6 Ways To Update Your Online Presence

Learn what your current digital footprint is and how to improve it to get the results you deserve.

If you’re online, you have a personal brand. Yes, even you.

Social media, your organization’s staff directory and even your LinkedIn profile are all online platforms that are selling your brand. The question is, what is your brand saying about you?

If it isn’t authentic, professional and representative of your talent and expertise, it’s time to update your online presence.

Don’t know where to start? Here are our 6 top tips to polish your personal branding.

1. Is your profile up to date?

This tip is particularly important on LinkedIn so the first thing to do is make sure your bio includes all of your recent achievements and work history.

You never know who will look you up, by accident or design, so your bio on LinkedIn and all your social media profiles should be a current reflection of your career to date.

Once your bio is factually correct, you need to run it through a ‘boring’ filter.

Does it sell your USP or is it as dull as reading a phone directory? Add some shine and polish to your bio to stand out from the crowd.

Top tip: Use industry keywords throughout your bio so your profile will show up in searches.

2. Are you accidentally catfishing?

We all love the occasional dress-down day but does your real-life persona match the one you’re pushing online?

The truth is it’s a small world and with a boom in video conferencing, it’s only getting smaller. Can the people you meet in real life recognize you from your online presence?

The most important element of any brand, after design, is consistency. If people have bought into your carefully curated personal brand only to find you in track pants and your hair barely tamed by a scrunchie, they won’t buy what you’re selling.

Take a cold, hard look in your closet and think about the message you want to send when you meet people. Sharp and professional? Creative and chilled? Fit and healthy?

Clear out anything that isn’t on-brand and keep those track pants for home.

Top tip: You don’t need to spend every day in shoes that hurt and clothes that are uncomfortable to be consistent with your online photos. Personal branding should be authentic so create a look that you can live in at work and live with as your online image too. Then you can rock your look wherever you go, effortlessly.

3. Are you sending mixed messages on social media?

We can’t say it often enough: Your personal branding has to be consistent.

It’s so easy to ‘like’, share and post on social media that accounts can easily become a swampy mix of personal and professional thoughts and feelings. That makes it hard for strangers to figure out who you are.

You can instantly update your online presence by editing and curating all your online profiles and deleting questionable images, angry posts and anything else not in line with your personal brand.

Each platform has its own vibe so your editing choices should reflect them but as LinkedIn is the biggest professional networking platform, keep your content there strictly business.

Top tip: Create separate personal accounts and use the privacy options so that those accounts are locked down to anyone but those you choose to share your personal life with.

4. Are you embracing change?

Personal branding is the real you presented online in smart packaging. So as you update your online presence, you should think about updating your life too.

Playing it safe in real life will translate to safe and boring online.

Acquiring a new hobby, skill or connection will enrich your life but it will also make you more marketable online.

The more unique selling points you have, the more you will stand out from the crowd so don’t be afraid to try something new and share it with your peers and followers.

Top tip: Join groups on LinkedIn that share your new skill, qualification or interest. It’s a great way to expand your network beyond your profession.

5. Are you really engaging?

We’re not talking about your sparkling personality but how you interact online.

Having a great photo and profile is a good start but to market yourself online you need to get involved with your audience and go where your potential customers and clients will be.

So when you see a LinkedIn post by someone you admire, do more than click ‘like’: Ask a question or make an insightful comment. Then start your own discussion with a powerful question or statement that speaks to your expertise and personal brand.

Top tip: It’s better to be properly invested on one or two social media platforms than to be just present on a lot of them. It’s all about quality over quantity when it comes to personal branding.

6. Have you created brand guidelines?

Organizations take brand guidelines seriously and so should you. Creating and implementing your own will dramatically update your online presence and give your personal branding an incredible boost.

If you have a website, begin there by selecting a simple and appealing colour palette that you can easily apply to other online platforms like your Facebook cover and LinkedIn background.

Once you use your brand guidelines across all platforms your personal brand will be cohesive and impressive.

Top tip: There are some great online design platforms with free basic functionality that will allow you to play around with colour combinations so you can create the perfect packaging and logo for your brand.

Taking care of your personal brand is essential if you want to advance your career and develop thought leadership. Create a space online that’s just for you by updating your presence today.