Remember to ask yourself these questions for managing your online reputation:
-Do you use one specific variation of your name across your entire online presence?
-Do you have a consistent brand defined across all platforms?
-Do you know your brand?
-Are you using a consistent professional headshot?
-Are you using a consistent headline or tag line?
-Are you using a consistent executive summary and complete biography?
-Have you identified the main job titles, your core skill sets, industry, and location and incorporated them?
Ensure your online reputation enhances your professional brand with these 5 tips.
1. GOOGLE YOURSELF
Put your name in quotes and see what comes up in the search results. Use the consistent variation of your name on all your job search documents and online profiles. This will help you create a consistent brand.
2. UNDERSTAND YOUR BRAND & BE CONSISTENT
Understanding and consistently communicating your professional reputation is critical. You should have a standard professional headshot, tagline, professional value proposition, and complete bio that you use across outlets – social media profiles, websites, and Google profiles.
3. BOOST POSITIVE RESULTS
Create profiles using your branded content and name on various online platforms. Even if you do not use the platforms actively, it will ensure that someone else cannot use them with your name and that the profile that does come up is branded for you. Next, create more positive results using your branded name. Here are a few options:
-Donate to non-profits/social causes so you show up on their list of donors.
-Submit articles to industry journals and share them on social media platforms.
-Write insightful posts on industry-related websites with a branded signature and share them on social media platforms.
-Join professional associations or clubs that list their members online.
-Create your own professional portfolio or website with your name as the domain name.
-Join a few of the many online communities where you can develop a professional presence through involvement and online conversations, such as LinkedIn groups.
4. REMOVE NEGATIVE RESULTS
Luckily, 95% of searchers don’t look beyond the first page of search results, so ultimately those are the most important; however, it’s never good to have any negative branding floating around on the Internet. If you find any negative results, go to the website on which they are posted and see if you have access to remove them or change them to something positive. You can explore paid options for removing your data from search engines if you are unable to remove them yourself.
5. MONITOR YOUR BRAND
Continually monitor your brand regardless of your job status. Set up a Google Alert (www.google.com/alerts) so that you’ll be notified of any new search results containing your name.
