Social media branding opens doors, helps advance career
MIAMI — Creating a personal brand on social media is a key component in building your reputation both professionally and personally, according to a speaker at Scrubs & Heels Summit 2022.
“The importance of putting yourself out there and bringing your brand to people is that it opens doors and opens opportunities for your career advancement,” Aline Charabaty, MD, assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Medicine and clinical director of gastroenterology and the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center at Sibley Memorial Hospital, said. “When you advance your career ... you can help others achieve career advancement as well.”
Charabaty asked attendees to think about their favorite brands and what makes them recognizable and trustworthy. “In the same way you pick a running sneaker for its years of excellence, so too can someone choose you for your expertise,” she said. “The product is you — it’s you as a clinician, as a person, as your expertise, and it’s what you’re bringing as the whole package.”
When building a brand on social media, the most important question physicians should ask is what distinguishes their “product” from every other one on the market. The answer relies on being true to oneself and presenting that version to an audience.
“What are the qualifications that you have? What is your area of expertise? Have a focus,” Charabaty advised the audience. “This is what your brand is as much as your energy is who you are as a person and as a woman.”
Charabaty’s tips for creating a social media brand include:
- Identify which platform is a good fit for you. This depends on your personality, comfort zone and how you wish to share information with your followers.
- Get personal and include photos of yourself. People want to know who you are before they want to read what you have to say.
- Curate your interests and the content you want to view. Search for topics within your niche: companies you support and colleagues you admire and wish to emulate.
- Share and amplify quality content, both your own and the work of others. A tweeted article leads to more citations.
- Engage with others, participate in conversations and share your opinions.
“By putting your expertise, your personal passion and your professional passion out there, you're creating your brand,” Charabaty concluded. “So when people meet you, they know what to expect.”
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Charabaty A. Beyond your CV: Building your brand. Presented at: Scrubs & Heels Summit 2022; March 24-27, 2022; Miami.
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