For this week’s professional blog
assignment students were asked to conduct literature reviews, assimilate a few
TEDTalks, and upload an original photo to our blogsite. I’d like to start with the easiest of those
tasks for me, my photo share. This
picture was taken in the spring of 2015 while on a, cross it off of my
bucket-list, trip. We were able to spend
over a week in a place I had long hoped to visit. A place of sun-washed, blue-roofed buildings
perched cliffside overlooking ancient calderas and the mediterranean blue of
the Aegean Sea – our destination was the island of Santorini. This photo is of us on a sailing trip around
that gem of an island.
 |
| Santorini, Greece - April 2015 |
So it would seem that developing a
professional social media strategy is much like the navigation required for a
successful sailing experience. Think about
it, you need a destination (social media goals), then you also need to choose
your mode of sailing i.e., vessel type (social media platform), next you want
to chart a course (create a strategy).
Of course all along the way you’ll need to keep scanning the horizon,
monitoring communication channels, adjusting the sails, etc. to plan for and
predict a successful voyage.
Sailing analogy aside, let’s consider a
few examples of professionals who could benefit from a social media
strategy. Then we’ll look at a few
social media platforms and how they can best serve you professionally. Finally, we’ll move on to cover several
elements to consider when developing that strategy. There can be no doubt of the importance of a
professional social media strategy because in the words of Benjamin Franklin, “By
failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
I’ve drafted a list of examples of various
professionals who could benefit from a social media presence and strategy:
1) A
transitioning military service member creates a LinkedIn profile to network
with employment recruiters.
2) A
freelance photographer uploads various pictures to build a professional gallery
on Instagram.
3) A
strategic communications graduate student creates and contributes to a
professional weekly blog.
4) A
mid-level manager stays up-to-date on the latest leadership and management
topics in open discussions about and weekly readings of the Harvard Business
Review newsletter on Facebook.
5) An
aspiring comedian joins Twitter and scans daily “tweets” for trending comedic
value.
Establishing a social media presence is
one thing, but having a strategic plan for your professional objectives is an
additional step that many folks are missing.
Ariane Ollier-Malaterre suggests that it is important for professionals to
“make strategy choices for themselves” (Harvard Bus, 2015). In
order to establish a strategy, we need to understand a bit about what various social
media platforms can best do for us.
First, let’s look at LinkedIn. A
professional networking site, LinkedIn is best known for expanding career-minded
connections. Because of the
professional nature of this platform it is ideal for promoting a professional
brand. Here the resume takes on a visual
look in a virtual format. Additionally,
there are numerous career related groups to join in order to grow your social
sphere. Unlike other platforms, LinkedIn
is a “personal” free zone, it is entirely focused on professional networking.
Next, let’s examine the benefits of
Instagram. This mobile photo sharing application
is now part of the Facebook family and it goes without saying that the
acquisition led to an increase in users.
Instagram is all about visual content.
The adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words” rings quite true for
this platform. A professional could
quite possibly turn that adage into: a picture is worth a thousand likes or
shares. Additionally, Instagram has
capability for 15-second video uploads. There
is even the capability to embed these short clips to website and/or blogs.
Speaking of blogs, the blog remains an extremely
effective tool in the development of a strong professional strategy. The key item is content, content,
content. A professional blog can help
establish authority, which in the world of persuasion leads to credibility with
your audience. This is a winning
combination for today’s professionals.
Additionally, a successful professional blog can be profitable in and of
itself.
Let’s
consider the advantages to a professional strategy using the Twitter platform. A social networking platform that consists of
“microblogging” real-time posts called “tweets” of 140 characters or less. As with all things internet related Twitter
has evolved and that change has been a content related shift toward more
current news and trending topic discussions.
This site encourages connections of like-minded individuals with similar
interests and the following of leaders in industry. Additionally, photos can be uploaded for
visual “tweet” enhancement.
Finally, there is Facebook, that multipurpose
social networking platform that can no longer be considered a social connection
site only. No, this mega-web service
site keeps adding on to the services available to users. From the initial status updates to Facebook
live there are numerous tools for developing your professional brand and
strategy. Joining professional groups
that align with your business interests can help generate connections, provide
useful information, and offer a place to engage in industry related
discussions.
Now that we have covered the basic premise
for a few social media platforms let’s consider how to develop an
individualized professional social media strategy in a general sense. An article written by William Arruda
entitled, “Three Elements of an Effective Social Media Strategy,” provides that
an effective social media strategy should be built on these tenets: “Be
real. Be focused. Be consistent” (Forbes, 2013). Sure there are many more “how-to” references
for developing your own professional social media strategy but these three
elements are clear, concise and at the core of everything I’ve come across in
my readings and research. However, it
should be noted that these were developed with a personal strategy in
mind. That being said elements two and
three remain unchanged. Element one requires
the slightest adjustment if we keep in mind what Soumitra Butta said in his
“Managing Yourself: What’s Your Personal Social Media Strategy?” piece (Harvard
Bus, 2010). He clarified, “It helps to
look at the two spheres of social media activity – personal and professional –
against the target audience – private and public.”
The first element of an effective
professional social media strategy is to “Be real.” There is absolutely no substitute for
authenticity. Arruda asserts that “your
virtual world brand must match who you are in the real world” (2013). Even for a professional strategy your
professional brand should be an actual reflection of who you are and what you
hope to one day become. I feel that in
all we do there should be some evidence of who you really are. The objective is to be the real you, focusing
on the professional version of the real you when executing the various stages
of your social media strategy. Emphasis
should also be placed on keeping your personal profiles separate from your
professional profiles. Each type of
profile has a distinct objective and equally distinct strategy.
“Be focused” means set clear objectives
and stay the course with your chosen platform(s). The internet is unquestionably vast and one
of the keys to the successful implementation of a professional social media
strategy is honing in on the business community that will serve you and your
career the most. In addition, being
focused can relate to being selective.
You’re developing a professional strategy, keep this in mind with each
friend request/follow/connection/retweet/like, etc. you consider. Finally, the third element is to “be
consistent”. This covers time
management, the actual scheduling and prioritizing of time set aside to upload,
post, tweet, blog, follow, like, and/or comment. Because of the vastness of the internet there
is literally no way to have a presence on everything, everywhere, all of the
time – so set your goals, pick a few platforms that work for you, and
professionally navigate your way through the social media seas.
Strategically
Yours,
Autumn
*Bonus Share* I
was fortunate enough a few months ago to attend a workshop in Napa Valley where I met
and became friends with a truly inspirational woman.
She is indeed an innovator, but she is also diffusing her innovation. Lynda Nguyen is coming in to her own as
founder/CEO of newly launched www.friendtier.com a site where “We are
dreamers doing. We connect and create.”
And this site, all about connecting and creating, is linked up to all of
the biggies – follow on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.
A few more pics of our once-in-a-lifetime kind of family vacation:
Works Cited
Arruda,
W. Three Elements of an Effective Social Media Strategy. Forbes (2013)
Retrieved
from http://www.forbes.com/sites/williamarruda/2013/08/27/three-elements-of-an-effective-social-media-strategy/#266b1f227543
Duuta, S. Managing
Yourself: What’s Your Personal Social Media Strategy? Harvard Business Review
(2010) vol 88 issue 11 Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2010/11/managing-yourself-whats-your-personal-social-media-strategy
Ollier-Malaterre,
A. and Rothbard, N. How to Separate the Personal and Professional on Social
Media. Harvard Business Review (March 26, 2015). Retrieved from https://hbr.org/2015/03/how-to-separate-the-personal-and-professional-on-social-media
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