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What is a personal brand? Owner of Lou Dawg's and Ryerson University Marketing
instructor Daryl D'Souza explained at TEDx that
"brand is what others say about you when you leave the room."
An online personal brand is your online reputation, your relationships, part of
your personality, what makes you unique and helps you stand out.
You may not realize this now,
but anything you Tweet, post to Facebook,
YouTube, your blog, or anywhere else on the web could be viewed by potential
employers in the future.
This could help you land you your dream job.
Or hold you back.
According to Kevin Kaiser, student at the University of Missouri - Kansas City,
potential employers
will check your online profile to see if your personality would fit the company.
What can you do if you've already posted information that you're not proud of?
Indiana University recommends going through your Facebook photos and deleting
any that could hurt your image.
And untag any not so professional photos
your friends may have posted.
Also you can delete any Tweets you had previously posted, However, note
that if they were re-Tweeted, you can't delete the re-Tweet.
Google yourself.
If you don't like what you see, keep on posting information that you are proud of
and soon the good will outweigh the bad.
You should check your privacy settings are up-to-date and make sure you do
this regularly since social media sites
tend to change their privacy features every once in a while.
If you haven't already done so,
start Twitter and LinkedIn profiles.
Follow companies and causes that interest you.
Get involved. Start your own blog about something you feel passionately about.
The good news is that social media platforms
have a high level of interop among devices
so you can post virtually anytime from any place.
What is "interop", you might ask?
"Interop" or "interoperability",
as John Palfrey and Urs Gasser explain in Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly
Interconnected Systems,
is the interconnectedness of complex systems functioning on four broad layers:
technology,
data, human, and institutional. Another benefit of interop
is you can create your own social media apps
and share them.
When you post information, be professional, honest and true to yourself.
Your posts are a reflection of you.
Your reputation should be enhanced.
Post often and make sure to keep your online brand up to date.
Change it as you change.
And make sure to use a professional-looking photo of yourself.
Michele Richardson at Colorado Technical University points out
that "you get a fraction of a second for someone to form a first impression of you".
Follow these guidelines and soon you will have built a strong online
personal brand that you can be proud of.