The ability to effectively leverage social media for career advancement is more essential than ever. In this post, we’ll discuss the various ways in which social media affects our professional lives, as well as how you can use these effects to your benefit.

Both online and off, our lives are profoundly impacted by social media. It’s common for people to have very distinct online personas, down to the social media sites they frequent and the content they read (and break)

acquaintances built on shared technological infrastructure. Twitter users tend to be in the know about emerging trends far before the general public, whereas LinkedIn is the place to be for those who are truly committed to their careers.

The things we like and share make up parts of our digital identities, therefore it stands to reason that they also affect our professional lives. Also, as more and more people are working remotely, it’s crucial to know how to leverage social media to network with peers and authorities in one’s field.

In this post, we’ll discuss the various ways in which social media affects our professional lives and the steps you may take to maximize its benefits in order to advance your own career.

What Effect Will Social Media Have On My Career?

In the eyes of many working people, their online identity is of little use to their careers unless they are employed in digital marketing. There are, however, many reasons why you should care about this, not the least of which is the fact that social media searches of job candidates have become commonplace.

Whether it is ethical or not for recruiters and the companies they work for to investigate a candidate’s social media accounts in search of warning signs is still up for debate. Everything from the posts you make to the people you choose to follow on social media can provide insight into your personality.

This HBR article provides a more nuanced discussion of the merits and cons of social media background checks for both current and potential employees. I’d want to provide some advice to human resources professionals: Don’t verify; doing so could introduce bias into the selection process.

You could enhance the quality of your brand, if you give thought to your online persona. Curating your voice so that the real you comes out visibly and truthfully is just as important as making sure you’re not being a jerk online.

Finally, social media allows you to communicate with people you might never have met otherwise. A professional astrologer at Medium Chat named Tara Bennet credited networking in Facebook groups with increasing her clientele and success. She revealed, “I attribute much of my success to learning how to effectively use social media.” Given the magnitude of my niche, I would have had a much smaller client base and fewer employment options without social media.

Tara’s personal and professional development were both aided by her efforts to network online. The real strength of social media is in its ability to connect you with a wide variety of customers and prospective employers.

Developing Your Network And Advancing Your Profession With Social Media.

Here are some tips for using social media to put your best professional foot forward now that you know the influence it may have on your career.

Formulate A Plan For Your Social Media Presence

No matter how much they may try to mimic one another, each social networking site is unique. Varied channels will provide you with different benefits, but some will help you advance your career more than others.

Take stock of the options and select the one that best suits your needs.

If you want to succeed in social media, you need to adapt to the ever-evolving platforms and always be looking for new ways to make the most of the resources at your disposal.

Linkedin

LinkedIn, the “super-network” for professionals, has over 830 million users yet is underutilised by the majority of its members. Although most people think of it only as a location to look for employment, it also offers a wealth of other valuable services for professionals.

Instagram

When looking for a job, Instagram is a wild card, especially since it can do more harm than good. However, it’s a fantastic resource, especially for the artistically inclined. Anyone who works with images, whether they are social media managers, photographers, videographers, or user experience designers, has ample opportunity to make a strong first impression.

TikTok

Although TikTok is well-known for its humorous and irreverent content, I think it’s also a fantastic medium through which to make casual contact with the people working for the firm of your dreams. TikTok content is supposed to be honest and sincere, even irreverent. It’s a fantastic opportunity to make a good impression in a professional setting without coming across as cold or distant.

In 2021, the service began testing a feature called “TikTok Resumes,” which allow users to upload films in which they outline their talents and experience and apply for jobs.

A Closing Remark

Keep in mind that you don’t have to be present on every platform before making a decision about which one to use. “Pick one or two that are real to you,” says Paige Arnof-Fenn. “It does not matter which platform you use.”

Examine Your Current Social Media Profiles.

You should do an audit if you’ve owned your social media accounts for a considerable amount of time. A social media audit might teach you valuable lessons even if you don’t hold any very divisive views.

• Ask yourself if you’re presenting yourself professionally on social media.
• Can you think of anything you wouldn’t want the world to see if it appeared on your social media accounts?
• How should you talk about your successes in life and work?

The following is a three-step process that will help you conduct an audit of your individual social media profiles.

1. Find and catalogue all of your social media accounts; doing so will give you a better idea of how you are being portrayed online. If you want to undertake an audit like I do, here’s a simple spreadsheet with all my accounts and brief profiles.
2. Make the necessary changes or fill in the blanks. Keep a steady voice and tailor your messages to the specific platform’s user base. The only information provided in my bios across all of my social media accounts is “content @ buffer,” yet my LinkedIn and Twitter profiles provide considerably more background.
3. Search the content of each profile for anything you wouldn’t want the current you to be linked with. Anything you no longer wish the public to view, such as outmoded beliefs or photos (I have lots of those).

Your social media presence might be more cohesive after a thorough analysis. You may decide to delete inactive accounts you discover in the process of learning what appears when others look for you online.