Another Approach to Professional Growth

Professional Social Media

"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet." - Jim Mattis

Lately, I've been thinking of how to promote myself as a professional on social media.

Not professional in the white background headshot, no swearing, no nudes sense, but in the sense of promoting myself as someone with a certain set of skills that I can offer to others.

I'm a professional Marketing Media & Content Manager/ Digital Media Expert who offers my services on a freelance/contract basis. My LinkedIn profile looks damn-near superb if you ask me, in terms of who I am and what I do. I have job history listed, as well as samples of work, and a nice little bio.

I have skills listed and I've taken assessments to prove my proficiency with those skills. I review the analytics on my profile, the number of page views and post impressions. But as someone who works with social media daily, I know I need to be seen on social media as well.

I spend so much time posting on behalf of others, and now it's time to dedicate the same time (yikes) and effort into my own posts. Social media continues to grow and is now a place for job seekers and hirers to explore their options. Social media is great for exposure, and that's where the professional me enters the room.

I've come across different professional profiles on Instagram and Twitter with things like Social Media Expert/Consultant, Email Marketing, and Marketing Agent in their titles/bios. That needs to be me. I like what I do, I have years of experience under my belt, and I'm ready to be discovered and do more work.

My thought is to get established and show my work on social media. To get in front of and interact with new people and eventually offer my services. I'm currently working on dressing up my portfolio, which I want to add to social media as well. For some reason, this feels like the next step to take with my professional life. Like I said, I'm staying current on LinkedIn, and have looked for work on there and Indeed. I've used a number of sites built for freelancers to find work. I created a website to continue to exercise certain skills and gain credibility. Now I'm ready to network with new folks on Facebook, Twitter, and IG.

I question whether I should merge my existing personal accounts with info about my professional services and manage both under the same account, or if I should create separate accounts to promote my services.

I have a few separate accounts already and it's not the easiest to manage. (That's not an argument for the other option, because a little hard work never hurt anybody.) I'll think a little more on it, because I have pros and cons for both, but overall I'm excited to start this semi-new journey.

I'm not sure about you, but starting new projects/tasks excites me, even the ones that slightly intimidate me. It's exciting to create more, think more, and accomplish more. To tackle more challenges and learn more along the way. To grow.

I enjoy keeping busy (not all the time though) and this is something to add to my to-do list. I also like social media and can scroll for days, so maybe that contributes to the feelings of excitement and anticipation.

I've also been kind of beating myself up for not writing regularly. I recently reprimanded myself and put a plan in place to get back on track this week. I have hopes that with my professional social media accounts, I'll be more inclined to write. I'm a writer who has and can contribute my words to blogs, newsletters, press releases, lading pages, and more. For people to believe I'm capable of these things, they need to see it. To be established as a writer, I need to write. Period.

My sister has told me many times to post chapters or segments of a story weekly. I've always loved the idea and can very well do that with this blog, I just need to put in the time and effort. I've started countless short stories that need polishing and endings. Maybe it'd be motivational to use social media for my written work. To establish a group of followers who enjoy what I put out and look forward to more. That would be dope.

Additionally, I'd love to find a group of people who could critique and provide feedback on my work. There are so many resources on social media, and I'm determined to dive into new ones this year.

So here's to taking the time to get more professional on social media, to put my work out there in a new way, and embrace what opportunities come next.

Side note: putting yourself out there is not an easy task. And putting your work out there is no easier. It takes courage and confidence. If you're still trying to find that, please don't give up. Spend some time working up the courage and confidence to do something new. Challenge yourself. You'll do great things.