Networking is a key skill for building valuable professional relationships and driving your career forward. For many people this means going online, but social media can both help and hinder you.
When you're using social media professionally, people can often see your profile, your connections and your comments, which makes it a very public form of networking.
That has benefits in some contexts. For instance, if you make a comment on a post on LinkedIn and someone sees it and thinks it's really insightful and interesting, they might reach out and connect with you. But it also means you have to be really careful about what you say and how you express yourself, because you're not really in control of who's going to see your words or images.
It also means that even if you're not very active on social media, you really do need profiles on multiple platforms. If someone meets you and then looks you up on LinkedIn and you're not there, they may take that as a sign that you're not very tech savvy, or that you aren't interested in connecting with other accountants or finance professionals.
The nature of social media means there's a huge temptation to just collect connections -- the system is always presenting options to you of people you might like to connect with. And, of course you do want to use it to link up with a wide variety of people and to broaden your network. But the real value in social media will come if you spend time engaging with the connections you already have, building deeper relationships with them. So the key is to focus on maintaining and developing those in-depth relationships.
Top tip
When you comment on someone else's social media post, you're presenting a bite-sized version of yourself to them. Make your comment appropriate, relevant, insightful and memorable.
When you know someone already, a comment reminds them about you and should reinforce your relationship. When you comment on a stranger's post, this is your chance to make an impression and encourage them to engage and ultimately connect with you.
One quick way to engage is simply to ask the original poster to clarify something. Keep your question open to encourage them to respond and expand on their thinking.
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