The key to social media is in their recipe

The key to social media is in their recipe

The same applies to social media. To get the most out of it on a professional basis you need good recipes to add some creativity and work.

Before "cooking", a good “mise en place” is important, that is, to have our profiles updated with a professional photo and a current biography. Then we are ready to start developing our personal brand on any social media.

Our strategy will define the recipe we choose. In my perspective, our strategy should always include talking regularly with contacts and sharing engaging content, aligned with our personal brand and valueable to our community.

Social media are not only useful to convey our ideas. We must dialogue by always listening to others and fostering professional conversations that take full advantage of these technologies.

How often you promote these dialogues is very important and the more regularly you do so, the better. This increases the probability of our messages being seen by our contacts and establishing a strong personal routine.

We all have the potential to influence our personal network, and the better our presence in social media is, the more likely we are to strengthen our credibility and influence our contacts. Developing a personal brand may take some time but you should always manage it carefully and strategically.

Content (texts, photos, videos or even podcasts) sharing is vital to develop your brand. It defines it and factors such as its origin, quality and style are important. When you add comments to existing content or, even better, when you create original content, then you are truly expressing your personal brand.

Sharing engaging content is the priority because it is the only content to reach social media members, perhaps because of its emotional value. It is equally important that this content is aligned with your brand, otherwise it may jeopardise your credibility, in the worst case scenario.
This strategy's last ingredient is perhaps the most important one, as it is contributing to your professional community. It is very important that your contacts feel that you actively contribute to your community. If you only promote yourself, your personal brand will be perceived as merely advertising and the whole strategy is wasted without taking any advantage from social media benefits.

The last step is to create or adapt recipes for social media in line with your brand and adapted to your available time and resources.

My two favourite recipes are as follows:

1. Daily explore social media, about 10 minutes each, commenting on articles or answering questions about your business topics that add value to your professional community.

2. Document your business travels or professional meetings in short videos captured by a smartphone and share them in your linkedin and twitter profiles.

By using these two recipes you are gradually keeping your contact network up with your work, while you also develop your personal brand, expanding your network.

Miguel Neves, Social Media Chefs Founder, Events Professional, Social Media Trainer & Speaker, Digital Content Producer, Blogger