National Black MBA Association

Premier association supporting black professionals with MBA’s https://nbmbaa.org/

National Association of Black Journalists

Organization of journalists, students, and media-related professionals http://www.nabj.org/

National Urban League

Provide economic empowerment, educational opportunities and guarantee civil rights for the undeserved in America http://nul.iamempowered.com/

National Association of Multi-ethnicity in Communications

Premier organization supporting multi-ethnic diversity in the communications industry http://namic.com/

The Association of Women in Communications

Professional organization that champions advancement of women across all communication disciplines. http://www.womcom.org/

Color Comm

Essential organization for women of color across all areas of communications. http://www.colorcommnetwork.com/

National Association of Professional Women

Professional network for all women in all industries. https://www.napw.com/

 

Professional organizations are highly beneficial to students who have just gradated from college and also young professionals seeking to expand their network. Professional organizations include a group of people from the same profession who meet regularly for network events and come up with business standards for the specific profession. Networking groups are beneficial for students because they provide an outlet for an individual to learn about a specific profession of interest and to seek out mentors. Young professionals who desire to expand their network and establish a career path can also benefit from mentors.

Here are 7 ways that professional networks can benefit you:

• Internships and Job Opportunities
  • Professional associations have their own job and internship boards where members can list openings available in their company. A job board in a professional organization can ben very beneficial because of the ability to get in contact with the individual who has posted the job.
• Conferences
  • Professional organizations often times host annual conferences or meet ups that can be highly beneficial towards networking, learning about the field, and finding mentors. Conferences are also discounted for members.
• Exclusive Online Resources
  • Professional Organizations offer a range of resources online that are made available to members such as message boards, databases, and even online courses.
• Professional Development
  • Professional development is a priority and organizations will sometimes offer free or discounted courses and certificates.
• Discounted Or Free Publications
  • Free membership will also include access to newsletters, magazines, and video tutorials.
• Mentoring
  • The nature of professional networks is that it allows you to be exposed to a number of people within a particular industry. Many times this is a good foundation for meeting a mentor or requesting for available coaching or mentorship services.
• Scholarship
  • For young members there may be scholarships available to encourage individuals seeking to enter into a particular field.

1. Reading – Take out time in your day to read and be inspired. Inspiration and motivation is important to see how other people have made success in their lives. Reading is also great to continue to learn and sharpen your skills. Starting to read is as simple as just reading about your interests.
2. Exercise – It is important to incorporate activity or exercise for one hour a day. Successful people understand that exercising allows for them to perform at their highest capacity each day.
3. Personal Care – Many people who work hard forget about themselves but it is important to make personal care a priority. Personal care is essential to success and surprisingly 89% of self made millionaires sleep more than the average person.
4. Build Positive Relationships– A support group is essential to success because being surrounded by positive, supportive, and motivated people will boost your creativity and help motivate you even more in your projects.
5. Set A Plan and Pursue Your Goals – It is easy to set a plan but successful people actually pursue their goals. Keeping long and short-term goals at the forefront of your mind and clearing a way to reach goals is important for success.
6. Personal Care – Successful people sleep more than average people and it is imperative for creativity and cognitive functioning.
7. Plan Your Day The Night Before– Planning is an essential part of productivity and creates an expectation to complete tasks and have a productive day. There are many successful people who plan out their day the night before to ensure their productivity in the following day.
8. Rising Early– Rising early and positioning yourself for a productive day is also imperative because if you set aside time to prepare your mind for the day through meditation, music, or just a moment of silence or prayer can help your day go by more efficiently.
9. Value Solitude – Successful people value their solitude and can spend time alone to think and to set their mind on their goals. Setting out time to be alone and attain clarity and time to know your self is imperative for personal growth.
10. Express Gratitude – Successful people can appreciate the good in their life and are optimistic and gracious. Many people wallow in the dissatisfaction of their lives but sometimes the road to success is as simple as appreciating what you have and figuring out how you can use your blessings.

• Post When Your Audience Is Most Active – Each social media network has a better time for posting. Finding the best time to post is all about testing to figure out which time and day is best for your audience. Details on how you can test your audience can be found in my blog post “The Ultimate Guide On The Best Time To Post On Social Media”
• Discover The Best Posting frequency – The amount of times that you post on social media is important because if you post too much then you may see a decline in followers versus a an increase. It can also be detrimental if you do not post enough content. Balance is a key factor in building engagement and followers by discovering what frequency works best for your audience. Setting up a social media schedule at different time will help you to test out the right frequency for your audience and Coschedule has a an excellent social media posting schedule to get started on timing your social media content (https://coschedule.com/blog/social-media-posting-schedule/)
• Quality over quantity is essential – Quality is essential in building brand credibility. It is also important to get content up but also ensure that the quality of your content isn’t going down because you want to fill the quota. Keep a journal to write with or a notepad on your phone to write down your ideas and try to find things that inspire you to create better content. Mix up your content and find different ways to attract your readers to click on your content. Mix up your wording or add an image or video to spice up your content. Always stay true to your authentic voice and have fun.
• Consistency is key to success – Consistency is important to anyone starting out from nothing of whom is trying to build his or her audience. A consistent posting schedule will also let your audience know when you have posted new content.
• Automate your social media posting – There are several sites and apps available to automate and schedule out your posting in order to release the pressure of scheduling out a large amount of content manually. Sites like Twittimer for Twitter, Hootsuite, and Coschedule provide services for scheduling content effectively.