Establishing Your Professional Online Reputation: 6 Steps and Helpful Tools

We often think of online reputation in terms of business: reviews, online complaints, and public comments. But increasingly, online reputation matters for professionals, too. And not just for CEOs and other executives: a good online reputation is essential for every career professional. Your online reputation makes a difference whether you’re job hunting, networking, growing your career, or simply maintaining your good work.

Think your reputation doesn’t matter? Think again. As a professional, your reputation is everything. It tells others you’re worth working with, and that you can be trusted. It also helps you stand out in the crowd. And these days, your online reputation often precedes you.

Consider these facts that illustrate just how important your online reputation is today:

• 92% of U.S. companies recruit and screen candidates online
• 63% of employers who research candidates on the social web use LinkedIn, and 65% use Facebook
• 34% of hiring managers have dismissed candidates because of information they found online
• More than half of Internet users (65%) cite online search as their most trusted information source for people and companies
• Almost all (85%) of U.S. recruiters and hiring managers are influenced by positive online content

Even if you’re not actively expanding professionally, it’s important to note that what you do to build your reputation today matters for the future. The posts, photos, network, and expertise you’re actively sharing online will become your reputation. Posts you’ve shared years ago can help or hurt your reputation when you need it the most. That’s why it’s essential to build a great reputation foundation today, even if you don’t necessarily need it for anything in particular right away.

Assessing Your Online Reputation

Every online reputation is unique, just like each person. And it’s tough to say whether any particular reputation is good or bad, but there are certainly specific signs to look for that can tell you whether you’re on the right track or if you need some help.

• Good: You have no embarrassing search results on Google.
• Bad: A mug shot, court record, or critical blog post can be found in search reslts.
• Good: Your online reputation backs up what you have listed on your resume and LinkedIn.
• Bad: You’ve publicly badmouthed or complained about current or former employers online.
• Good: Photos, posts, and other search results show good work you’ve done, including highlights as an expert, portfolio worthy projects, and volunteer work.
• Bad: Photos show you in an embarrassing or compromising position, such as lewd photos or even illegal situations.
• Good: Active online accounts, including social media and ideally, a blog.
• Bad: No trace of anything about you, positive or negative, online.

6 Steps to a Better Reputation Today

Online reputation management for professionals is often what you make of it. The more effort you put in, the better your results will be. But even small steps can help you get started — and make a big difference. Put these six steps on your to do list to start building a positive professional reputation online today:

1. Google yourself: Do you like what you see? Identify problem results and find out if you can have them removed.
2. Assess your social profiles and improve privacy settings: Carefully look at photos, posts, videos, friend connections, pages, and groups on your social profiles. Remember, all content old and new can be viewed as long as it’s public. And while privacy settings aren’t foolproof, it’s best to review them to make sure you’re not sharing too much.
3. Establish an online identity: Go beyond social media and make a name for yourself online. Register your domain name, build a portfolio, start a blog, and expand your profile online.
4. Ask for reputation support: Ask key contacts in your network to help out by posting a recommendation on LinkedIn or positive support elsewhere — and of course, remember to do the same for them.
5. Establish yourself as an expert: Another great opportunity to rely on your network: ask to be highlighted as an expert with guest posts, comments, articles, speaking opportunities, and more.
6. Avoid reputation mistakes: Be worthy of a good reputation. Think before you post, and avoid finding yourself in compromising positions that could influence your online reputation, such as arrests, scandals, or even feuds with other professionals.

Essential Reputation Management Tools

Need help working on your reputation? These are a few of our favorite reputation management tools.

• Google’s Me on the Web
• Google Alerts
• Social Mention
• KnowEm
• Help A Reporter Out

The Ultimate Guide to Online Reputation Management for Professionals

This is just the tip of the iceberg. To learn more about why online reputation is so important for professionals — and what you can do to get your online reputation in top shape, visit the Ultimate Guide to Online Reputation Management for Professionals on our ReputationManagement.com blog. And if you have any questions about reputation management, feel free to email me at ‎jessica@reputationmanagement.com.

Many thanks to Jessica Merritt, Editor of www.ReputationManagement.com for her fantastic guest blog post!