What Guidance Would You Give to An Algonquin College Student on Online Identity and Career Advancement?

The last time I had the pleasure of being a guest speaker at Algonquin College, I asked you what advice you would give to a student soon to be graduating from the Advertising program. I thought that the comments that came in were really valuable, so I’d like to do a repeat performance.

Today, I’ll be speaking to a class that is in a business stream (as opposed to a creative stream) in the Advertising and Marketing Communications Management program. And the specific class is: Digital Marketing.

Karen Kavanagh (@KarenQuips) is the co-ordinator of the program and the professor for this class. She explained the objective for the Digital Marketing course is to help expose the students’ minds to all that can be done using digital and how pervasive this tool is for marketers. The students will review strategies that include a wide breadth of channels/aspects such as: online advertising, the website as a communications/marketing tool, video, blogs, social media, mobile, search, gaming and analytics – phew! I’m pooped just from moving through that list and that doesn’t even cover it all.

Karen approached me to come and and speak on a sort of blogging /social media / personal branding trifecta. I have to admit that I haven’t had much time to prepare anything too detailed, so I’m really hoping these students will have a lot of questions or aren’t shy to jump in and start-up discussions or debates!

So this is where you come in … I’m going to share examples from around Ottawa of how marketing and communications professionals have used blogging (and other digital media) to create an online identity that serves to advance their careers (think Kelly Rusk, Joe Boughner, and Nick Charney). I’ll also be sharing a ton of examples from those who are self-employed as well, since so many are increasingly choosing this path. As readers, you’re all familiar with blogs and some of you are also bloggers yourselves, so what advice or guidance would you share to a student looking to enter the workforce when it comes to establishing a positive online identity?

Naturally, we’ve all heard the “Don’t post drunk photos of yourself on facebook advice,” but do you have any more nuanced advice for establishing a blog such as: “Pick a defined niche and stick to it to establish yourself as an expert” or “Keep it general enough to progress as your career progresses” … all comments would be so welcome and appreciated!