Dos And Don’ts Of Online Reputation Management For Individuals

I get a lot of questions from people who want to learn more about online reputation management for individuals, so I decided to tackle this subject for a little bit.

In essence, you don’t have to be a celebrity, own your company or be a well-known public figure to learn how to manage your online reputation, track what people are saying about you, find the best way to “live with your online persona” and show yourself in the best possible light. Lucky for you, this isn’t very hard, you just have to have few things on your mind before you start blogging about your family/friends, your job, interests you share or life in general. I call these golden rules of online reputation management for individuals.

Dos Of Online Reputation Management For Individuals

I admit that it’s pretty hard not to cross the line between great blogging and saying something you’re not supposed to. Although we do live in the country where everyone is free to say/write what they think, you still have to think before you say/write anything. You never know how someone might interpret your honest comment about your friend’s new haircut, or how you might lose your job because of one Facebook post.

Always think before you write something down. Your words will be read by many people, and you never know if you might get sued by someone for saying something. Chances are, you’re not very well versed in copyright law, so you might want to keep your language clean, try not to insult anyone, be polite etc.

Time, time, time… I don’t have time to blog or track what people say about me online! Well, nobody wants you to blog for several hours everyday, anyway. But you definitely want to invest few hours weekly into managing your online reputation. Be careful, open your eyes and look closely: one way to do it is to set Google Alerts for your name and/or nickname. Google will send you alerts whenever someone writes about you; that way, you can act instantly – acting right away is very important.

Market yourself wisely. Not a lot of people feel comfortable talking about themselves online, marketing their special skills, emphasizing their education and experience etc. But, we have to admit that wisely doing so, you could land a great job, maybe gather a good size audience for your blog, your website. There’s a catch, though – always be honest. If you don’t speak French, don’t say that you do. Please.

Don’ts Of Online Reputation Management For Individuals

Like everything else, online reputation management has its dos and don’ts. We already covered the dos. Now let’s talk about don’ts.

Do not complain about your job online. How many times have you heard this, and yet, how many times have you read about people that got fired because they complained about their job online? They did a mistake – a very big one. Many people don’t realize that on the web, everybody can read almost anything. If you post negative things about your job position, your boss or coworkers, expect some consequences.

Don’t write bad things about people online. It’s common courtesy, actually. Avoid writing negative posts or comments about other people, even if you see that “everybody is doin’ it”. Good trick – talk online like you talk offline. A lot of people feel more comfortable writing bad things about others from the privacy of their homes, hidden between millions and millions other searchers and bloggers. Try to avoid this common mistake by simply thinking online like you think offline.

Watch out for the pictures you post online. Yes, you had a great summer. Yes, that party was awesome. But, don’t post all the pictures online. Think about the people that will see them, and what kind of person they’ll think you are. If you post pictures where you’re drinking heavily while acting out sexually explicit content, have on mind that those pictures are going to stay online for a long, long time. Possibly forever. Imagine this: after a great interview for the job of your dreams, your not-meant-to-be boss finds a picture of you humping that teddy bear your mother gave you for 14th birthday.