The role of social media in the professional workplace was discussed at the Greenlee School’s Futures Forum on Thursday night.

The forum hosted four guest speakers to educate people about the use of social media and how it is a powerful tool in the workplace that could positively or negative affect a career.

The panelists who spoke about social media included Aaron Hepker, the digital content director for WHO-TV, Emilee Richardson, marketing and communications manager for the Science Center of Iowa, Justin Wise, the author and founder of Think Digital Academy and Don Moxley, senior vice president of Fleishman-Hillard.

“Don’t put anything out on social media that you wouldn’t want on the New York Times,” Moxley said.

Something students do not realize is the blurry line between a person’s work and personal social media accounts, Hepker said. Even personal accounts reflect the company the person is in, he said.

Social media plays a major role when students are applying for jobs and internships, said Jason Wiegand, an academic adviser for the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. It’s vital students learn about social media before they are in a professional workplace, he said.

“It’s critical that students are cognizant of their social media presence and then use it for the good,” Weigand said.

People use social media to develop relationships and connections with people in the professional realm to mutually benefit one another, Wise said.

“People like doing business with people they like opposed to people they don’t like,” Wise said.

Engagement is a key that give a professional the upper hand for retention of customers, Wise said. A person remembers the response they get back from a professional through social media, he said.

When building relationships on social media, it’s important to act human instead of automated social media posts, Richardson said. In order to gain attention on social media is to experiment new ways to use social media, she said.

A way to experiment and gain more followers is to post different times throughout the day, depending on the audience one is trying to promote the message to, Richardson said. When experimenting with creativity, people have to be careful it’s tasteful and doesn’t violate any rules, she said.

To be ahead of the game, a social media expert is always looking for the next level of media platforms to promote to its followers, Hepker said. Trying something new will bring out creativity and attract a greater audience.

The posts on social media reflects the person’s integrity and companies will look through social media before an interview, Wise said.

“Social media reveals who we are,” Wise said. “It doesn’t necessarily impact new characteristics into us.”