Recently, an article on CNN.com profiled painters who turn your social media photographs into portraits. When it comes to social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter, it is important to remember that you can shape your own online image as well, whether you’re a corporation or a motivated individual. As many of us know, social networking sites are like a newspaper that can be read by the whole world, but the good news is that you can be the editor of your own section. By shaping the right online image, you and your businesses can use social media for advancement in a connected world.
The first rule of social media exposure, as many of us have seen in the news, is to present an image that you wouldn’t mind showing to your family, your friends, and your boss. Executives and low-level employees alike have lost their jobs due to postings on their own, and other people’s, social media sites. Even worse, the fallout for the associated company can ruin years of careful positioning and public relations work, to the extent that the company becomes synonymous with the activity of a few former employees.
The second rule for social media, even if you choose to stay out of it, is to understand that other people are making postings to their sites, and if they mention your name you should hope it is a positive reference. The rise of the digital camera over the last decade means that photography is now ubiquitous, and any given party can have produce several hundred digital images. In the past, people did crazy things at parties that became part of water-cooler gossip, but today the same parties become online sensations. Once again, if you’re representing a company, or enjoy your income, you may want to avoid the amateur paparazzi.
Finally, social media can do your bidding if you use it correctly. If your business is doing something good, make sure you talk about in on Facebook and Twitter, in addition to public relations channels like press releases and blogging. If your vendors and customers are using social media, ask to be followed, profiled, or mentioned more often if this is feasible. Share your success stories, or show how you’ve recently turned a problem into an opportunity. If potential clients are doing detective work about you on Google or social networking sites, a series of positive stories can drown out a few negative mentions, which are standard for any company with more than a handful of customers.
If you’ve run afoul of social media, or feel that you have been painted in a negative light on the world wide web, there still solutions. Agencies like Web.com Search Agency are able to use advanced reputation management strategies to eliminate or push down negative publicity and online defamation. Generally speaking, reputation management works just as well for companies as it does for individuals. In a manner of speaking, we can “paint over” a bad portrait and help you show the good side of yourself or your company. With the right combination of positive postings, good works, and well crafted publicity, your new image can be steered in the positive direction that is rewarded on a personal and professional level.
