Online, image is everything. Most of the people who encounter you on the web don’t know you and haven’t met you, so they don’t have the opportunity to form an opinion about you in the traditional sense. They don’t know what your qualifications are, whether people they respect recommend you, whether you have a good sense of humor, what’s most important to you in life, or anything else for that matter. Their entire opinion is based on the information they view online—on your website, your blog, or your social networking profile.
By now, you’re well aware of the importance your profile carries in the world of social networking. But your individual profiles on social networking sites are also part of a bigger picture—your online brand.
Your online brand is what drives your reputation and your success; it’s how the online world sees you. Do it right, and you could achieve stellar results. Do it wrong, and your results could be minimal, or worse, you could end up with a negative reputation.
A strong, strategic online profile should answer three important questions.
Who are you? People want to know the basics—name, location, profession, qualifications, contact information.
What do you look like? Yes, appearance shouldn’t count, but it does—both online and off. People want to know what you look like to make up for the lack of visual cues that an in-person meeting would provide.
What are you like as a person? You need to be more than a static image and list of qualifications. Your profile must make you come to life and seem real.
Here are five tips for developing your own personal brand online:
Match your profile to your goals—. A business profile needs to be professional, yet still show some personality. Trust is also key in business, so you should make the effort to convey that you’re worthy of trust through your profile contents. Links to articles you’ve written, presentations you’ve delivered, and so forth help convey trust, as do recommendations from key people in your industry.
On the other hand, a band aiming for exposure on targeted social networking sites would strive for a totally different kind of profile. For example, Jeff is a jazz guitarist with a new CD, and his profile on MySpace, Facebook, and Bebo is cool and edgy. He doesn’t want to get lost in the crowd and feels he can afford to take a few risks with a cutting-edge image to get noticed.
Make the words in your profile come to life—. Your words comprise the first, and often final, impression people make of you online. You need to make these words count. This goes beyond ensuring your text is free of grammatical errors and typos. Your profile needs to answer the question of who you are and what you do, give some indication of what you’re like as a person, instill trust in those who are reading it, make these readers take the action you desire, and do it in a way that doesn’t come off as a promotional piece or sales pitch. If you’re not a wordsmith, find someone who is to help you polish your prose. Another helpful tactic is to review your colleagues’ profiles. Which ones generate a positive reaction and why?
Get visual—. Today’s web relies heavily on images. Static text alone is no longer compelling, if it ever was. You need visuals, and the most critical visual is a photo of yourself—even if you hate having your picture taken. Everyone has heard the expression “a picture paints a thousand words.
A successful visual image often has little to do with age, gender, or even attractiveness. People just want to see who they’re dealing with. In many cases, not having a photo indicates, right or wrong, that you have something to hide or that you aren’t who you say you are. Anita, for example, is a happiness coach who originally didn’t post a photo on her website or social networking profiles. Later, she posted a photo, but it portrayed a rather formal professional image taken during her days as a corporate manager. Anita eventually replaced that photo with a series of informal snapshots taken at her seminars. In these images, Anita appears relaxed and happy, yet still professional. Not surprisingly, her business increased with the posting of the “happy” images, which helped to further brand her as a happiness coach. Anita’s online visual image finally matched the image portrayed in her text.
Show some personality, but not too much—. The key here is balance. You have to humanize yourself so that people get a true feeling of who you really are. This can be a touchy area and, again, what’s appropriate for one site may not be for another. When discussing your opinions and personal interests, keep your target audience in mind. Yes, freedom of speech is important, but sometimes self-editing is more important when your social networking goals relate to business and not personal enjoyment.
Get interactive—. Your online brand on social networking sites extends beyond your own profile. It also includes your interactions on other areas of the site. Get interactive, and join in the conversation on site forums, groups, question boards, and on others’ profiles. Be sure, however, that your words enforce your brand and don’t detract from it. The right collaboration on social networking sites can lead to a big payoff in enhancing your online reputation and in achieving your social networking goals.