5 Tactics for Personal Brand Management Online

Examples abound online of revelations that range from the simple but embarrassing to the unethical and illegal. Countless professionals have seen their careers impacted, and some have even been arrested for entries they’ve posted onto social networks. The ubiquitous nature of the social web necessitates a tactical guideline for how to manage and not sabotage your personal brand online.

64% of HR managers surveyed responded that they look at candidates’ online profiles and 41% have found sufficient content online to justify rejecting a candidate who had been under consideration. Your online profile stretches far beyond your LinkedIn resume and you need to proactively monitor and manage it by adhering to these five tactics.

1. Mentions

Set up vehicles to periodically scan and report back to you any mentions that are made about you. This is commonly referred to as “Googling” one’s own name, yet 58% of Americans don’t Google themselves. Several tools exist that can scour the web and report back their findings: Set up a Google Alert and employ additional monitoring services such as Social Mention, Collecta, SocialOomph (for Twitter), etc.

2. Focus

It is widely presumed that a consolidation is coming to the social web (Friendster anyone?), but until that happens, pick and choose your primary social networks and focus your content creation there. Use namechk.com to snag your name on multiple social sites and employ a distribution service like hellotxt.com or ping.fm to syndicate your content across multiple networks. Claiming your name prevents others from locking you out yet does not require that you become fully invested in each and every one. Being active on virtually every social network can be exhausting and could hurt your brand due to inevitable incomplete profiles and non-sufficient focus.

3. Segment

Determine what audience profile you want to connect with on each social network. High school, summer camp, college, your inner circle of friends, and of course family, are good choices for your Facebook contacts. For your professional image a Facebook fan page, LinkedIn profile, and Plaxo account are good resources. Other networks like MySpace are good platforms on which to spotlight and promote your creative talents.

4. Modesty

Social media is often viewed as a “media” upon which too much self-promotion is lavished, neglecting that there is a “social” component as well. While one’s Internet profile needs a degree of brand building to tout achievements and experience, if one indulges in over-promotion this may lead to a series of unfollows, unfriending, and being blocked. Conversely, lavishing praise and providing promotion for others often invites goodwill, reciprocity, and connection requests into your network where they will then be exposed to your content and occasional promotion moving forward.

5. Consistency

You can help unify your multiple profiles across various networks, blogs, presentation sites, etc. by streamlining profile descriptions, posting similar messages, and using the same picture and contact information, all to create the recognition that these profiles are indeed for the same person.

No matter if you have already dived into social media or not, your personal brand inevitably exists online, and a best practice is to ensure that it benefits from your direct and active management. By paying attention to mentions, focusing your message appropriately to each segment of your audience, and being consistent with a message that is not just about self-promotion alone, you can be very successful in the new social web 2.0 world.