Individuals exploit influence activities for personal gains. This paper shows that tenure-track assistant professors click more “likes” under the dean’s social media posts than their tenured colleagues during performance evaluation periods, utilizing a natural experiment in a university where the dean has substantial personnel discretions. The effect is greater for faculties with less-competitive publication records and for more frequent social media users prior to the evaluation periods. The results remain robust after considering content heterogeneity, social ties, sample bias, career prospects, and individual-level changes. The findings thus highlight the strategic use of influence activities through social media for career advancements.