Importance of Personal Branding and Social Media for University Students

Personal branding is one of the most talked about topics nowadays. Many students do not even know its meaning and hence they try to market themselves without knowing the details properly. 

Personal branding refers to what people say about you when you are not around and it is all about how you influence their opinions.  Your personal branding is how people view you personally, including your friends, faculty, future colleague and employers. If you wear a well dress suit for a job interview, your will carry a positive brand image and if you are not on time, then your brand image would suffer.

For a new graduate, personal brand refers to the Google search results attached to your name, all of your social media account details, and your CV. These are considered as important components for landing an interview for the right job.

Similarly social media can also improve your prospects for employment in future. For instance if you are an engineering student, you can easily benefit from LinkedIn updates regarding winning engineering competitions. Also PR students can promote their personal brand by participating in management crises in the news.

Follow these important steps to make sure that your personal brand is a success: 

Remove ‘Unwanted’ Stuff: 

The first step is to remove all of your incriminating photos from Facebook and Instagram. If social media shows you old memories related to high school or grammatical errors, make sure that you delete them.

Also enhance your LinkedIn profile by adding a professional photograph, fill in your employment details, write a great summary and build your portfolio of more than 500 connections. Once you have taken the steps to keep your social media accounts clean and have made the required changes in your LinkedIn profile, you are ready to move to the next level.

Content Formation: 

University students can express their personal opinion through podcasts, medium articles, or curated Instagram feeds. Concentrate on your long-term aims or objectives. For example, if you want to build a career in digital marketing then mention your plan to write about the latest social media trends.  

With proper planning, students can use their knowledge and skill set for their own advantage and can establish a niche in their personal branding effort and building an audience online. The content creation reflects your personality and suggest how you can become a better person. Map out a plan which will benefit you in future. This can be achieved by adding 100 connections on LinkedIn and it will help you in future. Students with strong personal brands would like to receive better career opportunities and will prepare you for a job interview months in advance.   

Build Contacts: 

Another important aspect of personal branding is to establish important contacts. When you are hired for a new internship, it is your responsibility to shake hands, meet new people and talk to them during lunch breaks. University also teaches you about professionalism and building contacts that will land you a job soon.

Students are mostly lazy about their network as they don’t know anyone and hence don’t feel comfortable in attending networking events. No matter, wherever you reside or whoever you know, it’s never too late to build your system and find a mentor.