Using Social Media Marketing to Land Your Dream Job

Using Social Media Marketing to Land Your Dream Job
By Alyssa M Pettie

 

In today's economy, getting contacted by a hiring manager is

becoming increasingly tougher than it ever used to be. In the

old days, applicants only had to worry about a well-rounded

resume and an attractive cover letter. This is no longer the

case. With the advancement in technology over the years, job-

seekers are finding that regular use of social media is becoming

more and more essential. What job-seekers do not know, however,

is how to correctly use these social media platforms to work in

a way that benefits them and gets them pushed to the top of the

job pool. In this article, I will discuss using Facebook,

LinkedIn and About.me to re-brand yourself into who you want to

be!

Have you ever heard how important it is that one has their own

online portfolio? Well it is, but not only that, it is equally

important that your portfolio is search engine optimized. This

will ensure that your website makes it to the top of an

employer's search results every time! Take me for example. I use

Wix as my online host for my portfolio. When you purchase the

premium Wix account for your website, you are given your own

domain name and advertising coupons. These coupons can then be

used towards Facebook, Google+ and other social media sites.

Have you ever seen ads in the sidebar of your Facebook account?

You can be one of those people! In addition to using Facebook as

a means for advertising your portfolio, you can also create

"Like" pages. Like pages can be used to market you as a brand,

becoming more visible and accessible to employers.

Just as the business card is crucial for professional

networking, so is having an about.me. About.me is a social media

platform that allows you to create your own online business

card. It looks just like a business card with your contact

information entailed, as well as your resume, letters of

recommendation, portfolio, social media accounts, QR codes and

anything else that you want to display. About.me is also a great

site to connect your Pinterest or Instagram to. It is a good

idea to get one of these social media platforms as well; as it

illustrates that you have a creative side as well as a

professional one. After all, employers not only want to see that

you integrate well with their organization professionally, but

also on a personal level.

Maintaining an updated LinkedIn account has become so essential

in the last few years that it has almost come to the point that

if you do not have one, you will not get a job! LinkedIn is full

of ways that you can market yourself as a brand. Your headline,

alone, can attract more attention than you ever imagined if done

correctly. Have you ever scrolled through a plethora of profiles

and find they all seem the same? That is because most people do

not use their headlines correctly. The default setting for a

LinkedIn profile is your name and the company that employs you.

To market yourself further, it is important to have an

attractive headline. Be descriptive and specific using creative

dialogue that attracts an employer to your profile.

The lack of jobs nowadays does not give us job-seekers any room

to be slacking in the branding process. If you employ these

tips, I can guarantee that you will get more job offers than you

ever thought was possible.