Creating a professional social media presence is a huge part of being a leader individually and within an organization. So here are some tips for those of you transitioning from casual social media use to a cultivating a more professional image. The 4 primary sites to start with are: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Employers and residency directors ALWAYS start with a check on social media, and you want them to be pleased with what they find!
- Start with a google search of your name. See what comes up on the first page of links and under images. This is often the first place employers will start as well and you need to be aware where your name leads.
- Update your privacy settings. LinkedIn should be public to everyone, Facebook should be mostly limited to friends (choose carefully the items you allow to be public to all), Instagram and Twitter should be locked to non-followers.
- Take a moment to peruse through your friends/followers and remove those who you do not want to be part of your social circles.
- Friend people in your field and like/follow pages that are relevant and share their posts that apply to you and your specific interests.
- Clean it up: Take a look at recent posts, old photo albums, likes on facebook, groups you joined in middle school and make decisions about what is acceptable for a potential employer to view.
- Choose a professional and representative profile photo and header for each site, preferably the same across all platforms so there is no confusion.
- Post often and choose high quality photos and captions to convey the messages you’re passionate about.
- Be aware when participating in professional events, take pictures and keep your followers updated on everything you’re doing to contribute to your profession.
- Link all your social media sites together so you don’t have to post individually on each one. Twitter and Instagram can be linked to automatically post on your Facebook page, taking a lot of the work out of it for you.
- If you have a specific interest like videography or writing, try out Youtube or blogging! These platforms can be used in conjunction with the others to show off your skills and make your profile more interesting.
Please follow and like:
So helpful! Thank you. As a published author and high school teacher I always want to make sure my media presence is appropriate and professional.
[…] Take a look at your social media. Is it projecting a professional image? Now that you’re in pharmacy school, you may want to take a sweep of all your accounts to be sure they portray you as you would want a future employer to see. Also, start posting things that are relevant to your profession and follow pages that will keep you educated on current issues. Click here to see details on how to do this. […]