It is now no longer optional…you must have an online presence! Your career stability and your job search demand it. Here are some tips to help you begin claiming digital terrain and brand it with your unique messaging!
Own Digital Terrain
You need to stake a claim by owning turf on the internet.
The strategy starts by googling yourself to see where the best references to you appear. Your goal is to have only great, relevant content on page one of search results!
Here are 15 things you can do that will help you achieve this goal. It will take at least 30 days for Google to begin to notice these updates so start today!
- Build a robust LinkedIn profile
- Add your work history and profession to your Facebook profile
- Create a personal and professional Instagram account
- Start a blog
- Try a Twitter chat
- Start pinning images that represent your professional interests on Pinterest
- Create a page on About.me
- Leave intelligent/work-related comments on industry blogs
- Create an infographic representing your work history
- Create short videos demonstrating your expertise and post on YouTube
- Share photos from industry events
- Write an Amazon book review
- Create a Slideshare presentation about you, your professional accomplishments and/or testimonials
- Participate in discussions on LinkedIn
- Create a summary of what you are sharing online with Scoop.it, Paper.li, FlipBoard or others!
Monitor your personal reputation with this
Google Alerts/Google’s Me On The Web
Increase Your Ranking
This freemium tool helps improve how your rank with search engines.
Is This A Waste Of Time?
Certainly one could make the argument that doing all of this might not be the best use of your time.
But, let me ask you this? When you search for yourself on Google, Bing or whatever search engine you prefer, what comes up?
Don’t you want more and better references to you and your professional experience? This is your challenge!
Hannah Morgan speaks and writes about job search and career strategies. She founded CareerSherpa.net to educate professionals on how to maneuver through today’s job search process. Hannah was nominated as a LinkedIn Top Voice in Job Search and Careers and is a regular contributor to US News & World Report. She has been quoted by media outlets, including Forbes, USA Today, Money Magazine, Huffington Post, as well as many other publications. She is also author of The Infographic Resume and co-author of Social Networking for Business Success.