Each of us has a personal brand by which other people recognize us. When you hear “Queen B,” “King of Pop” and “J Lo,” you instantly think of Beyoncé, Michael Jackson and Jennifer Lopez. These aren't just examples of instant brand recognition; they are also examples of purposeful brand management.
As a college student, it’s never too early for you to start thinking about your brand. Given the increasing presence of social media in our daily lives, your personal brand is being created and seen by employers every day, whether or not you're involved with it. In fact, a 2017 study conducted by Career Builder provided some insightful food for thought:
• 70% of employers use social media to screen candidates.
• 54% of employers decided not to hire candidates because of what they found on their social media.
• 69% of employers are using search engines such as Google to research candidates.
Because so many employers are using social media to screen and research candidates, it makes sense then to manage your online personal brand. The key to managing your brand is being in control of it, and this starts long before you send out any job applications. To help you with this process, follow these three tips for managing your online personal brand while in college:
1. Evaluate your current online brand.
To start, review your social media accounts for three things: privacy settings, photos and activity. Then ask yourself, “If an employer saw the content, what would they think about me?” Answer honestly: Would they think that a video or photo is too controversial or provocative? Have you said negative things about your current or former employer? Have you ever shared confidential company info? Based on your audit, edit or delete items that aren’t aligned with what you want employers or other viewers to think of you. And while you're at it, it doesn't hurt to restrict who can access your social media accounts.
2. Determine your online reputation.
For optimal brand management, you need to know your current level of social media influence. Basically, what’s your online reputation? From a career standpoint, your online reputation can impact your ability to get interviews and job offers. Additionally, if you do get an interview, you have to be prepared to explain negative information. In order to prepare a credible response, it’s important to know your online reputation and anticipate such questions.
Determine your online reputation easily using tools that let you know what words are most associated with your online presence and what search engines have captured about your brand from the results that are generated. A few of those tools are:
• Tagxedo.com: Tagxedo uses info from your social media sites, blogs and tags to create a visual word cloud to show what terms appear most frequently in your data. The highlighted words represent what words are most associated with you, what your brand is known for.
• Klout.com: This cool tool determines your social media score for influencing and inspiring others to take action. The more social networks you add, the greater the accuracy of your level of influence can be calculated to over time. Klout also provides content related to your expertise or topics you want to be known for so that you can increase your reach of influence. In an interview, your score can be a great example of how you strategically managed your brand using objective data. Also, you might provide this an example of a transferable skill for a position that requires strategy and project management.
• Online Calculator ID: I Google my name monthly to ensure I know what’s on the internet about me and my personal brand. If you haven’t done so, you should do it today. Once you get the results, use the Online ID calculator to score your information and learn where you rank, plus get advice on how to take your online presence to the next level.
• My Web Career: It’s important to know what online data is out there that could help or harm your future career opportunities. My Web Career provides that info plus gives you a career score that represents the strength of your online career brand.
3. Think like a business owner.
Business owners are always thinking about what strategies they can implement to gain a competitive advantage, gain recognition as being the best at what they do and increase their brand awareness to get more business. Although you are still in college, you are still a business owner, the sole proprietor of Me, Inc. As the CEO of Me, Inc., it’s important to be cognizant that your social media actions are in fact your business strategy. So every post, every tweet, can impact your competitive advantage and brand awareness. Whether that is a positive or negative impact is in your hands.
