Social media and the explosion of online networking tools provide the user with a unique opportunity to self market and network with a large audience. However, this needs to be done intelligently and carefully to avoid having others see what is best left unseen! After all, it is true that “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know”.
How to Avoid Common Pitfalls
Many employers these days Google potential and even current employees to see what comes up online. Will it be drunken photos posted on Facebook? Inflammatory remarks made on someone’s blog? Or will it be a positive, informative profile that shows the user to the best advantage?
Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace commonly have privacy settings. The user should ensure that profiles, photographs and wall postings are set to be seen only by accepted friends. The user should bear in mind that when someone searches on Facebook, for example, the user’s profile (including profile picture) is still public and many networking sites actually own the material posted on them, so discretion must be used as this material can be sold or shared elsewhere.
Users should also:
- Choose a profile picture carefully that presents them in a positive, professional way
- Moderate comments and pictures posted by friends
- Avoid any inflammatory remarks on blogs, social networking sites, and even emails (particularly about a current or previous employer)
It is important to remember that networks stretch far and wide. Users may not be aware of who knows who in their network and negative comments could easily get back to that person and end up ruining the user’s reputation instead!
How to Create a Powerful Online Presence
The good news is that users have the power to take control over what appears online. When setting up a profile or blog, users should think about what uses the profile/blog will have – is it for job hunting? Connecting with old friends? Professional networking? Users must structure each profile carefully and provide useful information that reflects their abilities and interests in a positive light.
Users should begin by Googling themselves. It is often surprising what information shows up. If anything negative appears that shouldn’t be online, a clean up of what is already there must be done. Zero online presence is better than a negative one, but that means the rewards of a positive online presence are still there to be reaped.
Using Social Networking Sites and Blogs Effectively
The best place to begin is with a social networking site. It helps to choose the right online platform for the user’s specific needs:
- Services like Twitter allow connections with people all over the globe. The benefit of Twitter is that following someone does not have to be reciprocal, and there is very little information for others to see. Twitter also offers a privacy setting where Followers have to be pre-approved by the user.
- LinkedIn is a lot stricter with how connections are made and therefore offers a more controlled professional networking platform. A user’s profile also acts as an online resume/executive bio if filled out well and it is very useful, particularly for networking with potential employers.
- Blogs allow a user to write about a particular field of interest, show their skills and promote themselves online. Blogs take a lot more time and effort than many online profiles, and users should keep these up-to-date and relevant to ensure regular readers.
The best thing about social networking to create an online presence is the ability to self-market. Have a new blog post? The user can advertise the fact on Twitter, and create a Facebook group for the blog and keep members updated. LinkedIn Group Discussions can also be used to generate feedback and get people interested. A “Follow Me on Twitter” widget can also be added to the blog. And users shouldn’t be afraid to contact connections for information or advice in person – people are surprisingly willing to share information even if they are only a “virtual” friend.
Final Thoughts on an Online Presence
Creating and maintaining an online presence takes some time and a lot of following up, but the rewards can be great. There are many success stories of people being recommended on LinkedIn and getting a new job, of promotions given because employers were impressed by their worker’s profiles and the positive picture they painted of their workplace, but there are as many horror stories of people being fired because of inflammatory remarks or pictures that show the employee in a compromising position (for example, at a party when they claimed they were ill).
Once old profiles have been cleaned up and new ones carefully created, users should Google themselves again and see the difference!
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