Reputation Marketing

Until recently, much of the talk about online reputation has centered around businesses, organizations, and other entities that rely on the public to achieve desired goals. Being perceived as the best, both trustworthy and knowledgeable is an important factor in credibility as well as increased exposure. Reputation marketing is not just for businesses – and many professionals have found this out the hard way. In order to be seen as presented, even employees and job applicants must manage their own online persona and be sure that others see desired information and nothing more.

Big Brother Internet Knows All

It is now almost impossible to hide online due to sophisticated online searching capability. Remember that search engines are made to find things – and do it quite well. It is virtually impossible to hide from public access – remember that fact. Keeping a good online presence depends on what can be found about any name, person, or company, then being sure it is all good in order to combat the ever-knowing Internet.

Affect of Online Reputation – Don’t Be Surprised!

There are many stories about employers researching potential hires online, only to find information making that candidate seem less than desirable. The truth is, many people have no idea the extent to which being online has the potential to affect a job or job search.

Losing out on a great job because a particularly tasteless comment from five years ago happens to pop up during an employer’s research is not only unfortunate but embarrassing. Prevention through good personal reputation marketing and management is the best way to prevent just a development . Let people see the good things only; keep the bad things off the Internet completely.

Managing A Personal Online Reputation

There is always a way to manage a personal reputation – even online. Consider the following:

    • Regular Google Searches – The best way to see what others will see with a name is to run it through Google and see what shows up. Use multiple formats as well in order to find everything. Set up alerts in Google, so that anytime a name or term publishes to the web anywhere, a notification is sent.
    • Keep Social and Professional Separate – It may seem fairly obvious, but professional profiles should be just that – professional only. Personal profiles should be made in a way to be separate from professional ones. In either case, be cautious about what is posted or commented to others, since there are so many ways that content can be viewed.
    • Use an Alias – In keeping personal and professional lives private, use an alias for personal online activity. Be cautious about what information is filled into message board and social profiles and how many are joined; delete profiles no longer in use.
    • No Unprofessional Online Behavior – Assuming that it is impossible to hide everything from everyone, professionals who are online in any way must take stock of their presence and behavior, whether under their own profile, that of someone else, on discussion forums, or anywhere for that matter. Unprofessional online behavior is one of the main reasons why qualified people are declined for jobs these days. The best way to combat that is to not engage in behavior that could leave a bad impression.
    • Reputation Management – If a Google search shows many undesirable posts, it is possible to delete them or request they be removed; however, that is not always effective. In more difficult cases, it may be better to hire a reputation repair service, as these professionals know how to make undesirable things seem to just disappear.

Since even personal reputation weighs so much on both online and offline lives, keeping up with it is essential. Regular personal reputation marketing – searching for negative mentions while profiling positive ones – does the most to appear in a more positive public light. Always remember that what gets posted online today can be easily found by someone tomorrow; those with a reputation to protect must proactively do just that!

Let Web Unlimited Manage Your Reputation Marketing Campaign!
Need some help with the reputation marketing of your professional image? Call Web Unlimited at 979-696-2500 and let us keep your image as a reflection of your capabilities!