Social media has become a place to build an online presence. It allows you to share personal experiences or showcase your expertise. You can also turn your social media content into a portfolio.
In fact, more and more people create social media portfolios to show their credibility. They can share skills, influence, and masterpieces to attract recruiters or clients. Also, adding visuals can elevate their profiles.
If you want to build a well-crafted portfolio, the following discussion can help you learn the best practices. Keep reading to discover how to turn your social media content into a portfolio.
A social media portfolio refers to a collection of your creations on social media and achievements of your previous work that you display to potential employers or clients.
It often comprises samples of your social media content, analytics, stats, and other pertinent data demonstrating your ability to manage and execute social media initiatives.
Image via Bulb
A social media portfolio also gives insights into your creative process, problem-solving talents, and strategic thinking abilities, making it helpful in displaying your competence and experience.
You can create a social media portfolio in many formats. Some of the most popular ones are slideshow, website, and PDF. You can also use online platforms like Bulbapp to construct your portfolio.
If you’re struggling to take the first step, we’ve rounded up the steps to turn your social media content to build a well-crafted and captivating portfolio. These steps can also benefit your career.
#1. Check Your NDAs
Non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) are a common term for social media managers and other marketers. These agreements can be separate from standard contracts or included as clauses. Companies often restrict how individuals can showcase their work in portfolios or prohibit their inclusion altogether.
For entry-level marketers, avoiding projects irrelevant to the position you’re applying for is essential. In a social media portfolio, it’s best to include only projects and skills related to your expertise. It can consist of content you created for your personal social media pages or assignments completed during a social media course.
It’s perfectly acceptable to include tasks you completed for businesses and those you did for friends, family, or acquaintances as long as they showcase your social media expertise. By doing so, you can demonstrate your skills and potential to potential employers, even if you lack formal work experience in the field.
#2. Choose Your Portfolio Format
Every portfolio format carries different pros and cons. It depends on your preference whether you want to create a slideshow, website, or PDF portfolio. Here is the list.
Slideshow
Pros:
- Highly shareable, downloadable, and readable
- Customizable visuals and easy to edit for different purposes
- Free templates are available abundantly
- You can add graphics and audio to enrich your portfolio
Cons:
- A standard format that many use
- Easily overloaded by information
- It can be inaccessible on some sites
Website
Pros:
- Many well-designed portfolio templates are available
- Easily accessible and customizable
- Help you stand out in the crowd
Cons:
- Paid domains can be costly
- Some may have a bit of a learning curve
Pros:
- Attachable on emails and messaging platforms
- Possible to incorporate image and video content
- The format doesn’t easily change due to the app used
Cons:
- Lower the visual content quality
- It may be an outdated format
Considering the above pros and cons of each format, you can choose one according to your need and preference.
#3. Create a Captivating Self Intro
A self-introduction is one of the most vital elements of your social media portfolio. It’s a matter of skill to frame yourself as a desirable specialist in the industry. Still, you don’t need to include the entire history of your career journey.
It’s always better to keep your self-introduction concise. You can focus on conveying your expertise, passions, clients you’ve worked with, and achievements. On top of that, you can also include your career goals.
#4. Include Relevant Works
Adding relevant works and accomplishments is the best part of creating a social media portfolio. You can list your skills and projects. Explain how you execute tasks and how your skills play essential roles.
Most importantly, add visuals to your portfolio. For example, you can showcase your self-made illustrations, explainer videos, graphics, logo, etc. You can also turn other social media content and analytics into your portfolio.
Also, consider incorporating testimonials from your clients or subordinates you’ve worked with. It’s also acceptable if your clients were family members, friends, or relatives. Adding a testimonial section can improve your credibility and attract more clients.
#5. Enrich with Results and Visuals
Visuals from your social media account are assets to your portfolio. Add your professionally-taken self-portrait to add credibility. Most well-made portfolios include self-portraits in the first place.
You can create a section dedicated to your masterpieces. For example, you can add your work to a dedicated section if you have several skills, like copywriting, illustrating, editing videos, or photography.
Furthermore, you can add statistical visuals if you work as a marketing specialist or product analyst. Create multiple styles of graphics to support your statistics, like pie, bar, area, and line charts.
#6. Optimize Your Online Profiles
Once you create a social media portfolio, you have to optimize your online presence. From LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter, you have to optimize them with work-related posts.
Relevant social media feeds can help your portfolio stand out. You can also improve your site’s SEO if you have one. Optimizing your online presence also allows people to find your profile through search engines.
Takeaway
Social media content you’ve posted online can be assets for your career endeavors. You can create a captivating portfolio by creating a solid self-introduction supported by your skills, work, and achievements.
You can share your portfolio on your site and social media to attract clients. Also, you can attach it to your email to impress recruiters. Overall, you can improve your self-selling as a professional and elevate your career along the journey.
Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video production company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).
Twitter: @breadnbeyond
Email/Gravatar: andre@breadnbeyond.com
LinkedIn: Andre Oentoro
Image via Pexels
