In a world that is increasingly digital, marketers have more tools than ever at their disposal to advance their careers. Appropriate use of these platforms can even land career opportunities at your feet—if you take advantage of them the right way.
Leverage online social, networking and professional media to market yourself. It costs nothing, takes only modest effort to set up and maintain, and helps you get noticed by people who want to offer you amazing marketing jobs.
A call or email from a marketing recruiter offers exciting new challenges and great opportunities to advance your career. But it will almost never happen if we can’t find you because you don’t have a well-established online presence.
A Free Personal Advertisement
Social media can be terrific professional tools that open doors to powerful connections and exciting job opportunities. When used correctly, they serve as giant digital neon sign pointing at you and extolling your virtues to your professional network and marketing recruiters on the hunt.
Yet most marketers’ profiles sit neglected or are used in an ineffective way for career advancement. As dedicated as great marketers are to delivering marketing results and improving ROI, many fail to maintain even the most basic foundations of personal brand or make easy career investments with large payoffs.
If you’re a talented marketer with a proven track record of success, there’s probably someone looking for an individual with your skillset right now. They might have the perfect opportunity for your career goals; but no way of finding you if you don’t make yourself known.
Establishing a strong presence that will stand out in your professional circles online and promote your personal brand. It will increase your authority, provide social and digital experience that is vital in today’s marketing world, and make you more attractive to marketing recruiters looking to fill high-profile jobs with talent like yours.
Develop a Voice on Social
Active and professionally constructed social media accounts are an essential part of building your online presence. Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus and more all play an important role, but when it comes to online career development everything begins and ends with LinkedIn.
Despite what you might think about social, you don’t always have to be clever or cute to garner attention and provide value. Post interesting content, add your thoughts to discussions and share your wisdom.
You should take time to keep your information updated, engage with others in your industry and strengthen your networks on all of them. Improve your odds of being “found” by marketing recruiters by optimizing your profile just like you would any other web presence: through providing a good user experience and engaging in SEO.
Improve Your Visibility to Marketing Recruiters and More with Profile Optimization
Since LinkedIn is so crucial to any online career advancement, you should start here when building the foundations of your personal brand. Taking some simple steps to optimize your account will make it easier for your network to interact with you and make you more visible to interested marketing recruiters.
LinkedIn SEO:
Just like you search Google for local restaurant recommendations or silly cat pictures, marketing recruiters use LinkedIn’s built-in search engine to find people with the characteristics they need. From location to experience, skills to accomplishments, we look for individuals using keywords related to the position we’re trying to fill.
Keyword strategy:
Try to include as many keywords relating to your current job, experience, and expertise as possible – especially in your summary. Think about the kind of job opportunities you would like to be offered and tailor your keywords around those positions. If you’re not sure what other people are searching for, try finding someone who has the kind of job you would like and pick out the most important key phrases. You can also look at job postings for that line of work to see what “required skills” are listed and use those for inspiration.
Avoid Pulpy Resume Fillers
We’re not searching for cheap throwaway phrases like “team player,” “dynamic,” or “self-motivated.” Use standard industry terms: “email marketing,” “account services,” “ad copywriter,” “web analytics.”
Skills and Endorsements
Be sure to make full use of the Skills section to list your most important abilities and experience. It’s hard to list too many skills here, but use discretion. We’ll be skeptical if you claim to be an expert on 50 different subjects.
These skills will often match up with the keywords people are searching for, so choose them wisely. Take steps to gain endorsements on your skills from coworkers, colleagues, clients, managers and more. Endorsements improve your ranking in the search results for that skill, putting you closer to the top of the list.
Job Titles
In today’s fragmented marketing world, one job title can mean a hundred different things. A senior copywriter at a social media agency will have very different responsibilities from someone with the same title at a magazine company.
For example, if your official job title is
Media Manager
On LinkedIn, consider adjusting it to something like
Media Manager | SEM & Analytics – Paid Search Marketing
This provides so much more information about the work you do and offers a way to add even more keywords.
LinkedIn UX
Keep it Current
Update your profile periodically to make sure all the information is current and accurate. An updated profile shows that you’re still growing professionally and consistently producing results. Don’t wait to add new skills and training, change your title if you get a new position, or show off new awards and achievements.
This is especially important if you’re a contractor or freelancer that comes in and out of work with relative frequency. Marketing staffing agencies may be more interested in reaching out to you if they know you’re currently available for new opportunities.
Synch up with Your Resume
Your LinkedIn profile doesn’t have to be a copy of your resume—that’s a common misconception and an underutilization of resources.
However, the information on your profile should match any corresponding entries on your resume or CV. Contradictions between the two cause confusion and raise red flags. A marketing staffing agency is likely to remove you from their candidates list if there are concerning inconsistencies.
Use a Professional Profile Picture
Leave the whacky, far-too-casual profile photos for your friends on Facebook. This doesn’t mean you must get a professional headshot; but take basic steps to appear like someone people would want to do business with. Have a picture taken in business attire of just yourself—no friends, coworkers or family. Or pets. Try to smile, at least a little. No one likes a grouch!
Don’t Wait – Update!
Many people wait until they’re already unemployed or actively looking for a new position become active online. All the while, they could have been getting approached about job opportunities, building a broader network, and accumulating endorsements. While you wait you could be missing out on the next big step in your career.
It only takes a little time, research and creativity to get your online presence in tip-top shape. Do it sooner than later to improve your visibility to employers and marketing recruiters.