Make Your Social Media Mark in 2013

Think back five years ago. Was “social media” even in your vocabulary? Maybe you were just getting started with your first Facebook account, or perhaps you were still holding on to your MySpace page. Fast-forward to 2012. Could you imagine life today without Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram? The technology we use day-to-day has evolved so much over the past few years, so it begs the question: What new social media advancements will pop up in 2013?

We asked personal branding guru William Arruda what we should expect to see that’s new in 2013. William is one of the most sought-after experts on personal branding and social media, and Fortune magazine, Adobe, JP Morgan, Microsoft, and Morgan Stanley are just some of the names on his client list. Here are William’s best tips for what to look for in the upcoming year and how you can make your personal brand stand out from the crowd. 

Multimedia. More and more users can stand out on social media sites with multimedia content. Just last week, LinkedIn made a big change on its site by allowing users to upload videos, images, and presentations to their profiles in lieu of summaries and job descriptions. If you want to stand out you should switch to multimedia content now so you’ll be ahead of the curve. 

Video calls. Not just video content you post to the web, but real-time video. The world is becoming a much more virtual place, and with more work being done from the home or from a satellite office, it is important to still be able to connect with the people you are working with. Video calls via Skype or Google+ hangouts give others the opportunity to really see you, not just hear words being spoken through a telephone. 

QR Codes. Have you ever noticed those silly looking squares in the corner of advertisements on the subway or in a magazine? That’s a QR code. Smart phones can scan the code by downloading an app, and that will bring you to a website or other online content. QR codes have been big in the advertising world for the past year, but they will likely play a much bigger role in 2013. I have already met people with QR codes on their business cards that bring you straight to their personal website and social media sites; expect more of this in the upcoming year. 

How will established social media sites adapt to these changes over the coming year? Stay tuned next week for William’s take on what new life will be breathed into some of our favorite networking tools.

—Lindsay Putnam