While you may love to post pictures of your personal life and your vacations on your social media, the way that you conduct yourself on social media in private is going to be very different to the way in which you conduct yourself in social media in public. For example, the way that you act online can impact the job if you're not careful. There is a blur between personal and professional life when it comes to social media.
Anything you can and do say online stays there forever even if you delete it. Social media can be excellent but it can be full of pitfalls, so if you do say something online that could lead to a lawsuit, you're going to need a social media expert witness to back you up. Your activity including stealthy likes can come back to haunt you and the one thing that people are surprised to learn is that an employer can not only see your LinkedIn profile but they can see every single post that you've commented on or liked or shared. You have to be so cautious in what you react to because those around you can see it. So, with this in mind, here are some of the do’s and don'ts that you should consider when you are navigating social media in a professional manner.
- Do be respectful of others. It's so easy to slip into a social media argument. You might have strong opinions about something and other people will have strong opinions about something and if you voice them online your boss could see it. Attacking other people online is not a good idea so you should start using your best judgment about your own posts as well as what you comment. You need to make sure that you are an adult which means being mature.
- Don't post about politics. A heated conversation often comes up from politics, but one thing that you will find is that your politics may not align with your employer. If you follow on the ladder in a professional sense, then there's every chance that you will have very different political views to your boss who will be running a business and looking for those tax cuts that may come to his political party but not yours. You need to ensure that you're not taking any controversial stances where possible, especially not in public on social media.
- Do have a LinkedIn. Having a presence on LinkedIn is going to help you in your quest for a new job. If you want to be noticed professionally online for a good reason then you need to have a LinkedIn account. The content should be grammatically correct and spelled correctly as well and that you should ensure all jobs and titles are as accurate as possible, to. It's an important tool for networking and professional brand building, so make sure that you have a complete profile.
- Don't over share. Your personal information on social media can be shared at any point and oversharing is going to land you in hot water. If you have too much going on on your social media then it's time to take a step back and see if you can minimize how much time you spend on it.
