I was at a session yesterday with a bunch of job seekers and a bunch of recruiters. The questions and suggestions were pretty interesting but one, in particular, stuck with me.
One of the facilitators suggested that part of managing your presence on social media should be to work on becoming a thought leader.
Woah … instant glaze over in the front row. A thought leader? What the heck is that and how could I become one when I don’t have a job?
We all have expertise in something. It could be a work skill, an industry, a community interest or a hobby.
Usually that interest drives us to look out for interesting articles in the press or on blogs. Instead of just keeping it to yourself, push it out. Almost everything we read on line has an upload button. It is pretty easy to post an item onto your LinkedIn or Facebook profile.
We put pictures of our dogs and our food on Facebook all the time. Why not do the same for articles?
This has several positive effects. When someone views your profile, it’s not just a list of your jobs. It shows what you are really interested in and gives you much more credibility as a subject matter expert.
It also says to the world that you respect your community by sharing information without being asked and more importantly, that you set aside time in your busy day to think about what others might be interested in.
You can’t buy that kind of positivity.
Don’t just read it, share it. That’s how you start on the path to becoming a thought leader.