There has been a lot of discussion on online personal reputation management in the context of celebrities as well as politicians. But the bottom line is if something can make you look good in the minds of the general public, then is no need to avoid it. Thanks to the digital era, it has become far easy find information about any personal over the internet. In fact, studies have found that Google is the first place users tend to go when they want to find information about someone. This is why it has become imperative to create, build and market our personal reputation like done by big brands.
Still, most people are aloof regarding the real importance of personal reputation. There is a perception that only famous people need to focus on personal online reputation. But it is just a half-baked truth.
Basically, everyone who wants to succeed professionally, requires personal online reputation management.
Personal branding is not just about getting online, noticed or known. It is about managing how people perceive you. From job seekers to businessmen, personal online reputation management has become a core issue for everyone. Now that we have an overview on the importance of personal online reputation, let’s take a look at the strategies that can help you manage your online reputation.
Google Yourself
The first and the foremost step in the overall process of online reputation management involves a common practice that anyone using the internet might have already done – “Google Yourself”. The main aim behind this is to find out what search engines show when someone searches you by your name. If there are any result that show negative social or professional trait, especially on the first two pages of the search engine, then you need to immediately incorporate best practices to correct your personal online reputation. In addition to web search, also perform image searches to find out if there is any embarrassing stuff. If there is nothing negative in the search results it does not mean that you do not require ORM. There is a possibility that the harmful search results might appear in the near future.
Get a Website of Your Name
The best and the most vital strategy in tackling online reputation threats is getting a website with your name as its domain. The best thing about owning a website is that you have total control over its content. In this way, when someone will search for you on the internet, your website with your name will show up in the results, making it easy for anyone to get all the correct information.
Social Media Profiles
If the website option is not feasible for you, the second strategy involves creating similar social media profiles across all popular networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, etc. Most of these profiles often appear among the top search results making it easy for you to keep positive information on the first page. A vital aspect to keep in mind while creating these profiles is to keep all the information identical across the social networks. This makes it easy for anyone to differentiate between your official and fake accounts.
Reputation Monitoring Tools
Even if you cover the above-mentioned strategies, negative links can surface anytime. From bad reporting to embarrassing social media posts, due to the open nature of the internet it is difficult to curb each and every negative link. However, there are certain tools that are helpful in tracking and handling negative links in a timely manner. One of the most widely used tools is google alerts which inform users about their online mentions in real time. Additionally, there are other reputation management tools like Rankur and Trackur, which make it easy to manage their personal online reputation.
The internet has led to a boom in information sharing. It has now become easier to connect with people who otherwise would not have even heard about you. Without this digital era, it would not have been possible to have the reach and impact. But as it is said everything comes at a price and there are two sides to a coin. The fact of the matter is that if you do not manage your reputation yourself then there would be some discontent voice that would find it easy to tarnish your image.
So Act before it gets too late.