Take a note of advice from other forms of writing
Creative writing authors use social networking to
communicate with their audience and other writers keeping people informed as to
their accomplishments and build an online reputation and presence. People in
other businesses like the entertainment industry also use social networking as
part of their regimen to a healthy career. You can:
·
Provide an overview of your skills
·
Contact other technical communicators forming a
support group
·
Promote others’ work as well as yourself – this
shows you are well connected, people know and trust you, and you have skills
you have been using for some time.
·
Carefully selected samples – although once on
the web it lives on forever so be very careful
·
Learn quickly about job opportunities
Advantages:
Don’t be a Tech Grinch! You work in a technical world
so use it.
- Having
a web presence gets you to get better with web-based technologies, show
you have that skill to a potential employer, and open up potential job
opportunities.
- You
can carefully craft how people
see you online
- Find
like-minded people for support, to answer questions (we like doing that,
right? It really is part of our job) and just plain learn new things
- Increasing
communication skills that are applicable to everything from speaking with
subject matter experts (SMEs) to team members.
- Identifying
resources for everything from software discounts to learning opportunities
- Let
everyone know about your achievements and celebrate with others
- Highlight
your writing specialties: Science writing, white papers, physics,
software, usability etc.
Pitfalls:
- Exposing
yourself to any negative commentary – if you have a blog moderate any
comments - there are always critics
- Spam –
so be careful putting out an email address a web bot can scan
- Posting
any questionable materials can risk upsetting a client or employer
- Sounding
too much like you are pitching for a job all the time – you need to try
and enjoy those you communicate with
- Misunderstandings
Pick your format
There are so many forms of social networking. Choose ones
that fits you the best. Some of the forms include:
- Societies
– meetings, email lists etc. What societies should you join?
- Online
networking
- Twitter
- Linkedin
- Facebook
- Blogs
(like blogspot – free space)
- Pininterest
- Vimeo
(video)
- YouTube
- Podcasting
- Direct
emailing – free services like mailchimp
- Live
Talks/Lectures/Seminars
There are so many formats of social networking that the list
above names only a few. You need to read and explore for yourself.
Marketing Plan
Develop a marketing plan. The same way you keep your resume
updated if you freelance you need to think about what you will do and will not
do or show with social networking. Since many technical writing jobs are
freelance, you want to make sure you get out there and people know who you are
and what you are capable of doing for your client. Try thinking about:
- Your
overall goals and scope of your social networking
- What
you like to talk about professionally?
- How
you want to present yourself?
- Whom
you want to talk to?
- Manage
your career more effectively through presentation of information
- How
will you handle critics should they pop up (aka cyber-hate)?
- Use a
professional way to name yourself as a user online – odd names used online
turn people off especially for email. This will stick with you so think
carefully about it.
