How to shine in the online world ?
Gone are the days of going to music shop to buy DVDs, going to Universal studios to get a song recorded, keeping a printed photo album of a vacation, and young boys checking out girls in parks. Going online is just so quicker, easier and cheaper that all other physical options have become obsolete. Advertisement as a Facebook post is more effective than a physical billboard in Times Square.
It's not OK to just have a Facebook profile full of 'how are you feeling' posts, nowadays. Chances are more that you will feel better if you talk to your mom rather that posting it online about how you feel. Social media is just like standing in front of hundreds, or thousand of people and speaking. Without realizing this fact, most people are just playing around online, forgetting about negative reflection it may have on their professional world. Below are the ways professional people, including me, keep up with the widest open online world.
- Understand the power of social media - Marketing yourself has not been so easy ever before. In a click, a post can reach to thousands of people who care the same cause as you do. When everyone is so busy viewing out of their online window, why not use this platform to showcase you skills and talents. Who knows- a company on the other side may exactly be looking for a person of you skills ? Like singing?- record and upload on YouTube, like writing?-create a blog, good at programming?-share your code in GitHub, published a paper?- share it it LinkedIn. Yes, its that simple !
- Social Media - Dos and Donts - While you may enjoy all the perks of social media, its important to know how is it shaping your professional image. You are a positive person, then why let social media reflect negative about you? Being professional online is the key here. While you've been posting all the good side of your face, a simple swearing post can get things all wrong. Got drunk last night in a friend's graduation party? - Don't go online bragging about how cool it was. You friends may find it cool, but not your boss.
- Be yourself and keep it simple - Remember, as long as you are weird, you have a life. Your uniqueness is what makes you interesting to others. People are curious about other people's passion and dreams. While it is easy to find a vast number of resources about your topic online, nothing is as beautiful as your original thought. Like Steve Jobs said once," Have the courage to follow your intuition; they somehow already know what you truly want to become." It totally applies in your online world too.
- Wear your best outfit when you go online - Do you go on a wedding party or a business meeting in tank-tops and yoga pants. I mean, it is so comforting and cool. No, you put on your new suit, combine it with a fresh fragrance and a pair of shining shoe. First impression counts, and you don't want to make it bad. The same logic applies when you go online. Your posts, writings, and stuff you share online reflects you. That is why its important to be careful while choosing your theme, design, and layout for you post. Use Canva.com for designs, Wix.com for beautiful website, Storify.com for curation, Grammarly.com for proofreading - just to name few. There are hundreds of design tool and tutorials on the web to help you shine in the online community. You are just a google search away.
