Social media isn’t just a way to keep in touch with friends, it is a way to create your own unique Personal Brand.

Milena Regos is the owner of Out & About Marketing and she recently came to my college, Sierra Nevada College, to speak about Personal Branding.

Dan Schawbel, is an expert in Personal Branding and says, “In the digital age our name is our only currency.”

This is a powerful quote that really sticks with you if you want to create a name for yourself and find a job.

Regos talked about how the tech age we’re in now is similar to the dot com era and the faster we embrace it, the easier it will be to get a job. Every college students needs and wants a job after graduation, but looking after you graduate is a huge mistake.

College students have the perfect opportunity to take advantage of their situation by networking. You never know who you’ll meet or what could arise from a brief meeting and keeping the connection through social media.

Social media is more than just Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It is a way to communicate with all different kinds of people with different skills. Using social media to your advantage only puts you ahead of the game after graduating high school.

“You need  a job,” said Regos.

Applying for a job is changing too. This was really interesting to hear from Regos about how when she receives an application one of the first things she does is Google the applicant’s name. She suggests that you Google your name and see what pops up and if you don’t like it then it is up to you to bury it. Hardly anyone looks at the second page of Google, I know I don’t unless I’m desperate.

I decided to Google myself. The first three things to pop up are my stories from the Eagle’s Eye, my Facebook profile and my Twitter account. At the very bottom of the first page this blog is on there. I’m very proud of that.

I like the things that pop up because you can see that I am a journalist, and how to contact me in other ways, but when my blog does get closer to the top, you’ll be able to see a living resume.

I’ve always found that a written resume is boring and doesn’t allow for a potential employer to see how you could be a really good fit for the position. Online resumes, portfolios and video resumes are starting to gain popularity and I’m super excited. I talked in a previous entry about how to get a job. For most of those jobs I never submitted a resume, I went in explained my skills and made a connection. Or I made a connection in one job that led me to another.

Networking and job searching are changing and I agree with everything that Regos had to say about Personal Branding. I’ve started to tweet more, I’ve joined Klout to see my influence and I plan on being more active on defining my personal brand that right now is rough around the edges.

I’ll start with one word that I decided defined me during the talk, ‘outgoing’, and expand from there.

Check out the slideshow Regos presented, which includes all of the ways to contact her.

Social media isn’t an enemy, it’s easy to keep everything professional and personal without sharing things that reputation damaging.

Regos put it best when she said,

“After the second drink don’t touch your phone anymore.”