Creating a good online presence: what is the best approach?

#careerdevelopment #webdev #beginners #productivity

How do you establish an online presence?

Whether you are a freelancer or are looking to establish yourself to seek out a career, it is vital to have an online presence to market yourselves. This presence can differ depending on your field, but typically there will always be a few similarities in the methods and platforms chosen to establish this;

LinkedIn – Seen as the primary professional platform, specifically for those looking to create networks of people within their industry. LinkedIn also offers features to be used as a pseudo online CV platform, offering tools that allow users to show current and past work experience, any awards or certifications, relevant skills and also sections to show work. In my opinion anyone looking for any description of job should be involved on LinkedIn, but is completely necessary for those looking to get into the creative industries.
Specialized platform – This will differ greatly for each person, but it is important to show off your work (link to "What work should you include and what should you exclude?" section?) through specific platforms suited to your field. To give a few examples;
- Developers – GitHub, in my opinion this will always be the primary platform for any sort of developer to showcase their projects as much like LinkedIn it not only provides the feature of showcasing your work but also the ability to comment and collaborate with others on their work, which will help in creating the network required to thrive in the industry. (link to networking section?).
- Designers – Artstation, while I have some previous experience in graphic design it was prior to the creation of Artstation, which through my interest in gaming (not academically) I have seen used on many occasions by games developers and animators to showcase their work, upcoming work or conceptual designs.
- Sound/Animation – For sound specifically you will be looking at Soundcloud, which for the longest time has been the most popular option for sharing audio and sound for musicians and sound engineers alike. However, the second option which is the primary option for animators/video editors is also a very popular option for those looking to get into sound – YouTube. The tools and features available on YouTube make it one of if not the best option for these types of professionals as it not only offers options to publicly showcase work, but also allows the option to "unlist" videos, meaning they can only be viewed by those with the link. This is beneficial for showcasing pieces to clients who don't want their work shared publicly, or for creating specific pieces for interviews.
Personal website – While the above offers a myriad of features and tools already created, sometimes (especially in web development) you can never beat having your own personal website. This showcases, ignoring any work included, your ability to build a site fit for purpose. You also have the benefit of including any features you wish and linking to your other platforms as well. This does however come with some caveats as you not only need to market/advertise the website, whether you do this with online ads or in person networking but convince any potential clients or employers to look at your site. While most (looking at the below research we will look at in a moment) do not have a problem with this, in my opinion you will still be required to utilize some of the other platforms as having your own personal website alone will not be sufficient.

To cite from research performed by Dr Gavin Baxter, a question asked "participants were asked to rate the effectiveness of online delivery mechanisms for showcasing their work to prospective employers":

The research above shows what current professionals in the creative industries feel regarding the platforms mentioned, but to reiterate a point from earlier I would like to see how many have just a personal website and no other platform as I believe that these in combination is the true method to success.

What steps should you take to promote your work online and get noticed by potential employers?

In order to promote your work and get noticed by potential employers or clients you must utilize the above platforms as described, but you must do so on a regular basis. Should you be using a platform you can customize (personal website, GitHub pages, Art station website) try to make sure that you have a well presented, easily readable and clear portfolio – as while stylish portfolios can also get you noticed they are not typically UI/UX friendly and can put off some employers especially depending on your field.

For example, looking at GitHub, there are sections on your profile that show how much and often you are working on or contributing to other people's work. Having this up to date will show employers or clients the skill sets you have as well as the fact you are up to date within the industry.

What work should you include and what should you exclude, and how often?

On any platforms that allow you to post or share your work, you should be sure to always include your best work, work you are proud of and a wide variety of work to show the scope of your skills. This can also be combined with some comments from yourself to show your workings and thought processes, which looks good to employers and clients as it shows you are able to reflect on your work and fully understand what you are doing.

On the flip side, don't show work you are not proud of or unfinished work. The reasons for this should be obvious but there is a circumstance that it may benefit you to do so. The only (in my opinion) exception to this rule is if you were reflecting on poor work in a blog or self-reflection post - which I feel can be useful to show again you can critique and reflect on your own work.

The next question to ask would be how often should you be posting your work or updating your social platforms and I find this is completely dependent on your field as you don't want to end up bombarding your profiles with nonsense or rushed work, but the important thing is that it should be regular, whether it be once or twice a week or month - it needs to be continuous.

What sets you apart from the competition?

A question for everyone trying to gain employment, but especially in the creative industries as it can be so competitive. When working on your social platforms or portfolio sites you need to consider how you should be marketing yourself and at the end of the day when it comes down to you and someone else for the job – what makes you the better person for the job?

This is not an easy question to answer by any means, as nearly everyone is going in with their own replies to the question. To me, you should be looking at the passion you have for the position you're looking for by attending events

What advice does your industry area provide and what can you provide?

Below are two pages I have personally looked at that cover tips to take into consideration when marketing yourself online, whether it be through a portfolio or by other means, while also covering the specific tips on web development and design.

The second page, more of a blog post from the writer, is especially good as he provides a lot of useful links for a myriad of purposes that developers would want to utilize.

Unfortunately, at this stage I do not have a lot of industry experience, but from what I have seen I would start using GitHub for both portfolio reasons and also collaborative work. GitHub is not only beneficial for usage as a portfolio but also as a tool for networking and as part of work itself, as many workplaces utilize GitHub as a collaborative work tool so using this for your own work will give you practise should the position require usage of Git.

So, what is the best approach?

Consistency, regular updates - the amount of people who will see your website or profile should you only update it once every few months will be minimal. You need to assure that you are updating regularly, even if it's just to comment on work or some new technology.

Likewise with a personal website, having a website alone will do nothing, even should you pay for ads/SEO, you need to network online to assure that your site is being seen.