One of the staples of being a millennial in the digital age is taking part in a booming social media frenzy. You take pictures of your 6 course meal for Instagram, with the perfect collage combination. You post your joy about your class being cancelled on Twitter, and, of course, you make sure to use the appropriate #hashtag. You and your boyfriend went on the most amazing date, so you feel the need to post the most adorable Facebook photo. Otherwise, it’s as if these events never happened, right?!
Yet, there are dangers about sharing the “wrong” updates when it comes to becoming a working professional. Sometimes employers will Google search their potential candidates, only to find your Twitter rant about how lame your chemistry class was, or how much you hate your professor’s outfit choices. Then, your potential employer will cross you off their list, and you ruined your chances at getting that job.
Do you need to clean up your act on social media? Here are 9 tips on how to make your online profiles more mature and professional-worthy!
1. Pick an image for yourself
Choose how you want to be perceived on social media. Family-oriented? Active? Outdoorsy? It’s almost like creating an online dating profile. The ideal move is to represent yourself positively and to keep some aspects of your life private. Potential employers and even your current co-workers might draw the wrong conclusions if you overshare. Pick an appropriate image for yourself. Be yourself, but keep it clean!
2. Review and delete
Most people are guilty of posting things on social media that they probably shouldn’t have posted… Sometimes you have an idea on your mind that you want to share, but it reflects negatively on someone else, or even makes you look bad. Avoid emotional venting, or sharing extremely strong political opinions on your public social media accounts. Politics can be a turn-off, especially if people, or employers, disagree with you on hot-button issues. Some other types of posts that you should (definitely) consider deleting are drunken party photos. Yes, we have all been to a college party during our young life experience, so your “out on the town” photos may be perfectly acceptable. But those photos of you obviously wasted, or worse yet, statuses or captions with the words “drunk” and/or “high” should be deleted. Stay in the range of classy, and you’ll be okay!
3. Go private
If you don’t feel like filtering yourself on social media, then consider making your accounts private. You may get less followers on Twitter or Instagram, but this is one scenario for you to post whatever you want (within reason), without having to worry about negative professional ramifications.
4. Use an alias
Another way to be discrete on social media is to use an alias. For example, you can take your last name out of your profile and replace it with your middle name, like Eliza Beth, or Mary Anne. This keeps your online presence more within your own control and makes it harder for someone to find you online. Elusive!
5. Use Facebook’s Restricted Function
If you want to keep your Facebook profile more public for some people and very limited for others, there’s a way to do that. Put people in your professional life on restricted. This way, you don’t have to un-friend them, and they can only see your public updates, like profile pictures or cover photos. You keep your tagged photos from last weekend reserved for your college friends and “hip” family members, not your higher-ups at work! Putting someone on restricted is a bit extreme, even if they don’t receive any notification for it. Consider if your co-workers would think less of you as a professional if they knew you went clubbing. Big deal? Then, think about putting them on restricted. Go here and here to learn how to put people on restricted.
6. Post strategically
Social media can ruin your career. But, it can also enhance it. For example, if you retweet interesting articles that relate to your career field of choice, you are actually being proactive in promoting yourself to potential employers. Or, if you post a photo from a networking event, you are marketing yourself as an active professional. Sharing positive life updates can also work to your advantage because this makes you look good. If you ran a marathon, got engaged, went on a trip, or moved to an awesome major city, share! That’s great. You are human, not a workaholic robot! As long as you are portraying yourself in a way that you are okay with a wide range of people seeing, then share! Live a little.
7. Update your bios
Make your Instagram and Twitter accounts more professionally appropriate by updating your bios in order to reflect your profession. For instance it might say: “Michelle Smith: Marymount Alumni, Grad Student at Johns Hopkins, Marketing Strategist, Music-lover, Avid Reader, Redskins Fan.” A bio like this one reflects who the person is, sharing their hobbies and interests, but also markets them to professional employers.
8. Create a professional Facebook page
Gain more business cred by creating a Facebook page for your company that people can “like.” And, you can do that for yourself, too. (Ex: Maria Mendez- Hair Stylist, or Amanda Johnson- Journalist) This option puts yourself out there and shows that you are serious about being professional. You can reserve your page for business related posts, or keep a mix of professional and personal — the latter makes you seem more approachable. Professional Facebook pages work well in many fields — from music, to real estate, writing books, and fashion. Create one and market yourself!
9. Think about it
Think before you post! One way to look at social media is if you wouldn’t want it on a billboard it New York City or Los Angeles, then don’t post it! The image you create for yourself on the internet is totally within your control. That is both beautiful and scary! You have the power to control your personal image in many different ways — from hot and sexy, to serious and nerdy, to put-together and proactive. (The last of which is a *ding, ding, ding* — winner!) But, you need to harness this ability on your own, by thinking about what you post. So, be careful and wise! Post within reason, use your brain, and avoid impulsivity.
We know you’ll be hired in no time! What do you think a person’s profile says to employers? Let us know in the comments!