5 steps to develop an online presence
An adequate online presence will allow you to develop a good name and a reputation that will open the doors needed for a new job position, to establish important contacts, or to get new customers in your business.
The most important part to start building a reputation is to define what is your final objective. For example:
- For a college student the most important objective is to find an internship or land a job.
- For an entrepreneur, networking, customers, and sales are the main objective.
- For a worker, may be to create a good name on certain subject matter, or simply find a new job (because she is a subject matter expert ).
5 Steps to Start an Online Presence
- Clean your past:
We should start with the most basic step, which is to review what you already got out there in websites like Facebook or MySpace or others.Find pictures in Facebook that your employer might not find funny, or comments on websites that your clients would find inappropriate, or contacts that don’t represent you well. Then do a thorough clean up. - Choose what social media or sites better fit the needs for your online presence.
Personally, I recommend three tools that should not be absent from your web presence strategy.- LinkedIn: Great to do professional networking. Today, many business deals and hiring are originated from LinkedIn.
- Facebook: Long time ago Facebook stopped being a site for fun and became a first class business and networking tool. Relationships from Facebook can become your business partners, customers, or your employer.
- Twitter: This is the ideal tool to konw what is going on on certain groups around specific interests, but iis also a great one to create your name and reputation.
- Identify contacts of interest and connect with them
Start with your close friends and family, classmates, teachers or professors.Then try to connect with people you admire or that have a great reputation in areas of your interest, authors, artists, and respected figures.Finally, try to connect with possible customers, employers, and other people who you genuinely want to establish a relationship.
- Define the message you want to transmit:
If you want to establish a good name, you need to find your a main message and communicate it consistently. It does not mean you need to blog or tweet every day, but if you do, make sure your message is consistent throughout all the social media or websites you have.Por example, your tweets can be about news, jokes, or political commentary; however, be aware that people will associate you with those topics. - Do something for others:
One of the best ways to establish a good reputation is to demonstrate a genuine interest for other people. Having access to your contacts will allow you to know how you can help them. Perhaps, if you are in school and are ready to graduate, take the time to express your gratitude for those who really inspired you and influenced you. Or, if someone is looking for some information, connect them with someone who can help them. Better yet, volunteer with an organization that needs it. That will create a good name for you.
Establishing an adequate online presence that will allow you to create a good name and reputation that will open doors for you.
If you have any feedback on this article, whether you agree or not with it, please share it in the comments section below.
This article was contributed by Andres Garcia, a member of the CHEC Pro board and the editor of the blog in Spanish on technology and entrepreneurship: Tecnología y Emprendedores.
{ 0 comments }
