Leveraging Social Media to Achieve Career Goals

It’s been quite a while since I last posted an article to LinkedIn. Lately I’ve been embroiled in MBA studies and lucky enough to blog on my class’s behalf at mays.tamu.edu/louis. The last post I authored specifically for LinkedIn was a reflection on my first year in the MBA program. That article, I believe, launched my opportunity to blog for Texas A&M. I’m thankful for the opportunity, but disappointed that I let the blog get in the way of my writing for LinkedIn.

            During the three months that I’ve been writing specifically for Texas A&M, I’ve come to the realization of just how powerful a tool LinkedIn is. I let my profile and views fall to the wayside as I’ve focused on blog views. When I think about people who can write for multiple blogs at once, I’m gob smacked. I’ve created a timeline for my posts at Texas A&M, once a week. I feel it gives me enough time to do the appropriate research and learn lessons from views and comments.

            While my LinkedIn profile views haven’t suffered as a result of the blog, they haven’t increased exponentially like I assumed they would. I feel I’ve observed a few things that may be the reason for the lack of increased traffic. I’m hoping the lessons I’ve learned can help you leverage your LinkedIn profile to accomplish your own personal branding goals.

Create a Cohesive Brand:

Blogging on the Texas A&M site, I’ve felt a duty to reflect my posts to lessons I’ve learned in the MBA program. I wasn’t specifically asked to do this, but I felt it allowed me to leverage my studies in a way that branded myself as a critical and creative thinker in the program.

            I’ve taken great care in developing my LinkedIn page, as it’s a great resource for connecting with colleagues and groups. Nothing that I’ve done with my LinkedIn page would detract from my blog, nor would my blog detract from my LinkedIn.

            Where many individuals get in trouble is with other forms of social media. Facebook, for example, is a great tool to get you knocked down a few rungs.

            Ask yourself; do you still have college pictures up? What would a recruiter or your boss think of your photos? Do they show you in the best light?

            This creates a question many are hard pressed to answer. Where is the line between professional and social media platforms? I’ve thought about this quite a bit and asked my wife, who uses both Facebook and Instagram. She uses the tools to stay in touch with old friends, but many use these tools for professional purposes as well.

           The truth is this, if you have a social media presence for personal means, it is fair game for recruiters and employers to search. With this hard reality in place, perhaps it’s appropriate to scrub your social media in case there are photos or posts that appear incongruent with your professional pages. There are many easily searchable stories about people being fired for comments on personal social media. Perhaps the thought of personal social media is, in itself, an oxymoron.

Create a Cohesive Voice:

Whether you are blogging for a specific company or your own enjoyment, you need to realize that you are the author. This gets messy when you’re not claiming authorship for a blog, but if you are blogging on multiple sites, you need to realize it is all easily searchable by recruiters and your employer.

            Since I began blogging for A&M, I stopped blogging on LinkedIn; my own hands silenced my voice. Looking at previous posts, the voice remains constant, but I limited my effect by pushing traffic to Texas A&M. I had an opportunity to create a cohesive voice across multiple platforms, but I didn’t take it! This is my mistake.

             For those who haven’t fallen into the trap that I have, ask yourself, how are you leveraging yourself across platforms? Are you creating cross-site traffic? What are your goals with posting to multiple sites?

Create Something Actionable:

If your blogging goal is to increase page traffic or you are writing simply for the joy of having other people read your work, the end result is the same. What you author should be something you are proud of. Before I hit the publish button in WordPress or on LinkedIn, I take a second to think about whether or not I can accomplish what I’ve set out to with my blog post.

            Recently I blogged about a school shooting, my goal was to keep the conversation about gun control and mental health going. In my classes the following week, classmates approached me about the subject. Whether or not the scope of my goal was reached, people were talking.

            This is the struggle many bloggers have, writing something that prompts someone to take action. My first post to LinkedIn was about how difficult it has been for me to write publically, my goal was that when people saw me overcoming my fears, others would as well. The post received good traction and many positive comments. Whether or not people took the step to challenge themselves, I don’t rightly know. For that reason, I can’t say I was successful.

            Every post should have a call to action. Why is someone reading this?

Why Are You Reading This?

Since posting to LinkedIn for the first time, my page views increased. Since posting to Texas A&M, I’ve been able to maintain that traction. Everyone on LinkedIn has something of value to add, it’s just a matter of finding out what your calling is. Once it strikes you, take a moment to think about brand, voice, and action. Considering these three aspects of blogging will help you achieve your goals.

            What are your thoughts about leveraging your social media to achieve career goals? Please, post your experiences and thoughts below. I think we’d all love to learn from you.