Now Google your name plus your company. More targeted results? I was shocked to see that when you search "Chris Wheeler MarcomCentral," I owned nearly the entire first page of the Google search results. I had a panic moment when I realized just how much of my life is truly visible to strangers. You can see my Fiance, my dog, the fact that I ski, crossfit, and like bourbon.
Sitting and thinking about this, I realized that being in sales, that could actually be a good thing. I want to present more online substance than simply my LinkedIn profile and email signature. It allows my prospective clients to do business with a real human being, drawing some connection from what they see online. However, the flip side of this is that it opens me up to judgement from these strangers before we've had the opportunity to interact and establish a relationship. This is where cultivating an online brand comes into play.
Review what is visible to the public, consider your industry, and decide what impression you'd like to give. If you're in hospitality and nightlife, you'll have a drastically different baseline for what is appropriate than if you're in finance. An appropriate brand for the former might be "well dressed, well connected, rages with the best," while the latter might want to be depicted as "successful, active, and family oriented."
In order to achieve the appropriate branding, you need to be aware of what and how things will show up, as well as the obvious impressions your posts will generate. If you're at a conference and #hashtag a picture with your company name, your Instagram feed is going to show up in search results. The same is true for your Twitter feed. Facebook tends to be a bit more generic in what shows up, but think of what picture albums are public. It might be a good idea to hide all those college party pictures. Nothing sends an impression quicker than a picture of 20 yr old you doing a keg stand dressed like a "cat."
Every once in a while skim through your pictures, tweets, posts, and make sure you're sticking to that brand. After all, in the age of uber connection, social media can either help or hurt you, so you might as well give it some thought and put it to good work.
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