Social Networks Nab More Than Contacts — They Save Careers
“Brand yourself as a professional, become an authority in your field” this was the greatest advice I ever received. I went about this by stepping up my social networking and starting a blog to become known by other online marketing professionals. I quickly had subscribers to my blog and new connections that would have been impossible before.
Suddenly people knew who I was, they knew my name, and they were looking for me. I had new friends and fans on all of my social profiles and I was happy with that. I didn’t realize early on that being known means more than just having lots of connections and new networking opportunities.
People started to contact me and ask if I was available to help them with their web projects. Some work I took, some I didn’t. I was able to pick and choose what work I wanted to be a part of. Since I was holding a full time position the extra freelance income was nice. Then something happened to change that.
Last Monday I was downsized from the agency I was working with. This didn’t surprise me at all. Lots of business had just left (due to no fault of mine) that is just the nature of the online marketing business. When it happened I wasn’t very worried, I have branded myself and people have been coming to me to do work for them. I had plenty of freelance work for the next few months with nearly no sales work required. Still I called a few of my contacts.
Two hours later I had a better agency job and started the next day. The people who interviewed me knew who I was — they had seen my blog and before even speaking with me thought that I would be a good fit with their agency. I had never before gone to an interview where they were excited to meet me. This was all thanks to my self-branding efforts.
Had I not branded myself, had people not known anything about me – I would likely still be out hitting the pavement and trying to find work. I would never have been able to leave one job and start a new one the very next day.
I cannot speak for other industries but for online marketing branding yourself can be the most valuable thing you will ever do for your career.
Reader Comments.
Bookmarked and filed under motivation/inspiration.
why not work freelance for ever?
Being knowable is as important as being knowledgeable.
Dave, I was really glad to see your prospects open up…good luck growing your network even wider! Being a procrastinator, I haven’t written a blog yet, but I’d better get my first blog rolling, eh?
Great points. Personal branding online and reputation management are definitely important job skills. I’m trying to impart this wisdom to my friends and even my daughter as she enters the online arena.
I don’t think it matters whether it’s online or off. Your connections and reputation make a huge difference. Connections from my part time job at HP during college have been a big factor in getting my last 3 jobs. My first job out of college was with a company that one of my professors had introduced me to the company president.
With social media sites, I think you have a great opportunity to have a many connections you wouldn’t have had otherwise. If managed correctly, they can make a huge difference. If you aren’t careful, you probably can hurt your reputation even faster online.
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