Social Media for Personal Branding
Dos & Don’ts
In our previous post about social media, we’ve discussed the importance of social profiling and the role social media plays in hiring. We’ve mentioned that while a candidate can be a great technical fit for a position, their social media behavior still decides whether or not they match the company’s culture code and ethics. Today, we shall go deeper and introduce some social media dos and don’ts that can help candidates survive social profiling and give recruiters better impressions about themselves.
Social Media Dos and Don’ts
Recruiters usually check candidates’ Facebook looking at the content they post and share. They read their comments and see how they reply to others. They check the photos they’re posting to get a glimpse of the candidates own culture and personality. There are some actions that can promote a candidate, pushing a recruiter to give the promising (yes) while other actions can completely turn them off and decide a candidate isn’t a good match.
Don’ts
- Insult others. Every action that’s related to rude behavior and bad manners results in rejection.
- Go to extremes especially in religion, politics, and soccer.
- Post any pornography content.
- Write improper or negative comments or posts.
- Share or post improper or very personal pictures.
- Write improper comments or posts about their company.
It’s always good for candidates to show natural and neutral attitude on social media by not taking sides toward some party or group of people.
Dos
- Properly consider they’re sharing content in public.
- Show a variety of interests through the posts they share and not to follow one pattern. For instance, they shouldn’t stick to posting religious posts only, or political posts only.
- Show respect and politely reply to others.
- Avoid using improper language.
- Post valuable and useful content.
One thing that can amazingly lift up profile is when candidates use social media to promote their personal brand. This is done by showing off their work, writing articles about areas from their expertise, and providing advice and help to others. The engagement on such posts is usually positive and gives recruiters better impressions about candidates.
