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Tips for Creating a Successful Professional Profile in Social Networks
22 de April de 2021
Philip Kotler —considered by many as the “father” of Marketing— used to say: “If you’re not a brand, you’re a commodity”. A statement that, decades after being made, remains as relevant as ever in an increasingly demanding and volatile labour market.
As companies and processes are becoming increasingly digitalised, it’s crucial to build a strong personal brand in which we show what makes us different — that which we want to boost and develop in order to stand out among other professionals.
Giovanna de Prat, a Business Advisor and Headhunter with a long trajectory, offered a series of tips to successfully create our own professional brand in social networks during EAE’s Webinar “The Keys to Improving Your Professional Brand in Social Networks”.
1. Our Brand: The Most Powerful Tool to “Market Ourselves”
We’ve all wondered what it is that companies look for in a candidate. That’s a question with no definite answer — even less so in such an ever changing environment as the one in which we currently live. However, there are a series of traits that are in increasing demand in the post-Covid labour market: being capable not only of adapting to change, but also of bringing it about; being multidisciplinary but not generalist; being specialised in several areas and, above all, being strategic and capable of taking part in the business.
But, how can we make companies see that we are what they need? The key is to project ourselves as a “product” with a Unique Selling Proposition that makes us different from the rest, that makes us unique. In other words, to create a professional brand that will make us reach our goals by transferring our brand values and expertise —as if we were talking about a product or a service— to our target audience.
2. If You’re Not in Social Networks, You Don’t Exist… But Do It Right.
There’s no doubt that social networks have become the best showcase for developing your personal brand and making yourself visible to your target audience. But, in the same way a showcase design follows well defined strategies and aesthetics, the way in which we present ourselves in social networks must also follow a very carefully developed action plan.
The strategy must take into account every social network that we are in because, as Giovanna de Prat pointed out, recruiters often check candidates’ profiles on every social network — even those that are considered to be for fun or more personal like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.
The reason for this is that these channels offer headhunters and recruiters very valuable information, such as the candidates’ likings and opinions and the different areas that spark their curiosity and interest. That’s why it is crucial to be coherent and goal oriented with what we chose to show in our profiles and to stay away from hate speech or controversy that could negatively affect us.
3. LinkedIn, “the place to be”
If there’s one professional social network that we must be part of, that’s LinkedIn. Not just because of the great volume of users (in Spain there are 14 millions), but because it’s the ideal place to showcase and develop our professional brand, share our experiences and create a contacts network that fits our goals. But not everything goes. It won’t be useful just signing up or adding contacts just for the sake of having many. Our presence in LinkedIn must follow a carefully designed strategy that takes into account everything from our profile design to the creation of content and the development of a contacts network aimed at creating opportunities.Such strategy is based in three fundamental aspects:
- A Profile to Seduce and Hook.
First impressions are important: When it comes to creating our LinkedIn profile, it’s crucial to put in the time to think about how we want to introduce ourselves in order to transmit what we are and what we want to achieve:- Banner. A good picture —neutral and professional— and a nice background. Most importantly, a headline that defines you through keywords — creating a link between your profile and the position or sector you want to be a part of. Be specific in order to make it easier for those looking for you to find you.
- The About section: Much like an elevator pitch, you have a limited amount of characters to get the attention of headhunters, recruiters or anyone visiting your online showcase and get them hooked. You mustn’t only enumerate functions or skills — you must make use of concise and clear storytelling, defining your profession, occupation and skills by taking advantage of keywords (there are tools like Google Trends that can come in handy). You need to show what you’re good at and what solutions you can offer. And you must never forget to add a call to action and your contact information.
- Experience: It’s easy to be tempted to write a whole essay on your work experience and the functions you have carried out. But you must remember to think about what recruiters want to know about you. That’s why, it’s best to describe the function you’ve carried out but focusing on achievements, briefly explaining what you’ve achieved during your experience.
- Skills: We often don’t give this section the importance it deserves but it’s actually a very useful search engine that can boost your profile’s visits. Obviously, it’s important that the skills you put down are true —it’s tempting to exaggerate— and leave behind those that don’t add any value.
- Accomplishments: This is the ideal space to show all your courses, further education, volunteer work, etc. But, again, it’s important to choose those that are coherent and aligned with your goals.
- Banner. A good picture —neutral and professional— and a nice background. Most importantly, a headline that defines you through keywords — creating a link between your profile and the position or sector you want to be a part of. Be specific in order to make it easier for those looking for you to find you.
- Share Content and Comment — and Do It Cleverly.
It’s no good creating a wonderfully enhanced profile if we don’t share content. However, many users don’t know what to share or are unsure about it. Let’s lose that fear and, if you think that you’re not capable of creating original content, you can be a content curator, selecting and sharing other people’s content. But don’t forget to add something that is yours — even a brief paragraph will do. Likewise, commenting on other people’s posts and not just giving it your likes will help you gain credibility and visibility.
- Bring Something to Get Something. Keys to Creating a Contacts Network.
When it comes to creating our contacts network, we must leave aside our obsession with having a great list. It doesn’t matter if it’s 100 or 500, in LinkedIn, the interesting thing is having the contacts that will teach us something. In the same way, we must generate interest in our profile. In order to do this, we must forget about automated or empty-message requests. Whether it’s a big company’s CEO or maybe recruiters, our messages must have value and hook others through what we transmit.