Monthly, I teach and coach transitioning service members about the importance of building their personal brand and projecting a thoughtful online presence. And every month, there's someone in the class, or in a meeting, who'll share something like, "I don't believe in social media, so I won't participate online."
Is that a realistic position to take in today's competitive business climate? Can you refrain from having an online presence and still find a job and grow your career? Perhaps. But you're making it much harder than it needs to be.
Let's look at some common beliefs around social media and online positioning:
1. You Lose All Control if You're Found Online
This belief centers on the idea that if you're on social media (or even a site such as LinkedIn), someone can misconstrue or manipulate your words and presence. In some ways, this could be true. If your photo and identity are anywhere on the internet today, you could risk being misrepresented. Given this, ask yourself whether your photo or identity (name, city, rank) are listed on any public or private online site. They very likely are out there somewhere. Our identities today are public, whether we design them as such or not.
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Being online and losing control are not synonymous. When you proactively put your images, name and information online, you are controlling the narrative about who you are and what you care about. You're telling your story. You choose what information you'll post, what you'll comment on and how much you'll share. Losing control over how you’re known online is a myth, if you have the right intention and focus.
Your online presence also builds context and reputation. Let’s say, for some reason, your identity was hacked and someone claiming to be you began acting offensively. If I’ve followed your LinkedIn posts or we’re connected on Facebook, I likely know you well enough to assume the fake information is from an imposter. Without that context, I might believe the imposter is the real you.
2. People You'd Rather Not Hear from Can Find You Online
Sure, your exes can find you online if you're visible. But so can networking contacts, potential employers and your current boss (and their boss).
Today, most people will hop over to LinkedIn or Google to learn more about someone when given their name:
- What's their background?
- Who do they know?
- How do they sound?
A LinkedIn profile answers all those questions for a potential employer who might have received your resume or heard about you.
During the job interview process, recruiters and hiring professionals will often look at your online profiles to ensure what's listed on your resume matches. They want to know that you converse online about the same topics you claimed to be passionate about in your interview.
Similarly, your boss might look at your online profiles to learn more about you:
- How did you get into your career field?
- What types of content do you discuss online?
- Are you well connected to industry influencers?
A positive online presence can help reinforce their positive perception of you.
3. It's a Lot of Work to Maintain an Online Presence
Yes, establishing and maintaining a positive online presence takes time and focus. But so do the most important aspects of your career. From in-person networking to resume development to skill building, growing your career is a job. In that way, social media presence is an important part of the job to be successful.
Setting a pace or cadence for online positioning is helpful. Whether you check and post on social networking sites one or five times a week, what is most important is that your content consistently reinforces how you want to be known (and found) and serves your target audience. Without a thoughtful strategy for how you'll maintain your online presence, the time spent can be wasteful or unmeasurable.
If growing your career was only about you -- and didn't involve recruiters, hiring professionals, bosses, networking contacts, employees, clients, customers, vendors and the like -- then you could probably ease your way out of the online community. Since most of us work with, serve, report to and are accountable to other people who need to understand us, online positioning is the quickest, most effective way to help them learn who we are, what we care about and how we can help them.
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