It’s no surprise that employers, friends and potential romantic interests have probably checked you out online. They’ve looked through your Facebook posts, browsed your Instagram content and had a look at your most recent tweets, and what they learn about you can have a serious effect on your life. Maintaining a positive online presence is more important than ever, and making sure that you have a strong presence that isn’t going to lose you job offers or that new relationship is increasingly vital. Although it is almost too easy to overshare online, here are some key tips for making sure your online world only positively affects your offline world.
Check your current status
We’re not talking about your latest social media update. Checking your status is a simple matter of finding out just how much people can find out about you from your online presence. A quick Google search of your name will often surprise people who haven’t set controls on their privacy settings, and a common game of teachers these days is to show public profiles in class, so that those pictures of your holiday last year are on display to your classmates. By seeing what others can know about you, you have a good baseline for knowing what you ought to hide or delete, giving you a fresh start to perfecting your online image.
Build your reputation
Once you have deleted or hidden the more risqué of posts, now is the time to concentrate on building up the positive elements. Don’t forget that ultimately you get to decide just what people can see about you, so the more proactive you are in the building of your online persona, the more likely you are to portray a positivity that can only benefit you. By having a clear and consistent social media presence on everything from Tumblr to LinkedIn, you give yourself a positivity boost that will offer real-world benefits.
Stand out
If you run your own blog, having a personal URL for your blog is a key step in creating an influential internet presence that’s professional. No matter your areas of interest, having your own website is growing more essential, whether you use it as an online portfolio or a location to upload your fanfic. The important thing here is always going to be content, and having regular updates shows commitment to your online brand as well as having the added benefit of drawing more traffic to your site. If your content writing skills aren’t up to scratch, then consider using content writing services to boost your presence for all the right reasons. Well written and relevant content can be a major boost to how you show up in search engines, so it’s up to you to decide how best to make that a reality.
Ultimately you are using the internet as a way of branding yourself, and if you follow the golden rules of internet etiquette, you’re less likely to fall into the bad posting habits that you might have picked up over the years. Keeping a clear and consistent persona, you’re less likely to face embarrassment later down the line.
