Marketing Yourself and Managing Your Social Media Image

Marketing Yourself and Managing Your Social Media Image

By Don Weaver

It seems everyone is doing it, tweeting, posting, updating their status, and more and more companies are climbing on the bandwagon.
Corporations are using social media to recruit perspective employees, and college graduates are looking to take advantage of this.
Loyola University, New Orleans’ Career Development Center says social media platforms offer a great advertising opportunity and are often free.
Kelly Fleenor, a graduate assistant at the center has held two workshops this semester, to help students create a positive social media image. She says its like making a digital good first impression.
Fleenor instruct students to use social media platforms to showcase their talent and network with those they would like to work with. She says if there is someone in your profession you would like to emulate, follow him or her on Twitter, and follow the same people they are following.
Join the same blogs, and join in the conversation. Find out what those in your profession are talking about and offer intelligent input.
“This can get you access to information that could be useful, like upcoming events, or who is hiring talent,” Fleenor said.
In August 2009, Mary Lorenz, copywriter for CareerBuilder.com and Loyola University New Orleans alum, reported that 45 percent of more than 2600 hiring managers said they use social networking sites to search for background information on potential candidates.
That number doubled from 2008, when she reported that number to be about 20 percent.
Commenting on the increasing number of hiring professionals using social media in 2013 Lorenz said, “More and more companies are using social media to advertise open positions and CareerBuilder expect this trend to continue.”

Are social media platforms a good marketing tool for college graduates exploring employment opportunities?

“Absolutely, I mean its just another tool to use in your job search process, and more effective in some ways because it opens the door to so many more people, companies, and options you can really explore. You are interacting with employers that you don’t have the chance to be face to face with, as a way to present yourself beyond the paper resume.” Fleenor said.
Jobvite creates and sells data driven social media talent recruiting software. They surveyed over 1000 human resource professionals and found in 2010, that 32 percent looked perspective candidates’ at social media profiles. That number nearly tripled to 86 percent in 2012.

The Digital First Impression

The Career Development Center offers aid to students in resume building, creating a LinkedIn page and other useful tips on how to impress online recruiters. “The same ideas [first impression] apply with your online image or your Linkedin page or your Facebook page. Make sure that everything you do supports those characteristics about yourself that you want to present. You know that’s essentially what your online image is,” Fleenor said.

Loyola student Julia Hussey, junior, Psychology major uses Facebook as a networking tool and says, “all of the events I get invited to whether its through friends or through organizations that I’ve “liked,” are all on Facebook, so that’s a really important tool as for as networking goes.”

Mike Potter is a Loyola, sophomore, Business major, and thinks using Facebook or LinkedIn couldn’t hurt. He said, “I feel like anything that will let you know that not only do I have a degree but I also have experience, you know, is good.”

Fleenor suggests students practice posting 80% professional, and 20% personal, because hiring professionals not only use social media to recruit, but when they get a resume from other sources they will Google the applicants name looking for their profile. So give them something positive to find, sell your talents and accomplishments and use social media to get your message out to those who are hiring and recruiting.