The summer is coming to an end which means that many young professionals are wrapping up their summer internships or lining up a position for themselves for the fall.  I had an extremely rewarding experience this summer working for PBS.  I mean, who doesn’t love getting their picture taken with Josh Groban… during a workday!

Internships are all about creating lasting relationships with people in an industry that you are interested in.  Whether your internship consisted of (or will consist of) making photocopies versus giving input on the user-friendliness of a website redesign (thankfully, I had the latter), social media can help you make the most out of your experience.

Create and maintain connections with colleagues on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a social network for professionals, plain and simple.  No “Birthday Calendars” and no fancy bells and whistles, just a clean, powerful personal business network.  With over 13 million unique monthly visitors, (and growing fast), you want to have a presence on LinkedIn.

As I said in my post on online reputation, 75% of hiring managers use LinkedIn to research job candidates before making an offer.  (1) Spend 20-30 minutes and create a real profile, taking your time to fill in all the fields.  Having a bare-bones profile with just your name (like so many that I’ve seen) says “I don’t care enough about my professional connections to actually spend time to let you know about me.”  That is not the message you want to send.

Internships are about creating connections that will help you find “The Best Jobs”. (2) Use LinkedIn’s “Build Your Network” box to find past colleagues and classmates.  You’ll surprise yourself with all the professional connections you didn’t know you had.

Start following colleagues on Twitter.

Twitter: who uses that, right?  Wrong.  While Twitter might not have found its way into your friend circle or personal networks, Twitter is a powerful tool for personally connecting with individuals in your industry.  (1) Start by creating an account and following your co-workers.  If they know you, they will likely follow you back.  Keep in mind that unlike LinkedIn, you don’t necessarily have to have met someone personally to follow them.  Make sure to follow the 5 Things on Twitter You Shouldn’t Do.

So you have a bunch of colleagues following you, now what?  (2) Decide what you want to tweet about.  For example, say you are interested in sports marketing.  (3) Set up a Google Alerts for “sports marketing”, “nike advertising” and “adidas ad campaign” (just examples), (4) start following sports marketing blogs, and (5) then tweet any interesting articles or links that you find.  You will begin to connect with other professionals in your field, creating helpful relationships that you can use when it comes time to search for a job.

Start a blog.

Blogging requires dedication, perseverance, and a genuine interest in a specific topic.  If you have those qualities, then starting a blog is a good step towards establishing yourself as a valuable resource in your field of interest.  (That’s what I’m trying to do!) Here are a few resources:

My number one piece of advice is to just try it.  I was convinced that I wouldn’t enjoy having a blog until I started writing about what my PBS internship was teaching me about social media.  If you find that you aren’t passionate about what you chose to write about, write about something else.  Use your blog to find out what you are truly passionate about.