Being an MBA student, from day 1 of being accepted into the program we have been told to create a professional online presence. The first thing that we were strongly recommended to do was to utilize the privacy settings on social networking sites, such as Facebook.
The second action item was to create a LinkedIn profile. As part of developing your LinkedIn profile, use a professional picture, if possible. Also, incorporate as much of your resume as relevant to your purpose of being on LinkedIn. Then, once you have a LinkedIn profile, start connecting to people you know both personally and professionally. Join groups that relate to your area(s) of specialty and/or experience. Remember, the purpose of being on LinkedIn is to start developing your brand.
From there, my personal recommendation is to create a Twitter account so you can put your message in front of your audience and network simultaneously. In order to remain in front of your audience, Tweet often. Make it pertinent and relevant.
My second personal recommendation is to create a blog about something about which you are passionate. For instances, as part of one of my courses, I created a blog about my experiences of my consulting project in India (http://innovativeglobalhealth.blogspot.com/). If you are going to blog, I would recommend that you plan how many posts you will be able to make every week before you start. So you can give your followers realistic expectations about your blog.
As you start to create an online presence, you might want to consider tracking how many followers and other statistics so you can better cater to your audience. Also, you might want to google your name on a regular basis as well as google images. If you want you can create a google alert for your name, so you can receive updates about yourself in your email.
By taking these four steps, you are on the path to creating your own online presence.
The second action item was to create a LinkedIn profile. As part of developing your LinkedIn profile, use a professional picture, if possible. Also, incorporate as much of your resume as relevant to your purpose of being on LinkedIn. Then, once you have a LinkedIn profile, start connecting to people you know both personally and professionally. Join groups that relate to your area(s) of specialty and/or experience. Remember, the purpose of being on LinkedIn is to start developing your brand.
From there, my personal recommendation is to create a Twitter account so you can put your message in front of your audience and network simultaneously. In order to remain in front of your audience, Tweet often. Make it pertinent and relevant.
My second personal recommendation is to create a blog about something about which you are passionate. For instances, as part of one of my courses, I created a blog about my experiences of my consulting project in India (http://innovativeglobalhealth.blogspot.com/). If you are going to blog, I would recommend that you plan how many posts you will be able to make every week before you start. So you can give your followers realistic expectations about your blog.
As you start to create an online presence, you might want to consider tracking how many followers and other statistics so you can better cater to your audience. Also, you might want to google your name on a regular basis as well as google images. If you want you can create a google alert for your name, so you can receive updates about yourself in your email.
By taking these four steps, you are on the path to creating your own online presence.
No comments:
Post a Comment