How to manage your social reputation: 3 points worth remembering

If you are into digital, you’ve got to love the social web. Social media provides a way to get new clients, interact and nurture relationships, and a place to reach your target audience. This all sounds good, but in reality, too much of a good thing isn’t always the best.

Many people on the social web consider social media as their diary online. They post and say almost everything that goes on in their lives. Do you share all your secrets with everyone online? When you are bored, do you call up your clients and tell them that you are taking the afternoon off because you are lazy? Online, the rules are the same. Just because you feel like saying something on your favourite social media channel doesn’t mean that you should.

If you want to make your personal reputation stand out, try to stay away from the negative side of social media.

1. The web is public
Most social media channels such as Facebook and Twitter are public and many people tend to forget that. They share thoughts that are better kept to themselves and get way too personal. To give you an example; are you going to announce that you want to do a Facebook update when you are sitting in the middle of a meeting? I know you are not going to do it — so when you avoid saying irrelevant stuff in real life, do the same online.

2. Posting meaningless tweets and updates

“I’m busy thinking of this”, “This burger is really nice”, “Going to watch some TV now”. How many of us have tweeted meaningless babble at some point? Most of the time, these senseless updates will not catch the attention of your followers, and you might end up losing some followers in the process. Most of the time your sharing of meaningless tweets and updates will leave a bad impression on your personal reputation because it will make your followers say “I really don’t care” in the back of their minds. Remember: “Actions speaks louder than words.”

If this is you, you may want to rethink the way you are engaging online if you want to build your reputation online with social media. Rather think of something inspirational, interesting, and ways to get the relevant message across to the reader. The social web has been a vast source to get great ideas. Spend some time researching new ideas and reading articles that are related to your industry. If you do that for a while, you will soon have a nice collection of relevant updates worth sharing and tweeting about.

3. Posting negative updates
“Some clients just don’t get it”, “Users are losers”, “I hate going over everything again and again”. Sometimes, people checking what you are saying are smart enough to know exactly what you are talking about. You might even at some point become a hot topic for gossip. Twitter, Facebook, and all the other social media channels that are public are really not the best place to express personal and negative issues. In most cases, you will most likely be labelled as the “negative guy”.

If you are interested in building your personal reputation with social media you must always keep in mind that the goal with the social web is to connect with friends, family members or to grow your business, and become known as the expert in your field.