On occasion I’ll be talking with a friend or co-worker and the conversation will wander to talking about the various social networking sites (Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, etc.) and online presence in general. On occasion they will even ask me what’s the best way to get their name “out there”. To which I reply that it is vitally important that you get your place in the social networking line as soon as possible. Wait too late and you have lost a golden opportunity to market yourself.
So what do I mean by this? Start by looking at the URL for my blog. You’ll notice it isn’t being hosted at some 3rd party blog service, or being run off a commercial site. Instead my blog is being powered by my own domain – robertstinnett.com. I’ve also setup my email and Messenger programs to all tie back through this domain. It is important that you register your name as a domain as soon as possible before someone else gets it and does “who knows what” with it. Even if you have no skills whatsoever in domain management take 5 minutes to go to Godaddy.com and search for and register your name as a domain. You want to make sure that you retain the power of your name and securing your domain is an important first step – if you are not already too late.
Next, let’s hit the social networking sites. Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Bebo, etc. Here you want to practice the same thing as above, except you want to try and secure as your username your real name. On almost every social networking site I belong to my username is my real name. Again, the philosophy here is you want to make sure you control it before someone else does. Plus, by by securing your name you are forming a 1:1 relationship between searches for you and results pertaining to you. You are, in essence, helping to build your own rank. Call it SEO for peeps like me!
Next, integrate! By this I mean that don’t make each social networking site an isolated island in the middle of nowhere. Use the tools provided to integrate and share between the sites. This is an excellent way to make sure that all your social sites stay up to date and it also helps make your personal brand stronger in search! See the pattern here? It’s the same techniques we’d use for commercial clients, just applied to you!
Finally, be yourself – but remember on the Internet it lasts forever. You don’t have to be afraid of posting. Living your life in a vacuum is going to hurt your personal brand. You may be the world’s greatest auto mechanic, but if I can’t find you in Google then you don’t exist. Participate in forums, be active in the social networking communities and know when to eat a piece of humble pie. Before you know it, your personal brand will sing your praises for you – all thanks to the 3rd generation of marketing and social networking.