How to Create a Social Media Strategy for Job Search

Last Updated on January 31, 2024 by Career Reload Team

Have you ever wondered about your use of social media? Social media travels with us all the time today and it has become a part of our everyday life. Many of us use social media just to have fun and keep in touch with friends. It is by no means wrong, but it is worth bearing in mind that social media is suitable for many other uses.

What is a social media strategy?

Social media strategy is a familiar term to those who work with social media and those who actively use it. The strategy, or plan, always aims to achieve the goal, whether it is to increase brand awareness, increase sales or at the personal level, get a job. Personal social media strategy is not just a great-sounding term. It is the sum of the activities that help you achieve the goals you set using social media.

Plan the content and select the channels

For a job seeker, setting a goal is quite clear. The ultimate goal is employment. Laying the cornerstone of a strategy often begins with a channel plan, although before that you should think about what kind of content you want to produce, and after that consider which social media channel it works best on. A job search can be promoted in many ways and a few examples are listed below.

• Competence development – ask for advice, follow what others are doing
• Showcase your own skills – be active
• Making yourself known – create networks, get followers
• Also, take advantage of channels that are not directly related to your job search

There is no single particular way to get the most out of social media in terms of job search. You can get started easily by creating a LinkedIn profile that highlights your training and work history. Once the account is created, the next step is, of course, being active. Many opportunities are depending on the channel and your enthusiasm. By being active and producing interesting content, you are constantly making yourself better known and at the same time building your personal brand.

Creating a LinkedIn profile or coming up with post ideas can seem tricky at first, especially if you’re not already familiar with the channel. In this case, you should follow what others are doing and take the best ideas for your use. Examine the profiles of people working in your field and see what kind of content they have produced.

However, avoid direct copying. Always bring your personality and perspective when it comes to creating a profile, social media post, or blog post.On social media, you can also develop skills without noticing. On Snapchat, for example, there is little job sharing or networking like on LinkedIn, but it is the best tool for developing presentation skills. By weaving short video clips into a unified MyStory, you automatically enhance your expression, which is very useful for example in a job interview situation. A blog related to your hobby, in turn, develops your writing skills. Be bold and aim to make versatile content.

Measure success

You should measure your progress and development. The easiest thing to measure on social media is the number of contacts and followers depending on the channel. In LinkedIn, for example, the size of the network is very important when choosing a job seeker. A person with more than 200 contacts is naturally more desirable than a job seeker with a network of fewer than 20 people. The number of contacts also partly tells you how interesting person you are on social media. You only create interest with your activities, not by watching from the sidelines. No matter how much knowledge you have, it will be of no use if you are not found.

Analyze the results

Did you write a blog post that received more impressions than other posts? Was your LinkedIn profile viewed more often than normal during a certain time period? Nothing happens by chance, but rather everything is a result of some action. Whether you want to increase your followers or get readers to your blog post it’s important to be aware of the cause-effect relationship of your actions. Measuring results is, after all, just numbers on paper if you don’t know what the actions are behind them.

LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook – which is best for a job seeker?

There are thousands of social media channels, but only a few of them have profiled themselves as networks for job seekers.

LinkedIn is currently the only social media channel fully focused on job search and has been characterized as a contemporary business card. A LinkedIn profile makes it easy to highlight your professional skills and training. A carefully constructed profile indicates the job seeker’s activity and genuine desire to find employment.

Twitter is a mix of entertainment and business. There, the job seeker can bring out his or her personality and skills by actively participating in discussions in his or her field. The relaxed comments about the World Cup are not directly related to the job search, but they do tell about your personality, which often can help a recruiter pick between two applicants. Twitter also advertises a lot of vacancies. With a few hashtags like #jobs #hiring and #recruiting, you will find numerous vacancies. With Twitter and LinkedIn, you create your own personal brand and make yourself a desirable person that every employer would want to put on their payroll.

In many ways, Facebook and job search are only combined as a distribution channel for job postings. However, the same laws apply to Facebook as to other channels – with your own activity, you can greatly influence how much you benefit. Instead of following a company listing on the sidelines, join recruitment groups where you can get a whole community to support your job search. Recruitment groups provide useful tips on how to apply for a job, format a CV, how to prepare for a job interview, and other stages of recruitment.

What kind of image does social media give of you?

Before social media, an employer’s contact with a job seeker often depended on a job application and a CV. Now the jobseeker’s personality and skills can be accessed through various social media channels. At its best, social media acts as a tool to open the doors of a workplace, and at its worst, it can close it in front of your nose.

A professional and up-to-date LinkedIn profile, as well as active participation in Twitter discussions in the field, reinforces the image of a good and professional person.Harnessing social media as a tool to support job search starts with planning a personal social media strategy. In practice, this means that you first think about which channels the best support your job search and which ones you really want to invest time in. Focus on one properly rather than two at half power!

Sara Duerr

Sara has been in the career development field for over 10 years and has a wealth of knowledge to share. She covers topics such as resume writing, job search strategies, interview techniques, career planning, and more. You can connect with her on LinkedIn. She has curated our free downloadable resume templates for Word and resume templates for Google Docs.