Managing your professional reputation on social media
Social networking is now an everyday part of most of our lives. But the question we face is how should we best use social media tools to complement our professional relationships, not undermine them? The storm surrounding old tweets from now ex-youth police commissioner Paris Brown was a reminder that anything you post might be around forever – and it can certainly come back to haunt you.
What's important is understanding what your online presence is for, and how it impacts on the views that colleagues, clients and customers have of you every time you post. The first thing you have to ask yourself is how you want to appear. How often do you want to engage with social media, and what do you want your message to be? Do you want people to think of you as fresh and original, or safe and consistent? Those in financial services might find jokey tweets a little unserious, whereas if you're an up-and-coming digital entrepreneur, you may want to stand up and be noticed.
Twitter
Think before you tweet. It doesn't matter that you've added a disclaimer to your bio, saying the views are your own. That won't stop people you work with seeing them and it doesn't excuse you from putting your company in a bad light. Good twitter etiquette is retweeting and responding appropriately to tweets, in a way that shows that you're a good listener and that you're engaging with the community.
Remember which account you're using. Microsoft got into hot water last year, when one of its Twitter team insulted conservative talking head Ann Coulter from the company account, rather than from a personal account. It looked as if Microsoft replied to a tweet from former US labouyr secretary Robert Reich with the following post: "@RBReich your granddaughter's level of discourse and policy > those of Ann Coulter." Ouch.
When it comes to offensive tweets, a KitchenAid employee wins the Grand Prix. After President Obama mentioned his grandmother during the first presidential debate in October, the kitchen appliance manufacturer responded by posting the following tweet to its 24,000 followers: "Obamas gma even knew it was going 2 b bad! She died 3 days b4 he became president #nbcpolitics."
To the company's credit, it quickly removed the tweet and issued an apology, explaining that a member of the KitchenAid team had mistakenly posted it from the company account instead of from a personal handle. But the damage was done and a screenshot was taken.
LinkedIn
As a network that most people use for business, authenticity and integrity are key. Make sure you have an up-to-date profile picture. It should be a plain picture, suited and booted if you can, and on a plain, neutral background.
The worst LinkedIn profile photo crime (made by those new to the working world) is using a social picture (often with sunglasses or in a nightclub setting). No picture at all is better than one of those options.
There are many LinkedIn forums in which you can post, which is a great form of engagement but again I'd advise people to watch what they say. Ironically, even in my field of social and business etiquette, people argue in relevant professional forums, using capitals and language that is far from courteous. It makes them look unnecessarily aggressive and unprofessional.
And again, remember not to overpost, in case people think you've got nothing else to do or no clients. At best it looks as if you're desperately seeking praise and validation from your professional peers.
Remember, as well, to manage your privacy settings. Did you know you can tailor your privacy settings so that your new connections don't show on your profile updates? This can be very important if you're employed and don't want others to see the tell-tale signs that you are job hunting. Unless you're in sales, blanketly increasing your connections on LinkedIn may send the wrong message. To change what others can see on your LinkedIn profile, sign in, then from the drop- down menu click on the settings option.
Most importantly, be polite. The virtual world is an extension of the real world, not a different world entirely. How many of you send LinkedIn connection requests without personalising them? LinkedIn is the largest professional networking opportunity there is and sending a connection request is the first (and perhaps only) opportunity you get to make an impression. The standard LinkedIn connection request reads like this: "I'd like to add you to my professional network – William Hanson."
What many people don't realise is that it shouldn't just be used as is for a connection request. It is merely a templated starting point towards the request that you're going to make. Or putting it another way, sending the standard request without first personalising is the same as attending a real world networking event and:
Approaching someone to network with and
Forgetting to say hi and introduce yourself and
Forgetting to find out their name or anything about them and
Forgetting to give any reason for why you approached them and
Expecting them to exchange business cards
It would leave a pretty awful impression, don't you think? Most professionals would never dream of networking like this at an event, yet many do it every day on LinkedIn.
What would Dale Carnegie do?
I always encourage my clients and authors to stay positive and never criticise, condemn or complain on social media – the Dale Carnegie principles. It's so easy to be misconstrued in written text, and you can't always tell when someone is kidding or being snarky (and your audience may not appreciate the snark in the first place). What could be just a rough day on your part could sound like whining and ingratitude to the casual reader, and over time may form a perception that your personal brand isn't one of which you should be proud.
It is all basic, common sense stuff – but the trouble with common sense today is that it's not that common.
William Hanson is a leading British etiquette and protocol consultant – find out more about him via his enthuse.me profile
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