Do You Have a Professional Presence on Your Social Media?

Too often, prospective clients tell me that they’re on social media.

Yeah, they are, and they happen to be all over the map while they’re at it.

Lets discuss this!

The Problem

The problem with not having a professional presence on social media is severalfold.

First, whom you think you are and how others perceive you can be two entirely different things.

Next, you may be not be deploying all your digital assets to your benefit.

You put the onus of telling your story on your readers most of whom neither have the time nor the inclination to go on a virtual scavenger hunt to search it out.

In a word, you don’t exist and you have no social proof.

In today’s social media driven age, nothing can be more damning.

Too often, this situation is a result of a scattershot approach to social media and an I’ll get to it tomorrow attitude about it.

Sadly, I often encounter prospects who say they don’t believe in social media and all its hype.

This is when I generally remind them that the first place other people will go when looking to know something about them is their LinkedIn profile which more often then not is in a total state of disarray

I usually win those arguments.

What can be done about this?

The Solution

Fortunately, correcting a non-professional presence on social media is relatively straightforward.

But, like most things worth doing in life, it has to be done well which takes time and effort

What’s to be done?

1. Begin with your LinkedIn profile
2. Make sure its complete (Don’t forget the summary and a profile picture)
3. Personalize your LinkedIn vanity URL
4. Have links wherever possible to the company pages of all your experiences
5. If you’re self-employed then make sure you have a company page with your own logo
6. Have a thorough list of skills with endorsements
7. Have relevant recommendations
8. Post relevant content regularly
9. If you have a website/blog then make sure it too looks professional and is included in your profile
10. Then move onto whatever other social media channels (e.g., Twitter, Facebook) you may happen to be using and go through the same exercise.

Observations

Why start with LinkedIn?

For professionals today, this is where everyone will turn when they first learn of you and want to know more

Potential employers or clients will all start here.

For people just starting out, LinkedIn can be your website until you can afford a real one.

Your social proof is there in your endorsements, recommendations, and content.

If its not there then people will wonder why.

Move onto your own website and other social media channels as you can.

Just remember to have consistent look and feel and maintain your professional presence online!

That’s it for now!

Please check-out my 8 step approach for developing a social media program to get some more ideas on how to use social media.

Also, never forget to reach out to either ask questions or to ask for help from someone like myself!

In the meantime, thank you for following and reading my blog!

I look forward to any and all comments that you may have. I will reply to any comments made to this blog post as promptly as I can.

And, remember!

I do this for a living and if I can be of any assistance to either you or your organization, please feel free to call on me. Our initial discussion will be of no charge to you.