When it comes to social media, often times we think of it as a way to share our every living moment with our friends and family; we leave the marketing to the big companies and brands that we often admire for their clever marketing in social media. On last week’s blog we talked about how creating a brand around you is incredibly important, especially when it comes to applying for jobs and to colleges. Most people would tell you to just make all of your social media private, that way nobody can see what you’re doing when it comes to potential employers and colleges. But me? I say use social media to your power.
I get it, mom and grandma really love seeing your selfies, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but balance is always key. Personally, and a selfless plug here, my instagram (@kobywheeler) features a couple of things that I’m really passionate about. It basically boils down to travel, art and music. It keeps my instagram clean, consistent and interesting. I don’t post just to post, I only post when I have something I want to share. That means my instagram doesn’t suffer from content that isn’t up to par with the “brand” that I’m trying to project. You can do the same things! Think about where you often find yourself taking the most, and best pictures or the most interesting things to share. Is it at concerts? At dinner? When you’re out with friends? And don’t worry, for you selfie addicts, don’t be afraid to post a good one every now and then, take them when you’re out and about doing something you enjoy or find a friend who’s willing to get an action shot or candid in the moment.
You’ll also notice in the screenshot of my instagram profile that I make use of my biography. When people visit your social media profile for the first time you don’t want to make them scroll through your entire feed to get to know who you are, give them a brief summary of what interests you, what you do or some other sort of hook to get people interested in what you’re doing. For example, in mine, I mix some of my passions with my actual job for people to better understand my diverse interests ranging from art to entrepreneurship. I also make use of the URL section of my instagram profile to link to my website, which better showcases some of my work and my interests. You don’t have to have your own website, although I recommend it (that’ll be a blog posts in the near future); you can link anything that relates to you, maybe it’s an organisation that you’re a part of, or a blog post you write on a free blog website.
Another little secret of mine when it comes to my instagram is sprinkling some of my accomplishments into my page as a sort of easter egg for when a potential employer would maybe look at my page, for example a little scroll down into my page is a photo of me talking at SXSWedu. The photo clearly shows the SXSWedu logo and in my caption I clearly thanks SXSWedu and some of my panel colleagues. You can break from the form of your theme when it comes to accomplishments like this— it’s important to brag about yourself.
The big picture here is, be true to yourself, but don’t be afraid to show off your accomplishments and your passions. It’s important for you to put your best face forward, and to show off what you enjoy.
Thanks so much for reading this week. Have a suggestion for a blog topic or just want to chat about how to better brand yourself? Head over to the “Contact me!” tab and get in contact with me. As always, feel free to follow me on instagram as well @kobywheeler.