Social media enhances your professional world. You can use it to create your personal brand, establish yourself as an expert in a field or demonstrate fluency with all things digital. The key is to be proactive about managing your image and activity. But it has its negative side as well. If handled incorrectly, it can get you into serious trouble at your current workplace.

How to get started

Creating an account
Having an account on social networking sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook is a great way to start. If you have an account with LinkedIn; through the ‘LinkedIn skills’ feature, you can add your skills to your profile and look for companies where they will have the maximum impact. While on Facebook, you can join a page of an organisation or group that interests you, where you can post information or details about things that interest you so that you get noticed. Companies have their home pages on the portal, which display the latest news, interactive videos about their company or hiring details.



Establishing a presence
You need to make your presence felt. Before you join a forum, think about what topics you would like to be associated with. Give your potential employers or experts in the related field a chance to look for you online. One of the easiest ways to do that is have your profile on social sites like LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook. According to the Social Media Today, 42 per cent of the US population have a Facebook account to help them boost their career.

Generating content
To establish yourself as an expert, you have to create content. For example, post articles showing your expertise in a related field. If people find your opinions and perspectives interesting, it will work for you instantly. You don’t have to blow your own horn. Remember it is a platform where you need to share your opinion, not demonstrate it literally.

Know the rules
Social media has very few rules. But there are a couple of things that you need to know about networking through social media.

Dos
  • You need to consider what potential employers or colleagues will see when they find out on social media.
  • Figure out which social media channels you’ll use for professional purposes – it is absolutely okay to have both personal and professional accounts.
  • You need to create content that people following you can forward, re-tweet or repost.
Dont’s
  • Nowadays before recruiting, the HR department of any company does a background check for potential employees. So you need to make sure that you do not post inappropriate content on your account.
  • Do not vent out your anger against your colleagues or your boss on a social networking site, this might get you into trouble.
  • Make sure that you do not put up anything against your company, this might put you in an awkward position.
  • Make sure you do not post prejudiced comments/ opinion about anyone or any company.