Who are you? What does your social media activity say about you? In this digital age, the answer should be aligned with your present career or career goals. Why? Because you are serious about your future and want others to know it—your social media activity should support that idea. I am not suggesting that you cannot relax and have non-work-related fun on social media, but suggest caution in doing so.

Remember: anyone can potentially see your posts, perhaps your connections don’t presently have any sway over your success, but someone connected to them may. While my social media activity is authentic to me, it is also carefully constructed.

Here are five things to consider when using social media to promote a personal brand:

1. Keep what’s personal, personal. If you wouldn’t want it read back to you in a job interview, don’t post it. If you wish to connect with friends and keep them abreast of your personal life, choose one platform on which to do so, keeping personal details to a minimum on your selected professional brand channels.

2. Get noticed. Use keywords and hashtags to find known industry leaders (competitors, bloggers, writers, reporters). Read, comment, and share their tweets, articles or posts with substantive comments. Follow and share what their influencers are saying. When sharing others’ content, always give credit to authors and publications. Use twitter handles, where available. Continue reading →