This is a guest post written by Carli Smith .

I have always read success stories about people getting their dream jobs through social media. We have all heard of Ste Davies and his blog and Jed Hallam and his Facebook group, but surely nothing that great could happen to us?!

With the growth of social media it has made it easier to establish yourself online, however this increase of usage makes it harder to break through the noise and differentiate yourself from others.

My tips:

Follow the right people

You have a better chance of keeping up to date with areas of debate within the industry if you follow a wide range of companies and individuals within the discipline. Twitter is a fantastic way of exploring others views on topics as you can ask questions and find links to some great blogs.

Don’t just aim to get a job

There are success stories of people who have managed to get a job through social media but don’t let this be your only reason to sign up. Twitter is great for networking and finding people with similar interests. Social media is a great way to make contact with companies and break the ice but you still need to have a strong CV and sufficient work experience to back up your online presence.

Remain professional

It is important to be cautious when tweeting and I found that the more followers I got, the more nervous I got when tweeting. It can be easy to ramble about a topic without realising that people might not be interested so be careful. You have to draw a balance between being professional and letting your personality show through.

Integrate your social media platforms

Ensure that your Twitter bio shows a link to your blog and your LinkedIn account has a link to your Twitter account and blog. Make it easier for potential employees to find out about you and showcase your work as much as you can.

Don’t constantly self promote

No-one likes a bragger, either in real life or on social media. Of course use Twitter to post links to your blog posts but engage with people too and comment on their blogs. Social media allows you to build relationships with people; and remember relationships are two-way.

By raising your own social media presence it gives employers a chance to see that you can do the same for clients, what better way to show you can do the job. Social media opens up the whole world for opportunities and gives you the chance to guest blog on blogs anywhere in the world so get out there and be seen!

I am happy to say that I have been one of the lucky ones… I have now been employed by TAMBA Internet and am due to start my position as a Social Media Account Handler in July after my degree. And it all started after clicking the ‘Follow’ button…

This post is written by my friend Carli Smith. Carli Smith is currently studying Marketing and Public Relations at the University of Lincoln. We know each other thanks to #CommsChat – a Twitter chat for PR pros. She is very active in the social web and it’s always great to talk with her about communications, PR, blogging, and a whole bunch of other topics. I highly recommend you to follow @CarliR6 and @TAMBA_Carli on Twitter as well as to keep an eye on her blog Scary World of Business [the blog was shortlisted for the Euprera Social Media Awards 2010 in the category of Best Student Blog].