacy settings private until you are ready to share what you’ve written with the world.

Contact me• If you still have questions, please feel

free to contact me at bryony.taylor @ gmail.com

• Or ask me on Twitter @vahva