Facebook allows you to create a profile, sort of a mini-biography, to explain who you are to viewers. Are you a graphic designer who specializes in annual reports? Maybe you’re a web developer with mad PHP-skills. Your unique qualifications and what makes you you are what you focus on in your profile. Of the thousands of graphic designers with a Facebook page, what can you write that makes you stand out?

Your profile also allows you to add everything from your birth date to your religious views. For your professional page, it’s best to keep things targeted specifically to what you’d like prospective employers to read about you. Namely things that make you a qualified, hire-able candidate. Keep it obvious that you’re using your Facebook page to “network” rather than to seek out a relationship, for example. The Personal Information section allows you to enter everything from what type of ice cream you enjoy to what book you recently read. Again, take this opportunity to demonstrate your industry prowess.

When you populate the “about you” section it can seem daunting…but the professional answers you complete start to tell prospective employers and future colleagues a bit about your story—not only as a person but as a designer. Competition is tight right now for jobs. Any method you can employ of showing hiring managers why you are unique, different, and valuable is worth the time it takes to create a Facebook page.

There are many pages that you can either “join” as a fan, or create yourself. A page is similar to a website in that it relays your name or contact information about yourself—you can have the page be for you, Tom Jones-Graphic Designer, or create a page “Tom Jones Design.” You can control how much information is displayed. You can also join or become a fan of other pages that you relate to as a designer or writer. Say you focus on print work primarily but you have an associate with her own firm who specializes in web development. You each could become “Fans” of each other’s pages and refer business to one another. The need for a website still remains—but using Facebook technology is a great way to market your work on yet another platform while keeping track of potential customers and “fans” who appreciate your work.

Maintaining a Facebook profile also helps you stay connected to your recruiter or other potential hiring managers. This is where having a professional profile is also important. If your profile focuses on fun that is great but having a profile built up that showcases your work, updates your availability status, and offers a quick, easy way to be contacted is a great way to stay in front of your recruiter or potential job prospects.

Facebook allows you to include and share your information from what religion you practice to what bands you like with anyone and everyone…but you control what the world sees. You can easily add and swap-out profile pictures, create photo albums, or add links to videos or websites. The fact is, appropriate use of Facebook is an amazing (free!) tool for web designers, graphic designers, photographers, copywriters—a free online website to host and promote your work. But wait, do I really want potential clients to see the latest quilts my grandmother is working on? Probably not. There comes a time to separate church and state and keep your personal page, well, personal, and your business page all business. Facebook allows you to create as many pages as you want. Each is tied to email addresses so you can have one email address that is personal and then set up another email address that is business. If you search on my full name you will see two profiles. One personal, one business. Guess which one you would get invited to see?

At first I resisted starting a Facebook page. I was too out-of-it; aren’t those things just for college students? I had no idea what it meant to have a Facebook page. Who cared about what people were doing right at that very moment? Who had time to care in the first place? It wasn’t until I learned how Facebook interconnects with job boards that I realized the professional benefit to being on Facebook. I took the plunge and created a page. The first weekend I started my Facebook page, I built up a profile that contained all of my business facts. It’s very easy to build a page—the prompts easily explain what information you can add and subsequently how to keep the information you add private (more on that in the next post). I figured I’d never use this page for personal purposes so I kept everything professional. I uploaded a work photo for my profile picture and waited for the “friend requests” to fly in. Well, they did. My sister, my brother, my brother’s fiancé, my cousin…and along with those requests came quips and backyard barbeque photos I’m not sure I’d want my boss to by privy to. I quickly understood that I needed two pages: one for pictures of my toddler and the other for connections to folks I’m trying to help find work.

I took the weekend to get comfortable with the fast pace of Facebook. I felt connected to people that I might not necessarily make time to pick up the phone and call every weekend. I loved seeing pictures of my friends’ children who live across the nation. Suddenly, I was connected.