A social media profile that makes you easy to find and showcases your expertise (as well as portraying you as professional, skilled, hardworking and yet human) isn’t impossible to achieve, but it is attention to detail that will make yours stand out. If you are serious about the professional face you are putting out there, Adam Gordon, managing director at Social Media Search, has the following recommendations
First, make sure you have a profile picture that looks like you. People don’t trust social media profiles without a picture of a human and a picture of your dog just looks stupid. You are not a dog.
Second, include plenty of relevant key words so you are found easily when someone’s looking for an expert like you. And to really supercharge your profile, include links to your other social media accounts and other rich media (such as video, presentations and similar) to which you’ve contributed, so people get to know much more about you.
Next, if you’re looking for career opportunities or are offering a service, include your contact details so it’s easy for people to reach you. If you are also thinking of leveraging the power of social media to extend your network and communicate, think about your connections. The more relevant connections you have on LinkedIn, the better.
‘If you’re connected directly with every single person who you might provide service to, now or in the future, and everyone you might recruit now or in the future, you have ginormous competitive advantage,’ says Gordon.
This article was first published in the November/December 2015 issue of Accounting and Business