Social media for a designer career
Today s topic, as you already understood, will be related to the use of social media by design workers and not only. Moreover, unlike the article on useful social networks, the note will deal more with the topic of a designer s career than his direct activity. This post was inspired by the English-language publication 6 Creative Social Media Strategies for Designers.
In general, the need to develop social profiles for ordinary designers may seem like an unnecessary difficulty in their work. However, these projects, with the right approach, provide specialists with excellent opportunities, which we will talk about today.
Nowadays, clients and employers quite often search for potential candidate pages on social networks in addition to traditional portfolios and resumes. At the same time, the competent content of your “online representation” will show the difference between a promising employee who uses all the approaches and an ordinary ordinary candidate from the list. Below are 6 major social media platforms for design careers to help you build a full online presence: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Periscope.
Facebook strategy for designers
Facebook is now a project, usually for an older audience. This platform is the place where most users spend their free time (including your clients / employers).
It makes sense that your public Facebook profile should talk about things related primarily to the design industry. It will also be useful to create a professional Facebook page with your work, useful links, all sorts of design articles or thoughts on the topic. Add here high-quality illustrations / drawings / photos that are not included in the portfolio.
This strategy will strengthen your credibility as a specialist and show your passion for what you love. You can even place a small video as a Facebook “pinned post” at the top of the page to introduce yourself and talk about your design career while showing your personality and friendliness. I immediately remember the video of the designers greeting from the “TEN” collection from Fotolia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD1TLHpnWfE
The video, of course, can be made simpler, but in any case, this approach will add several points to you in front of a potential employer.
Twitter strategy
Twitter is one of the social platforms that provide direct access to almost anyone in the world. The service is a powerful tool for building relationships, attracting attention and interacting with people directly. In addition, it is a great option for analyzing the user s social activity.
When applying for a job, you can find a lot of information about the company, employees, management through individual or corporate Twitter profiles. On the other hand, try to interact with their publications: distribute (share) notes or ask questions. This approach is a long enough path to building relationships, but it will help you when applying for a job at a particular company.
LinkedIn in a design career
LinkedIn is a professional social network for careers and a powerful hiring tool. Designers often underestimate LinkedIn, considering it too ancient compared to modern platforms Instagram and Pinterest. But this is not the case. In addition to the online resume function, the project gives you the ability to creatively use multimedia objects on your profile page, unlike other systems.
To build trust, LinkedIn uses so-called guidelines. In doing so, you can insert images and videos below the records of your work experience. Ask past clients for a video feedback on the collaboration and then post it in the appropriate block. The feature is really original and very cool. This approach is sometimes found on company websites, but very few people on LinkedIn use it.
In addition to videos, you can add different images (reviews, reports, examples of work) for projects that you previously worked on. This will create a more memorable “online resume” image on LinkedIn compared to users who simply posted a solid text about their accomplishments on the page. Visual information is perceived better. You can also make a presentation to potential advertisers about your design career through Slideshare, which is integrated with LinkedIn.
Many designers use Instagram primarily to showcase their photos and work, although there are much more interesting development strategies. If you as a designer are interested in reaching local customers, take advantage of geo-tagging your posts. To get noticed by specific employers or brands, comment on their posts and actively tag them. This will attract attention and in the future, possibly, build appropriate relationships.
Another useful aspect of this social network for a career that many creative professionals overlook is the video posting option. With a quick quick Instagram video, you can showcase your projects, workflow, or provide responses / comments for a profile. Instagram video content tends to get more attention than static images. By the way, I advise you to look at a useful article about promotion on Instagram (focus all your attention on promoting your personal brand).
YouTube for designers
YouTube provides an opportunity to leverage the benefits of video marketing for a design career by showcasing the quality of your work. This service is the second largest search engine and the largest video content portal in the world.
If a potential client is interested in working with you, it will be useful for him to see the real work process. Yes, you can post “before and after pictures” on your social profiles, but these pictures will not have such a powerful effect as a 2-5 minute frame-by-frame about creating a certain project. With the help of these videos, you can allay all employers fears about working with a new person and, if you are lucky, relieve the customer from the desire to initially work on the test task.
Periscope
Streaming online video (streaming) has gained wide popularity just recently (over the past year). Due to the special mobile application of the same name, streaming is quite simple. You can create a Periscope account through your twitter account and turn your smartphone into a video streaming platform with just a few clicks.
This is a great opportunity for designers to showcase their workflow and showcase some of their skills in real life. The essence of the strategy is to reduce the prospect s anxiety about working with a stranger by creating a real connection. For example, you can show off-screen work on a project, host an Q&A session, and show potential clients what it s like to work with you.
Total. All in all, social media in a career is just another tool. It is clear that any service unfamiliar to you is frightening at first, plus designers are more accustomed to producing materials for their clients than for themselves. However, the evolution of social media to some extent reflects the evolution of the design industry and those who quickly accept this fact will find more opportunities for themselves. Social networks help showcase your work to people who are looking for relevant performers, and on the other hand, they give you information about those with whom you are going to work.
If you have anything to add about the use of social media in your design career, write in the comments.