Online Reputation Management: Not Much That You Can’t Do Online

These days, there’s not much that you can’t do online. Answers to questions, from the obscure to the profound, are simply a search engine away. Staying in touch and getting your message out there, takes nothing more than a keyboard and an internet connection - or a half decent phone. In fact, there is so much going on online, it’s impossible to keep track of everything that’s happening. Therein lies the problem.

The good
Companies and employers alike have cottoned onto the idea that you no longer need to take job applicants’ CVs and interviews at face value. To get the lowdown on prospective employees has never been easier. You can dig up reams of information, on just about anyone, using the same tools that have revolutionised communication for the masses. This sounds pretty scary, but if you’re aware of the situation you can easily use it to your advantage.

The bad
For the unwitting, social media tools like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace can prove to be decidedly detrimental to their careers. But, it’s important to remember that using these services won’t damage your reputation in the least, if you employ just a little common sense.

The first rule of thumb is don’t post anything that you wouldn’t want your mom to see. For most people, their online reputation is determined by what they chose to put out there. That means that when you hear about people getting fired over a post on Facebook, it’s typically their own fault and could have been avoided with just a little bit of forethought.
The second important rule, when it comes to online services and social media, is to carefully read the services’ privacy policies and ensure that your settings provide you with the privacy you need. Facebook, in particular, has been plagued with controversy surrounding its user privacy settings and its blatant disregard for protecting user information. That said, if you follow the first rule of thumb you won’t run the risk of prospective employers finding inappropriate material on you when a social media service throws your privacy settings to the wind.

The fan-frikking-tastic
Okay, so we know that employers are checking up on employees online. If you’re a nescient fool, that’s bad news for players. If, however, you embrace the technology you can play an active role in developing an online reputation that appeals to employers and positively affects your salary. Sure, it won’t be as much as much fun as tagging your kittens on Facebook or tweeting what you had for breakfast, but it will make you more employable.

So, how do you go about creating an online reputation that will boost your career?

Step 1 – What does your reputation look like?
Start by evaluating your online reputation. The best place to start is with a Google search. Search for your name and see if you get any hits. If nothing turns up, you might want to try narrowing your search down a little and only search sites relevant to your country. Keep narrowing your search until you come up with something. It might be as easy as typing in your name, industry and city. If you’re new to the online game, there’s a good chance that you won’t be anything at all about you online. That’s not a problem; it’s a great place to start.

Step 2 – Engage with the community
Blogs are a great place to share information and get access to industry expertise and opinions. If you think you’re up to the challenge, you could start writing your own blog. Be warned though, this isn’t something you should undertake lightly. Blogs take a lot of effort and time to write and maintain.

An easier alternative would be to start participating in the comments sections of established blogs relevant to your industry. If you decide to go this route, remember to use your full name in the comments, not an alias or a screen handle. Keep your comments professional and on topic. The goal is to boost your employment prospects, not sabotage them.
One of the easiest ways to keep up to date with what’s happening online is to set up an iGoogle page and get RSS feeds delivered straight to your landing page. Basically, once you’ve set this up you’ll get article headlines and summaries from your favourite sites fed straight to you. Whenever something relevant pops up, you can go and investigate and start boosting your online reputation.
Finally, if you have a flair for writing and a topic to talk about, you might want to consider writing a guest post for an industry website. This will allow you to get your voice out there without the continuous strain of developing content for a personal blog. Blog owners are fairly accommodating in this regard. Find a relevant blog, go to the contact page and submit an idea for a story. With a little luck and smattering of determination you should be able to land a post or two.

Step 3 – Use your social media wisely
When most people think social media, they think Facebook and MySpace. These aren’t really tools that will have any serious benefits to your career though. Instead, you might want to consider signing up with LinkedIn which is a social media service geared towards the working environment. Another avenue to consider is Twitter. Don’t use it to talk about the inane and the mediocre, instead use it to network with people and share relevant information. Remember iGoogle? It’ll help here too.

Step 4 – Monitor your growing online reputation
In the beginning an online reputation is pretty easy to monitor. As the content you put out there accumulates, it starts to get a little more difficult. Thankfully, there are a few tools which you can use to keep track of what you’ve said and what’s being said about you. Some of the better services include: Google alerts, Naymz, and Rapleaf.

Like most things in life, online reputations are best managed with a good dose of common sense. If you behave like an idiot online, you’ll come short in the long run. Conversely, if you step up to the plate and harness the true potential of the technology available to you, you will start to reap the rewards. Developing an online reputation is all about presenting yourself in the best possible light. This is easy to achieve if you focus on making positive contributions and take an active role in managing how you are perceived online. Occasionally, people will say things about you that aren’t exactly endearing. There’s no way to avoid this. The only way to fight online negativity is to conduct yourself professionally and to keep asserting your integrity, experience and industry prowess through positive contributions.

Source: http://talentocean.co.za/magazine/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21:online-reputation-management