Sort Out Your Social Media
Do you need a business degree to be a business success?
Social media, in essence, is about person to person networking and engagement. Sounds cute. It has also become synonymous with the potential to make big bucks as a big business. But do you need formal education in social media and business in order to make a success of the two? None of the founders of Yahoo, Snapchat and Facebook hold MBAs (an American qualification, like a business master’s degree), yet these are all multi-billion pound corporations.The idea of a ‘social professional’ may have the older generation rolling their eyes, but is in fact an expectation, and in many cases a requirement, for job roles across industries. The chances are high that you already use social media on a personal level, and in the marketing sector professionals should be competent using social media for business purposes too. You don’t necessarily need a degree in social media marketing, but applying for a professional role requires that you can manage your own social networks appropriately.
Businesses use social media in their recruiting – your Facebook needs to present as professional an image as your LinkedIn. If it doesn’t, consider really tightening up on your privacy, but it goes without saying that if someone really wants to get to your holiday snaps, they most likely can – where there’s a will, there’s a way.
94% of recruiters use LinkedIn, according to a Jobvite survey from last year, but the vast majority will also cross-reference your profile with your Facebook and Twitter, so make sure that your marketing of yourself is consistently appropriate throughout.
So you’ve got a strong and secure online presence sorted. But have you? Just because no one uses Bebo anymore, doesn’t necessarily mean that they can’t find your embarrassing teenage profile. A Twitter post from 2009 may well be lying dormant, but it could be resurrected. It’s important to clean up your old accounts as well as maintaining current ones.
Add skill sets, update certificates, training and tools, write up a summary and keywords to your LinkedIn profile – get rid of old or irrelevant information (this includes holiday pics from ‘Malia 2k11’).
Know who to connect with and on which platforms – adding your boss on Facebook may not be the best idea, but following a future employer on Twitter is more industry-appropriate. Equally, LinkedIn isn’t necessarily where you should be connecting with people you don’t know yet; instead it’s actually a good idea to connect with classmates here, as in five or ten years these are the people who will be all over the country across many industries.
Use social media now to help you in the future (keeping an eye on the money too).
Recent graduate and now interning as content editor, when she's not
writing articles Katie can quite likely be found festival-ing,
holiday-ing or reading a book (dedicated English student that she is). Follow her @KatieAtSMF.
Contact us on Twitter, on Facebook,
or leave your comments below. To find out about social media training
or management why not take a look at our website for more info http://socialmediacambridge.co.uk/.
Sort Out Your Social Media
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Reviewed by Anonymous
on
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
Rating:
Anonymous
Keeping you up to date on social media, digital marketing, apps, news & reviews. Social media, and digital marketing as a whole, are rapidly and constantly changing, adapting to new developments at an ever increasing rate. Just keeping up to date can be a nightmare. Our team of writers know their field, and keep an ear to the ground. We aim to keep you informed of all recent developments in the online world, and teach you a little something along the way. So whether you just want to stay connected, or gain some knowledge for yourself, the Social Songbird will keep on singing! More articles are posted every day so keep checking back! Join the discussion on Twitter - #SocialSongbird Or contact us directly - @SocialSongbird_
Entrepreneur, international speaker on Social Media Marketing. First one in the UK to write and speak in conferences about Twitter as a marketing tool. Consultant to Corporate Companies, Government Organizations, Marketing Managers and Business Owners.
Aspiring novelist with a passion for fantasy and crime thrillers. He hopes to one day drop that 'aspiring' prefix. He started as a writer and soon after he was made Executive Editor and Manager of the team at Social Songbird. A position he held for 5 years.
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