Even if 'social media' isn't part of your job description, dedicating time to social media can be a boon for your career and enhance the value that you offer your organization, clients or customers, and coworkers.
To maximize the potency of your professional development efforts on social media, you'll need to be focused:
- Set up interest lists on Facebook to follow leaders in your industry.
- Establish a series of Twitter lists to zero-in on conversations relevant to your business.
- Select individual Pinterest boards to follow that are of particular professional significance.
- Set up an RSS feed of reputable blogs that are contributed to by trustworthy industry experts.
These are, of course, just a few ways that you can focus your attention.
No matter what shape your social media professional development dashboard takes, I urge you to spend some time figuring out the best way to organize the information you're fed from various social media and digital channels. It'll make your day-to-day activity more efficient, which you'll appreciate and will help to keep you motivated.
So, on to how spending focused time on social media can enhance your career:
CONTINUOUS LEARNING
This is pretty obvious, but it's certainly a huge benefit. Push yourself to improve, be divergent in the way you think, and enhance the knowledge you retain by setting up an environment on social media that will facilitate continuous learning. Focus time and attention learning about the category in which your company competes, competitive activity, consumer behaviour and insights, and other complimentary areas that could be of relevance to you or your business.
ENHANCE CAPABILITIES
Focus some of your time and attention on social media to learning about how you can enhance your personal capabilities. Think about how you can improve within the current definition of your job function and focus your learning to maximize your effectiveness. Think about how you can grow and expand upon your current role and how you could tailor your learning to position yourself to be able to satisfy growing needs, future requirements, or help to take your career in a new and rewarding direction.
INFORMATION DISSEMINATION
Don't be shy about sharing what you learn on social media with those around you - and isn't this convenient - share with them on social media! Helping your colleagues to be better informed, and generally better at their jobs can seem counterintuitive in a hypercompetitive professional landscape, but the better they are at their jobs, the more they will push you to be better and more knowledgeable at yours. And while a competitive spirit can be healthy, remember that you are all working toward common goals, and should be doing so with a sense of teamwork and camaraderie.
PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS
The people you know can have a dramatic influence over the path your career takes. Fortunately, social media is a great place to begin cultivating relationships with professionals for mutual benefit. You never know who you meet on social media that at some point might have a job for you, want to employ your services, have a need for your products, be a strategic partner or supplier, or any other beneficial scenario.
ESTABLISH CREDIBILITY
Boost your professional credibility by sharing your original thoughts, ideas, perspectives and musings on topics related to your area of expertise. Dedicate yourself to micro blogging or posting on Google+, set up a Tumblr or WordPress blog, shoot Instagram or longer format videos; there is certainly no shortage of platforms or formats to choose from. Proving your knowledge and providing value in this way could earn you new business, a new job, organic growth opportunities, the admiration of your organization's leadership, or of course just be personally and professionally stimulating.
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How do you use social media to bolster your career?
Has your time spent on social media yielded positive results for your company?
What actions or activities do you engage in on social media for purposes of professional development?
It would be great to hear about your thoughts and experiences in the comments, or on Twitter @RGBSocial