Ever since social media came it has become increasingly difficult to manage your online reputation. So how can you do it successfully?
Assess yourself
Before you figure out how to manage your online reputation, start by examining what’s being said about you on the Internet. Use any type of search, including Google search, social networks and forum searches to assess and see what’s going on.
Try to search for your first name combined with relevant keywords such as current city, hometown, occupation, phone number, frequently used nicknames, email address and the name of your location.
Scrub the internet or adjust your privacy settings
After scouring the internet, you might find unflattering information or links to photos you should have kept private. Delete these photos or try to get these links removed. If possible, change your social media privacy settings. On Facebook, you can limit exposure by changing Privacy Settings and Tools to friends-only. Also, you can adjust your content to make your past posts private.
On Twitter, you can make your tweets private and viewable to only your followers by going to Settings then Security and Privacy and finally checking the box under Tweet privacy.
Brand yourself
The best way to manage your online reputation is to create a positive profile of yourself. Instead of focusing on suppressing your past, build your future. Add new useful content as often as you can in the form of a new social media account, blog posts, website, forum posts, articles and a high quality feed of Instagram photos.
If you are an expert in your field, try to position yourself as one by getting your name placed in industry publications or magazines. The more positive content you add to your profile, the quicker the negative will be eliminated.
Practice vigilance
Once you’ve built a solid online reputation, make sure it doesn’t fall down like a house of cards. You can do this using the following strategies:
- Set up a Google Alert to track search terms such as your name or email address
- Use separate emails for social networks and personal or professional profiles
- Be diplomatic with the way you post or tweet
- Participate in an online community in a friendly manner. Interact with others positively through forum posts and blogs.
At periscopeUp we can manage your online presence by helping you clean up, protect and build a positive professional online reputation. Call (443) 475-0787 or Contact Us online to get started.
