When entering the professional world as a young journalist, social media can seem like a blank book. Exposing your entire life on many different platforms and keeping everything straight along the way can get messy. Building a personal brand for yourself can be vital when applying for jobs and portraying yourself as a professional, or at least until you are.

Fake It Till You Make It

A huge goal in building your brand through social media is the idea of having all your work and experiences documented and out there for people to see in a concise and attractive way. At times, deciding what’s “good enough” to be out there on display can be tricky, so having others review/critique your content can be super helpful. Even though you may not have your dream job yet, watching and following professionals in your field is a great way to imitate what they do in your own way.

Keep Your Personal Life Personal

Yes, you’ve heard it all before, but it can’t be said enough. In this fast-paced world, media is constantly surrounding us. It’s in our faces 24/7 and there’s no way to avoid it, so being on guard at all times is vital. Simply putting your accounts on private won’t hide weekend fun. This doesn’t mean that you can’t express yourself on platforms, but doing so in a professional way is key. Making sure that what you post paints you in the best light possible will carry with you forever as well as if it paints you in a negative light. And yes, this includes what your friends might tag you in as well. Red cups don’t make for any brand besides Solo itself.

Aesthetic Isn’t Just a Fad and Neither Are You

In recent updates of Instagram, Twitter and even Snapchat, photo editing has been made easier. Having a creative eye helps, but shaping your platforms around a central theme can display to your audiences (whether those be future employers, professors, or even friends and family) who you are and what your personal style is. This can be as simple as making all of your photos cropped similarly, filtered the same, or even posting on a more regular basis. When audiences click on your profiles they should instantly be able to understand a piece of you.

The Best Monthly Subscription You’ll Ever Purchase

Between Netflix, Spotify and The New York Times, one of the best subscriptions you can pay for would be a domain name. Online blogs can be really cool and are an amazing platform to put everything in one place, but ensuring that your URL is clean cut and easy to access is also essential. This can be done through a one-time yearly payment or monthly payments on sites such as WordPress, Wix and Weebly.  The purchase can and will make for pasting on resumes and biographies on other platforms short and simple. Having to type in “http://www.” isn’t the most efficient use of time and space.

Consistency is Key

Between work, social life, mental and physical health, we are all busy creatures. So who has time to keep up with cleaning up? The truth is that we should all make time for it. Consistency on our platforms can show future employers that you have what it takes even if you are still learning. Making sure that your content is up to date and relevant can be vital to your future career and brand. Creating a “personal checklist” for yourself is helpful and can assist in keeping things straight from post to post. All platforms are unique in their own ways, but keeping a style guide for yourself can make them all flow together.