5 Tips to Leverage Your Personal Brand on Social Media

By Maria Onzain

Personal branding is becoming increasingly important as part of the job-hunting process. With a sea of candidates all applying for the same job, it’s time to start standing out from the crowd.

Nowadays, the majority of recruiters will search for the candidates’ names on Google, so having a positive online presence is essential to land your next job. To be one step ahead, you may want to ‘google yourself’ and go through the listing results. It’s highly likely you will find out that many of those results are your social media profiles.

Here are five handy tips to scrub up your social media presence to help you get your next job:

Use a personal branding tool

With tools like Open Colleges’ personal branding tool, you can create a personalized web page to share with prospective employers and recruiters. It helps you present your ideas, passions and values in a professional way to highlight your personal brand.

All you need to do is complete each step; which include personal branding statement, goals, inspirational figures, personal interests and values among others. The result will be a stylish snapshot of your personal brand on a webpage that you can share on your LinkedIn profile, your resume or send directly to HR professionals.

Create a visual style and stick to it

Consistency is crucial in personal branding. If you communicate different messages on each social media platform, you will end up transmitting a confused idea of who you are.

Using the same profile photo across different channels will help you build a stronger personal brand and recruiters will be able to recognize you quicker from the crowd. For your cover pictures, you should stick to a visual style that fits you and your career path.

Tell your own story

You may use the summary and experience sections on LinkedIn to highlight your achievements and professional goals. You can also be open about your job-searching situation and what are you looking for.

Take this opportunity to ‘sell yourself’, be original and show your potential. Use the bio section of other social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook or Google+ to tell the same story about yourself.

Keep your information updated

Although sometimes underestimated, personal information such as your physical location is key to getting a new job. If recruiters think you are in a different city, they won’t get in touch to offer you an attractive position.

Make sure all your personal details are updated and correct across all social media platforms. These include your location and contact details, but also your current and past positions and companies you have worked for.

Post relevant content

You need to keep your social media profiles alive. Otherwise, users and potential recruiters will think you are not in the loop. To show your interest and passion for your industry, you should post regular updates across all social platforms.

The best way to post daily or weekly content is to read authoritative publications within your industry, and share them with your social media followers. Try adding a brief line with your opinion too, in order to add some extra value and show your expertise.

Overall, it is important to pay particular attention to your personal brand as it is going to help you market yourself and boost your career opportunities. Your social media presence is a considerable part of your personal brand, and it is constantly growing so you should never neglect what your social media profiles are saying about you.

 

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