Using social media to increase your professional brand & visibility
In today’s day and age, almost everyone has a social media account. As a matter of fact, social media has been integrated into people’s lifestyles. It connects people and allows memories to be stored and shared with everyone. Aside from personal use, did you know that your career can benefit from social media? Learn about using social media to increase your professional brand and visibility as a nurse.
How will social media help my nursing career?
Social media helps connect people. You can leverage the capacity of social media to build connections so you can grow your network. By carefully curating what you post, how you brand yourself, and whom you connect with, you can effectively maximize the power and influence of social media.
First thing's first: choose your platform
There are so many social networking sites and platforms available for free in the digital space. It might get a little too overwhelming just thinking about creating and maintaining an account on each platform.
You don't have to be present everywhere. Know which ones are perfect for your goals and can help you maximize your virtual presence. The usual go-to is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Let's talk about each one.
Best known for bridging people and communities, Facebook is great when you want to reach a good number of people while being professional and personal at the same time.
Keep a personal account and join groups to meet people who share the same interests as you. This is one way of building your network. You may also want to build a page for yourself where you can share content about nursing if your goal is to influence people.
More on short-form content, Twitter is typically used to spark discussions or give quick updates. Because of their limited character count per tweet, you can’t have long discussions or content posted on Twitter.
Focused more on photos and videos, Instagram allows you to share snaps of your day. It isn't much about connecting people but more about putting out content whether personal or professional.
The go-to platform for career-driven individuals, LinkedIn lets professionals easily get in touch with each other. Since it is career-centric, you can put details such as work experience, volunteer initiatives, and the like. Posts here are mostly about companies, work trends, and anything about professional development.
YouTube
Through YouTube, you can share video content that's just about anything. As a nurse, you can share clips of your shift, give tips, or share informative and educational tutorials.
Meet people and expand your network
Using social media to increase your professional brand and visibility involves meeting other people on your chosen platforms. By connecting with more people, you can grow your network.
Networking is very important as a nurse — or any profession, for that matter. Through connections, you can find available job positions, support and interest groups, nursing trends, job referrals, and career opportunities.
Find potential employers
As you grow your network in the industry, you will also come across potential employers. They can be recruiters who are looking to fill positions or nursing supervisors who need people on their teams.
Regardless if it is direct or a recruiter, social media can help you put yourself out there. It can give you career opportunities that you may not find immediately offline.
Be a key opinion leader in the nursing industry
Another way of using social media to increase your professional brand and visibility is to be a thought leader. Sometimes referred to as key opinion leaders or influencers, these are individuals whom people in the industry look up to.
Some are experts in nursing or have specialties. Others share daily life or useful content which nursing aspirants can use as a reference and guide. To be one, you must build your brand, create constant and consistent content, and keep engagement.
Remember: branding is important
How you present yourself on social media is very important as it makes a first impression. Before putting content or building your network, ask yourself first what kind of branding you want for yourself.
Are you an experienced nurse who wants to explore other specialties? Do you want to be known as a travel nurse who shares hacks, tips, and useful information? By identifying what kind of nurse you want to present yourself to be, you get a better picture of the content you want to create and the people you want to connect with.
However, even if you have made branding for yourself, make sure that it still stays true to who you are. Make sure that it coincides with your personality and beliefs.
Always be consistent
Consistency is crucial — consistency in terms of the content you share and how often you keep yourself visible. For employers and the nursing community to notice you and your brand, you should maintain that visibility. You can do so by regularly having social media posts and keeping your friends, acquaintances, and followers engaged.
Using social media for your nursing career
Social media platforms are most of the time free for public use. With everyone being on their phones and online almost always, you can leverage social media to help boost your nursing career. By using social media to increase your professional brand and visibility, you open yourself to more career opportunities.