Bright shiny degree? Check. Big dreams? Check. Absolutely no idea how to make them a reality? Check.
If this scenario sounds all too familiar, you’re not alone. So many new college graduates I talk to are filled with ideas, dreams, and goals but are lost when they think about putting those practices into action. One of my favorite parts of coaching my younger clients is that they really can do just about anything. Once you have your foot on a career path, you can always create a new destination but it takes a lot more doing, patience, and often money.
For a new graduate, one of the most powerful tools at your disposal is social media. Here are five ways to use it to your advantage.
1) Start a Tumblr to build influence in your dream field. Want to be a stylist? Create a blog or Tumblr that shows off your personal aesthetic and start following or reblogging some of your favorite brands or like minded fashionistas.
2) Use a blog to share your ideas. Using WordPress or whatever free, easy-to-use platform you use, get your message out there. Blog daily while you’re job searching and submit your blogs to other news sites to help get your ideas onto a bigger stage.
3) Create a Twitter to interact with brands and companies you love. Follow, retweet, and find the most pertinent hashtags to become part of the conversation. Another bonus? You can start tweeting links to your own blog to get more eyeballs to your site.
4) Cultivate a following on Instagram by showing off the visual aspects of what you do. Into fitness? Find a cool way to photograph yourself getting your sweat on? Budding chef? Snap pics of your creations.
5) Pin your way to more traffic. Once you’ve got that blog up and running, start curating or creating your own cool images to use in each post. Posts with pics will get more attention and you can pin those anchor photos to Pinterest.