Tips for a Professional Social Media Presence

Ever wondered what is common thing about Facebook, Google plus, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn ?

They are just a few of the most popular websites for networking. All of them are used for specific social reasons, whether it is keeping in touch with friends from college, schools and sharing your views and contributing a healthy interaction among celebrities and “followers,” and most recently, connecting and networking with future employers. But in a century where we have a constant urge to post our pictures of almost all the events and meaningless selfie( ghosh, well, almost all of them) and we can’t resist to share our opinion on almost everything (whoops, maybe we should’ve thought about writing new song or famous dialogue as our status ), the lines between personal social media and public social media are starting to blur.

Here some tips on how to maintain a professional social media presence (and trust me, it’s okay not to update everything. Really).

What to post and what not? This is the important question while posting anything on these social networking sites.

We all know Once we see the updates of our friends on such social media channels then we also want to share our updates.After a long day, we feel the urge to share whatever happened with social media sites…”Can you believe they’re posting a snap together” “I want to portray this!” “Ugh, traffic absolutely sucked, I hate my moribund life” what we forget here is to  memorise that our social media accounts also work as our social media footprint.Once we post something it remains on that social media Forever. 

If you don’t want your grand mother and parents to see your new update then simply delete that.Your social networking sites must be appealing to the employers and you must make sure that you are not offending any religion, politics or a person.You must make sure your posts don’t have any grammatical mistakes and they are apt enough to be considered in your interview.

Now you might say that social networking are meant to post the updates we feel like updating, they don’t stop us from doing so but thing is your employer might not be interested to see your check-in at a bar or a club for last three nights in a row.I know it sounds cool to flaunt the places you are visiting on this sites but they must not depict your negative personality in front of your employer. To be precise think before you post.My advise is: if you think you will get embarassed by the post you are updating in front of your parents or if you feel your post will make a negative impact on your profile during an interview then you need to hold back. You might not know this but your potential employers might be seeing your social media when you are busy with your personal life to judge your personality.

Can your employees and co-workers be your friends on social media channels?

Not to say that co-workers can’t be our friends, but think about it before you add them on social media. You probably don’t want that something that happened in your personal life became the latest office gossip. However, if your accounts are “clean” and are used in positive and professional manner than it can be best best way to connect with your emplyores. Sharyn O’Mara said that it can actually be a good thing to add your co-workers on social media:” I think you should add your co-workers on Facebook/Twitter/other social media if they invite you to add in thier social networks. You can’t hide your personality from them, some day or the other they will get to know you so its better not to create any compartments of your life which are hidden and try to be more honest, reliable and truthful”.

Building up your Personal Brand

Considering job markets five or ten years ago its important to make your own  personal brand (interests, talents, skills, job experience, etc.) in public and it plays a vital role to make future contacts and often judged by your potential employers.  Social media has many advantages, like allowing people  to connect with their favourite celebrities via Twitter, or even to connect with recent collegiate alumni and rub elbows with our dream jobs. But along with advantages, there comes a few drawbacks.