PODCAST: Developing Your Personal Brand on Social Media

Developing and leveraging your personal brand on social media can help you open more doors in your job search. Hiring managers receive a large volume of job applications, and you must find a way to stand out from the faceless crowd. By having a clear online message of who you are, you have the opportunity to convey your identity to the hiring manager and improve your chances of standing out from the very beginning. 

In this episode of From the Battlefield to the Boardroom podcast, we discuss how to define your personal brand and its importance, tips for creating a personal brand, how to use social media to convey your brand, and common pitfalls that job seekers fall prey to while navigating social media.

To develop a personal brand, it is important to understand exactly what the term means in the social media space. The term “brand” can be a bit of a misnomer. A brand is more about the followers of a content than the content itself. In social media, a brand is defined as how you are identified, how you are seen as unique, and how that identity can help you improve your reputation and ultimately your following.

The best way to get started in building a personal brand is to first determine why you’re doing it, and have a good reason. Get rid of the “distractions”  in your social media presence, and have a clear message of who you are, which will help build your identity. A “distraction” would be something on your page not related to the core focus, whatever that may be.

The best social media platform to convey a professional personal brand is LinkedIn. Consistently engage with the platform, and visit the site multiple times a day, liking, sharing, and commenting on content that is relevant to your interests. 

However, it’s not enough to just be a passive participant on social media. The most valuable thing you can do is create original content by posting. A good topic could be “what my military career has taught me that applies in today’s environment.” You can go one step further and even proactively “answer” interview questions in a post. This practice is extremely beneficial to your job search, since it allows you to practice answers to standard interview questions while also building your personal brand.

There are some practices that military job seekers should keep in mind when engaging in social media. There are a few social media topics to avoid, including posting any political or religious content, volunteering private, personal information, and avoiding coarse or crude language. A good rule of thumb is to think of your social media as an extension of what you would say in an interview.

For military job seekers, social media can prove you’re human, dispelling the military stereotype that service members are robotic, cold, and unfeeling. You can use social media to bring a personal element to the job search, and it is one of the best ways to connect with Hiring Managers.

For more help developing your social media presence and to use social media like a pro, listen to the full episode, read our blog on how to use social media in your job search, and connect with us on our social platforms to find out more about current job opportunities, relevant news to your job search, and more.

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