Why using social media and networking are crucial for today’s businesswomen

Viewers of Fox TV’s Good Day Chicago network were treated to an interview with savvy networker, Marcy Twete. The Career Girl Network founder, and author of You Know Everybody, told co-anchor Dawn Hasbruock why social media is a surprising ally for female professionals.

Recruiters conduct an astonishing number of Google searches on potential employees. Twete says that 93 percent check LinkedIn, 66 percent check Facebook and 54 percent check Twitter. By controlling your social media accounts, you exert power over your digital footprint or brand. Employers are more likely to find the right information about you.

Twete had valuable recommendations for women seeking to use social media to further their careers:

• Have a complete profile. Omitting a profile picture, for example, puts you at a disadvantage because people might question if they’ve found the right profile.
• Use a professional headshot. This isn’t the time to use pictures from the party you went to last weekend. While this is especially true for LinkedIn, be careful about Facebook, too. People can still see your profile picture if your security settings are set to private.
• Be active. Avoid the temptation of starting a profile and letting it languish. Check your accounts at least once a day, especially LinkedIn. Even if you’re only communicating with your friends, stay active.
• Make smart connections. On LinkedIn, in particular, Twete suggested only connecting with people who you could truly recommend in a job situation. On other sites, you should only connect with those who have complete, legitimate and active profiles.

Twete also commented on many women’s career networking anxieties. Feeling nervous is normal, but it shouldn’t stop you from networking with professionals (of both genders) both within and outside of your field. “Go to Chicago Cut Steakhouse and look what’s happening at 8 a.m.,” she said. “That’s the networking that men do every single day.” Businesswomen would benefit from taking a page out of men’s books in this regard. We all have the potential to be phenomenal networkers.