How to Maintain Your Personal Brand and Online Image

In today’s digital world, workers should take a cue from companies who understand the importance of branding. The web explosion has made it more important than ever to manage your online personal brand.

Everyone seems to be online nowadays; the median age on Twitter is 37. Blogs, social networking, and online career searches are bigger than ever,and they’re here to stay. While there is a wide array of ways to promote yourself and your career, each one can be a double edged sword; what is designed to promote can sometimes actually damage.

Manage your privacy.
If you have a personal Facebook, Twitter, or Google Plus account, make sure you manage your privacy. These sites can be great for personal use or professional networking, however it’s important to ask yourself what you’re using them for. Make sure you know exactly who has access to your information. If you have friends on social sites, make sure you know when
and how you’re mentioned or tagged in photos. If anything that doesn’t reflect well on you is posted by a friend, ask them to remove it immediately. Additionally remember that you may want to leave some personal information fields blank during a time that you may be interviewing (ie political views, birth date, marital status).

Think before you post.
If you’re going to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or Google Plus then you may be able to control who can see your status updates by putting privacy limitations on that posting. Even a negative status update or posting too many touchy political news articles could dampen your professional reputation.

Blog smart.
It’s a great idea to start a blog and update it with interesting and relevant career information. You can post stories about networking events or the latest and greatest from your last trade show visit, or comment on news and events in your industry. This can be a great way to promote yourself and show off your commitment to your career.

Use LinkedIn the smart way.
LinkedIn can be a good way to apply for jobs, post your resume, network with existing contacts and find new connections. It also allows you to post a public profile that’s searchable via engines such as Google, which helps you gain more exposure. It can help you research people before you interview with them and help your job searches to be more relevant.

Google yourself regularly.
It’s important to regularly check up on your online self. Even if you think you know what you’ll find, you may be surprised at what comes up. If someone shares your name but you don’t want to be confused with them if you’re interviewing, consider bringing it up in your interview. For example, “By the way, if you happen to Google me, there’s a convicted felon in Iowa by the same name!”