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Life

How to Build a Professional Social Media Presence

Stephanie Hoff
Hannah Yohnk
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Wisconsin chapter.

Having a strong professional social media presence is important in any field – from marketing to biology. If you are able to communicate your passion or work in a way for people to understand and then build connections through that, employers will see you as a rockstar.

In this article, I will focus on two social media platforms that I feel are the best places to start when it comes to professional social media.

 

The first and most obvious is LinkedIn.

Create an account on LinkedIn. It’s one of the most established and innovative social media platforms around. You can even do things like upload PDFs to create a portfolio and describe yourself outside of your profile. That being said, please POST; it is so important to post content on LinkedIn! You cannot just be on the platform to get results, you need to be active. My personal goals are to spend just as much time on LinkedIn as I do on Facebook.

 

But what do you post on LinkedIn besides a job opening?

 

Well, you’re trying to build connections and land your dream job, so market yourself for that position. The following are potential post topics: events happening in your student org, something new you’ve learned from your internship, research you’re conducting, a service activity you did, a thank-you shout out to someone who has made an impact on your professional career, talk about your major and why it interests you, discuss your dream job… I’m sure you get the idea and can think of some new topics.

 

A great way to really catch some fire on LinkedIn is to discuss these topics via video! Does that sound intimidating? Good! Your self-confidence and willingness to put yourself out there is a thumbs up from potential employers. Video also allows viewers to build a relationship with you through your content, even if you haven’t met them in person. Video can be shot anywhere at any time – the first one is always the hardest, but once you post it, it only gets easier.

 

To get captions on your photos, upload the video on YouTube and you can caption it there. Nobody wants to listen to a video on full volume – use the caption tools.  

 

My second favorite app for professional use is Twitter

 

Create a Twitter account that is strictly professional. Use a clean profile picture and a cover photo that really demonstrates you working: such as a picture of you doing research or on the job. You can also have a fun photo that describes you: maybe from your time studying abroad or throwing up the W at a hockey game. Make sure to use hashtags and handles in your bio that help explain you and gain traffic to your account.

 

For example: if you are a life sciences communication major with a passion for the environment and enjoy Babcock ice cream, your bio might read “@UWMadison BS’20 in #scicomm | love the #environment | mitigate #climatechange | catch me @WisconsinUnion eating @BabcockDairy #icecream”

 

I would start by following at least 200 people, schools or businesses that you want to connect with or admire.

 

You can search for relevant hashtags via Google search or Twitter. Work tags, links and hashtags into your posts; retweet often and comment thoughtful or helpful messages. You can repost your content used on LinkedIn. Use Twitter to uplift others, not bring people down.

 

With that, I’d like to throw out a shameless plug for Life Sciences Communication (LSC) 432, a course offered at UW that is designed to get students on social media professionally and build their connections to become social media rockstars in their field. We go over a lot of strategy on how to be the best at social media so that we can help ourselves and others! The course is offered this summer and in the spring.

 

Hi everyone! I'm Stephanie Hoff, a graduate of UW-Madison as of December 15, 2019. My degree is life sciences communication which is all things communications from journalism to broadcast to marketing with an emphasis on tough topics like science and agriculture. I also have certificates in folklore which is an ethnographic, cultural studies discipline, and entrepreneurship, because I wanted to learn how to use my work ethic and professional skills in a start up setting. I have a great mix of interests because I have a great mix of experiences that make me an open-minded, well-rounded individual who is excited about learning and communicating. Follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn to learn more about me and to find my online portfolio.
Hannah, originally from Milwaukee, WI is a Campus Correspondent for HC Wisconsin.  Hannah is a Senior and is studying Political Science and Psychology.  She aspires to work in health policy and will run for office one day.  She is never seen without a cup of coffee in hand and loves to eat any food in sight, especially sushi.  Outside of school, Hannah frequents Badger sporting events and likes to hang out with her friends on the weekends finding new things to do and new places to eat.  Hannah also runs her own Mary Kay business and is obsessed with keeping up with the latest makeup trends! This will be her seventh semester on the Her Campus team, and she loves the org more and more each semester!  It is Hannah's favorite thing that she is involved in on campus and highly recommends anyone with an interest in writing, journalism, or blogging to get involved, you won't regret it! On Wisconsin!!