10 Practical tips to manage your online reputation and personal brand

When you are searching for a job, managing your online reputation is an important part of the process. Since we live in a digital age, what a recruiter or potential employer finds online about you is often their first impression of you. That information can influence how they feel about your character, professionalism, and even your suitability for a role. Crafting a positive online identity helps you to showcase your values, accomplishments, and expertise and also gives you control over the type of image you want on display.

In this blog, we will look at some of the best ways to manage your online reputation and personal brand so you can enhance your credibility and position yourself as a proactive candidate for the jobs you are searching for. Here’s what we will cover:

• What is a personal brand and why does your online reputation matter?

• 10 tips for building a positive online reputation

• 4 mistakes that can affect your online reputation

What is a personal brand and why does your online reputation matter?

Employers often research potential employees before extending the offer to interview. They will likely search for your social media pages, review your LinkedIn profile, and even search for you online. Whether those things are good or bad, what they find about you becomes your personal brand.

Taking the time to create a positive online reputation can increase your credibility and demonstrate that you have what it takes to be a thought leader. On the flip side, a negative online reputation may cause potential employers to doubt your suitability for their role. 

By managing your online reputation, you can curate an appealing and consistent personal brand that makes you an attractive candidate for your desired job roles. The process can also help you show off your expertise, which will position you as a valuable asset to prospective hiring managers.

10 Tips for building a positive online reputation

It takes a proactive and strategic approach to build a positive online reputation. Building a personal brand also takes commitment and hard work, but the results are worth it since it will be easier for you to land a great new job. You can also use your newly built platform for years to come if you maintain it. 

While all this may seem challenging and intimidating, building a personal brand is easier than you may think. Here are 10 tips for building a positive online reputation that you can start applying to your personal brand today:

1. Perform a personal brand audit

Before you make any changes to your personal brand, start with an audit. Think like a recruiter, and search for your name on social media and on search engines to see what information is already available. Make note of any potentially negative information or inconsistencies that you might need to fix.

2. Create an overview

After you know where your personal brand sits currently, build an overview of what you want your personal brand to look like. Consider what your goals are, what makes you unique, what types of employers you will be targeting, and what your achievements are. With that information, write a summary of your personal brand and goals.

3. Update professional profiles

Starting with LinkedIn, update any professional profile you find online. The goal is to make your image consistent and professional while showing off your skills and expertise in your industry.

4. Use multiple platforms

To enhance your online presence that much more, you may want to consider expanding your efforts to include more than one platform. Adding Instagram and other online networks to your posting and branding strategy can provide you with even more outlets a hiring manager might find when searching your name.

6. Be consistent

Along with wanting your image to be consistent on various platforms and websites, you want your posting and interactions online to remain consistent and professional. Set up a posting schedule to keep yourself on track, and don’t forget to maintain your image on all the platforms you are active on.

7. Network

Part of maintaining your online presence and improving your personal brand is connecting with others in your industry or in similar roles as to where you want to drive your career. Networking involves becoming active in conversations, pursuing professional relationships with others, and starting relevant discussions in groups.

8. Ask for endorsements

Once you have a network built of colleagues and other professionals in your industry, ask some of those most familiar with you for endorsements and recommendations. These can be added to the skills you have listed on your LinkedIn profile, which will make you more credible. You can also ask clients and those you’ve worked with in the past to leave reviews, which can bolster your reputation that much more.

9. Review your privacy settings

One thing you don’t have much control over regarding your personal brand is others’ ability to share information about you. Posts that you are tagged in or shared about you that aren’t professional can negatively affect your personal brand. To keep this from happening, review your privacy settings on your social media platforms so that you can control who can see that information. You should also avoid sharing personal information that isn’t relevant to your job search, or that might negatively affect your professional image, throughout the job search process.

10. Set up Google Alerts

After you’ve put in the hard work to build your online reputation, the last thing you want is for a surprise to come along and wreck all that you’ve done. One way to counteract hits to your reputation is to set up Google Alerts so that you are aware of any information that comes online about you, whether it is good or bad. You can then proactively counteract any bad information that appears so that it won’t affect your online reputation negatively.

4 Mistakes that can affect your online reputation

Now that we’ve covered some of the things you can do to manage your online reputation and personal brand, let’s take a look at some of the things you should avoid. Here are four mistakes that can pull your reputation downward and some ways you can avoid them:

1. Posting fake credentials. While you want to present yourself as an expert in your industry, you never want to show achievements and skills that you do not have. If you have little experience in an area but post that you are an expert, the truth will quickly be revealed, and your reputation will take a huge hit. In fact, you may not be able to recover at all.

2. Copying others. Your skills and experience will naturally align with others that are in your industry, but you should never try to copy someone else. Being authentic and creating your own style and content can help you build a reputation that is genuine and trustworthy.

3. Sharing too much personal information. You’ll want to create a balance of professional content while still showing your personality, but one mistake you want to avoid is oversharing personal details when they aren’t relevant to your personal image. When building your personal brand, keep your focus on your accomplishments and skills.

4. Forgetting to spell check. Having spelling and grammar errors can take away from your overall professionalism. Before posting anything online, take time to proofread the content carefully. This includes any short content, such as social media posts or comments.

From your personal brand to your resume and interviewing, we’re here to help you build your career in the best way possible. Stop by our website to learn how we can help you with your job search needs.

Key takeaways

1. Potential employers research their candidates, so managing your online reputation and personal brand can make it easier to land your ideal job.

2. Performing a personal brand audit, networking, updating your professional profile, and being consistent are all ways to manage your personal brand.

3. Be authentic, don’t post fake credentials, avoid oversharing personal information, and don’t forget to spell check when managing your online reputation.