First-off, you can probably find 10,000 shit posts about this same topic written by some douchey self-proclaimed "E-Marketing" guru or something, but that's not the image you want to portray if you want to maintain your level of respect as a Sales Engineer. One of the biggest challenges in anyone's professional career is to get noticed for the right reasons and not look like an attention whore. This challenge is exacerbated substantially when you happen to be an introvert and have an inherent phobia of associating your online personas with your professional image.
But lo, all is not lost. For in the infinite scale and grandeur of the internet we have been anointed exquisite gifts that, if used properly, can work as if they were specifically designed for technical introverts like myself. I use these gifts, but I had to be teach myself through trial and error over a number of years how to do it properly. Here are some of the things I've learned:
LinkedIn
On of the most obvious first steps is to set up a LinkedIn account. I know it's played out and most of the posts have become months-old memes and shitty "brain-teasers", but it's still the best reference anyone has for getting your professional profile. Make sure you create a custom URL for profile. Sounds corny but it makes things easier to put in email signatures and business cards.
When it comes to LI, there are a few commonly overlooked things that can make you stand out. For me, I've had more compliments on my Summary than anything else (don't be afraid to plagiarize). In the "Experience" section, make sure you put a little blurb about what you actually do at that company rather than just the company tagline. Feel free to put personal accomplishments in there, but don't make it look like a huge deal unless it actually is. Nobody gives a shit that you got your CISSP so... put it in there, but don't be a dick about it.
Lastly, on the topic of things that nobody gives a shit about... nobody cares where you went to high school so leave it out. In my experience if I didn't actually know the person in high school, the connection wasn't strong enough anyways. If that's the angle you're trying to work in a deal, you're probably not going to close that deal. Think about it.
UPDATE: One very cool thing about LI that I learned recently is it is WAY MORE ephemeral then most people think... far more than any other social media. I have started testing out tweets in LI before I actually put them on twitter. If you post something to LI, you'll get nearly instant feedback on it, but it will also fall down the queue so fast that if it turns out to be a shitty post it's gone before you know it. You can also delete the post and it's almost like it never existed. Unlike twitter and FB, people don't have LI posts under a microscope so you can get away with testing the waters a bit.
Twitter
Next, set up a twitter feed and start following the insiders in your industry... just google it, trust me. Put your twitter handle in your LI profile. Job hunters that are worth their salt that are looking at your LI profile are going to look at your twitter feed. I treat my LI profile as something I could easily show my grandma and my twitter feed as only being shared with my friends and people who think I'm interesting. Try and tweet relevant stuff... retweets are good too but if you do, at least tag an opinion to the retweet. You will make or break your twitter persona with the use of relevant content. Try using something like feedly and following a ton of RSS feeds relevant to your field and write posts on interesting stories you find. You can also use something like tweetdeck and create lists to keep up to date. Also try and respond to tweets with something insightful. If the person you're tweeting at retweets your tweet, that's instant publicity and confirmation that you have something to say.
Facebook
EVERYBODY looks at Facebook: recruiters, managers, colleagues... your grandma... everyone. I did some serious research on how to lock it down, read this to get a decent headstart. The idea with Facebook is to keep it populated with enough static data so an anonymous person can at least see that you're a social person, but not enough to reveal anything too personal. I updated my Facebook profile like 3 years ago, haven't touched it since, and only post very occasionally if at all.
It seems daunting in the beginning, but once you get the hang of this it's easy. I have a tendency to think and be creative in chunks... followed by long periods of flat-line brain activity. To combat this, when I have an epiphany or ten I write a bunch of tweets and schedule them, or start a bunch of blog posts and leave them unfinished for a later time when my brain is in tapioca-mode.
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