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This is Safe for Work, the Workopolis podcast.
Hi, I'm Sal Ciolfi and today on the podcast: personal branding. Everyone and
their mother and grandmother is now posting selfies on Snapchat and food
pics on Instagram, to say nothing of fake news on Facebook. But what does it all
mean? Is it all just a way to kill some time, or is social media a useful tool
especially when it comes to the career building? Madisyn McKee, Workopolis'
social media manager is here with me today to argue the latter. Hi Madi.
Hi Sal.
So, before we dive in, how did you get started with social media?
I actually worked in communications for one of my past jobs, and part of that job was to
manage all the social media accounts. And I found myself doing that more during
the day than anything else and I just loved managing them so I thought why not
try and do this full time.
And on the personal side you also
developed your own following on social media how did that come about?
As part of building myself and my career into social media management, I kind of took the
route around building my own following through a blog just to build up my
portfolio and to prove to people that, you know, I could walk the walk and talk
to talk and do it myself. So I spent some time building up a following there, which
was also a passion and a hobby and I think it's helped me and my career moving
forward. It's how I got the job here.
And that was a travel blog?
Yeah I was focused on travel and lifestyle.
OK. So, you built up your personal brand and
personal branding gets discussed a lot when it comes to social media but what
does that mean exactly?
It's really about how you market
yourself to the outside world. If you are talking to someone and you're looking
for a career or you're introducing yourself to someone, how do you want
their perception to be of you? What is it that you want them to walk away with in
terms of you and what you stand for and what you're looking for out of your
career? That's how would say personal branding looks.
And it's getting more
important for job seekers today right?
Absolutely. It it really helps to set
them apart from competition and it really helps to build up credibility. I
think as a hiring manager looking at two different people, one has built
themselves up online with a personal branding, one has a regular resume, you're
going to go with the one who has shown credibility,
has really showcased what they can do online.
OK so who would you say is a
good example of someone using social media for personal branding?
OK you're going to laugh because I know we've talked about this before but the
Kardashians I think are the perfect example of building a personal brand. All
of them within that family have their own little niche subjects and together
it just works to build up the brand of the Kardashian empire, I guess you'd say.
But every single one of them have their own personal brand and honestly people
love them and that's why. Because they've, you know, they've found their
niche, they've gone after it, and they really engage with their followers and
their audiences, and they've built themselves up from there.
So aside from
putting out a sex tape, how did they manage to do that exactly?
First and foremost, getting on Snapchat. they're really integral on Instagram for
a while, I think they started more with Twitter and I mean you see in the
earlier episodes of Keeping Up with the Kardashians - sorry and yes I do watch
that show - they're always on Twitter, they're always connecting with their
audiences, they're always retweeting them tweeting at them. And I think that really
helped the followers to relate to them and, you know, they built themselves up
that way. They've always been, you know, posting consistently there, they're never
really off social media I guess you'd say.
OK so I guess it
would be easier when you're part of like a Kardashian family or something but
what about, you know, someone like you, or like me for example? How would I go
about doing that? What would be the first steps I would have to take to really
build up a following or build up a social media brand?
I think first and
foremost you have to figure out what your unique voice is and what your niche is.
What do you specialize in? I know that you're really into music, you used to be
in a band and still are I think? So-
Debatable.
So, finding out what you're
interested in and having that authority voice over that specific subject I think
really helps. And then of course you know synergizing your content across
all the social platforms. So if I'm coming to your Twitter account I know
what you're talking about. If I'm going to your Instagram, it's the same thing.
You need to have the same voice across all platforms.
But it's not necessarily the
same content across all platforms?
No you definitely need to diversify. I mean,
you're not going to post the same thing on Facebook as you would on Twitter.
First of all the count of words that you're allowed is different and I mean
Instagram same thing you can't be posting links to blog posts or links to
websites that you like it's really just about imagery there. So you definitely
need to diversify your content for sure.
OK. You hear often about social
media influencers, especially in the marketing side. What is that exactly?
Social media influencers are interesting because they've really come up in the
past couple of years. And I think the basic definition of what they are are
people who can reach or influencers, personalities, that you can reach
audiences that companies can't necessarily. So a lot of marketing and
advertising these days, it's all about connecting with the audiences and giving
them, you know, what they're looking for. And influencers create that word of
mouth kind of aspect with it that companies can't really. So if you are
looking to buy a product, you're far more going to be interested in what the
product is and buy it if you have a friend talking to you about it or if you
have you know a family member. And that's what social media influencers are.
Because they're connecting with people and audiences on that basic level like,
the Kardashians do, people are more likely to buy from those people than
they would from a specific company.
It's like the modern day celebrity endorsement.
Absolutely.
OK. So how how does someone become a social
media influencer? Because a lot of these people are not celebrities to start but they've
sort of become celebrities by virtue of a social media presence right?
For sure. I think first and foremost, you need to obviously work on your personal branding.
You need to have your unique voice and your niche. You need to give people a
reason to come back to you. So, why will people care what it is that you're
saying? Why should they, you know, follow you on Instagram? Why should they follow
you on Twitter? You really need to work up that personal branding and you know
to do that you really need to synergize your social platforms. So while you need
to diversify your content based on where you're posting it, you at the same time
really need to keep that brand messaging. You know, the pictures that you're
posting, the colouring that you're using, consistent across platforms.
OK, so you
mentioned diversifying content. Can you explain that a little more? So each
platform has a different audience and a different style I guess?
Yeah I mean with
Instagram, for example, you can't be posting links to your blog or to your
website - it's really just about imagery and brand building, putting out nice
pictures of, you know, places that you're going to or products that you're using.
With Twitter, you can get a little bit more creative there in terms of videos,
You can post photos, links, but you also only have 140 characters to do it - so
you've got to be pretty creative if you want to get your message out quickly.
And then with Facebook, obviously it's a little bit longer and gives you that
little bit more flexibility, but at the end of the day you have to be catering
what you're saying to where you're posting.
Are there are some tools that
people can use to sort of manage their their presence across all these platforms?
For sure. So one of the ones that we use here at Workopolis is
Hootsuite. It's one of my favorites. It's similar to Sprout Social or Buffer if
you guys use that but it's really a way for you to pre-schedule posts for social
media so you don't have to worry about it at the time. That being said, you don't
want to set it and forget it. While it is great to pre-schedule, you always want to
be engaging with your social following. But other tools like Google Docs that
you can take anywhere with you, you know, if you have an idea jot it down in a
Google Doc or a Google Sheet so that you can access it later. And stuff like
Photoshop or Lightroom are really good for editing photos for Instagram or
Facebook where image-heavy is is important.
Great you just touched on
staying engaged and being kind of consistent with it. What other tips would
you have for people looking to do personal brand on social media?
Well I think
first and foremost you always want to be mindful of what it is that you're
actually posting. We've all seen those mistakes of inappropriate posts going out
on social and those come back to haunt you later on in your career. So, you know,
if you're out for a few drinks with a few friends maybe leave your phone at
home if you tend to be a drunk tweeter. But just be careful of what you're
posting and, like I've mentioned before, stay engaged with the audience.
Watch for grammar - that's really important. You can always delete a tweet
but, you know, just be mindful of what you're putting out there and at the end
of the day be authentic to your voice and who you are. That really helps to
build your following up more so than anything else because you're building
that personalized aspect with your audience.
It's funny that everything you
just said those rules are all being broken by Donald Trump and yet somehow he
has a big audience.
Yeah that one's a big mystery.
Well OK, great advice thanks Madi.
Thank you.
You can also go to our blog at workopolis.com/advice
for tips and discussion on all things career-related.
Safe for Work is produced by me, Sal Ciolfi, Paige Magarrey, and Madisyn McKee.
It's executive produced by Lana Chen and Anne Valeri. Music by the band Code Pie.
You've been listening to Safe for Work, the Workopolis podcast.