Five online brand protection strategies can help you keep your street cred alive and vital. Grow it with power and authority!
Protecting your brand includes safeguarding your reputation, particularly online. That’s your brand whether you use Google, LinkedIn, or Twitter. And don’t be fooled into thinking that today’s moral environment is “anything goes.”
It’s not. It’s highly judgmental.
If your Twitter profile image depicts you intoxicated, you may want to reconsider. However, occasionally another individual or group damages your brand, which isn’t great, either. Listed below are five strategies to maintain a clean personal brand.
1. Please, please, please watch what you publish online.
We’ve all been there. You’ve had one too many at the corporate Christmas party or a night out with pals. There are images of you drooling in an Uber, with obscene lipstick drawings all over your face.
We understand it, it was amusing at the time, and you probably still joke about it with your pals. However, if an employer searches for your brand on Google, do you want this photo to be the top result?
The same goes for extremist politics and internet controversies. Before you send out that Tweet, consider your brand.
Do not be that man who lost his job because he wrote something dumb. Forty-three percent of recruiters confess to looking up candidates on social media. So, decide whether you want to be the person who continues retweeting kitten videos (wholesome) or the one who shares humiliating stuff that might get you fired. Not as healthy as the kitties.
Develop an excellent online personal brand and consider what potential employers would like to see.
2. If you disagree with the substance, fight it.
The internet has the disadvantage of being difficult to manage once it is “out there.” Delete the humiliating photo from your account…but others may have saved it and shared it elsewhere.
There’s nothing worse than searching your name into Google and finding your deleted picture. Uber drooling photo? Get out of my way.
But there are steps you may take to safeguard your brand. Because Google does not control the actual material, removing images from Google is a non-starter unless the idea is awful.
Asking the individual who posted it to remove it is the first step. Oddly, some individuals would ignore your plea. We’ll look at various strategies to conceal material next.
So it is worth a shot to approach Google for assistance. You should contact the image’s host website first since Google can only delete it from the search engine, not the web. For further help deleting internet material, engage the services of a reputation management firm.
3. When in doubt, bury it.
So neither Google nor the original poster will remove your undesired stuff. So you’ve explored all your options and tarnished your brand forever. But don’t give up yet! Burying those old photos may help.
Remember that Google loves social media, so submit photographs often to sites such as Twitter and LinkedIn. Make your profile picture something that represents your brand.
Create your website (or blog) with plenty of photographs to strengthen your brand. Put your name on them if you want them to appear in a Google search.
Ultimately, it pays to outwit Google here. Create new (and clean) content that will rule the search engines. Remember to name them and save them under your name.
4. Use SEO strategically.
The term SEO stands for search engine optimization. If you’re not familiar with this, it’s a terrific method to keep track of your brand.
Assume you wish to promote an article about all of your excellent actions. This is perfect for your brand. Share the excellent article links across other websites.
In short, the more sites linking to it, the better. If you’re a professional, you may create guest pieces on well-known sites, linking back to your good articles.
If you want to remove a photo, use a separate professional image for each website. This is another approach to get rid of the Uber drool picture while keeping your articles clean when someone Googles your name.
You can’t merely employ spam links to build your brand. You must employ original material from genuine blogs and websites if you go this path.
5. Create a positive image from the start.
A favorable image is built through time while avoiding the negative at all costs.
A wrong personal brand may kill your job early on. That is to say, even if you’ve built up a reputation later in your career, one little mistake can demolish it.
If anything might harm your reputation, don’t do it. A personal brand goes with you into everyday life, not just online.
Every company choice you make shapes it, so do all you can to maintain it online and in person.
If someone wants to hire you or work with you, they will remember that time you drank too much at a company function and said things you shouldn’t have said.
Create a personal, professional brand and stick to it everywhere you go.
You may live whatever (legal) lifestyle you choose outside of work, but you should keep them distinct. Have photos taken just with individuals you trust, people who care about your reputation.
Summing Up
Consider your brand as a newborn infant. It may cause insomnia, and you don’t want to worry about it when you focus on your company.
We all make errors in life, and you can end up with a problem with Google images or anything that damages your reputation. Many have been in that boat, and you shouldn’t be penalized for having fun.
But, sadly, this is how business works, and those things will come back to bother you if you don’t get rid of them quickly. If you find yourself in this situation, you should exhaust all of your options before declaring your career ended.
To summarize, be cautious with what you share online. If anything happens, contact Google and urge the persons or sites responsible for deleting it. If it doesn’t work, bury the things that harm your brand deep. Create as much stuff as you can to get them ranked at the bottom. One powerful method is SEO.
If you need help with your brand, talk to a consultant who can help you figure out the best solution for you and your Uber drool picture.
