We all know that there are a lot of social media sites out there. But, you don’t have to use them all to make a difference in your career.
I also don’t want you to stick your head in the sand and not use any of the online tools available to you. There are some great resources that can make a big difference in your career. But, you need to use them folks!
Of course, the main big daddy social media site for career development is LinkedIn. This shouldn’t be news to you. But, you can also make a big difference in your career using other sites as well. It really depends on what you’re trying to accomplish with your online presence. For example, here are some best social media sites to use based on industry:
- If you’re in the fashion world, Pinterest and Instagram are going to be huge for you.
- If you’re in the marketing and sales world, Twitter and YouTube are going to be big for you.
- If you’re in the accounting and finance space… um, well, good luck. Especially with the finance industry, they really don’t like to have financial advisers using online tools. It’s an industry regulation issue. Eventually this will change.
The point I want to make is that there are a lot of different social media sites… and there are even more industries. You know your industry, you need to figure out what it is that you want to do with your online presence in order to know which site to use that will align with your industry and connections within that space.
Here are a few steps to help you decide how to use social media sites:
- Be clear about what you want to be known for in your career.
- Determine how much time you want to spend with managing your social account(s).
- Depending on your industry, figure out where the best connections are for you to network.
- Set monthly goals of how you want to gauge your social media success (e.g.: number of followers, number of connections, etc.).
Ultimately, it’s your career to manage and using online tools to develop your career will be helpful. But, you need to know which social media sites will be the best for your situation.
What is your industry and what social media site(s) do you find most helpful?