Change Your Online Presence to Make The Best Impression

As you have grown up, you have interacted with the internet. Each time you have, you’ve left a trace that builds a picture of who you are. As you set off now from high school into higher education and workspaces, these traces with be reviewed by prospective institutions and employers.

As an individual, YOU are a remarkable brand. What is that? A remarkable brand is one where we know exactly what we are getting. We are happy to refer others to them because they’ve added value to our lives. They are trustworthy because of their authenticity and consistency. The more accurately you can communicate who you are and what makes you unique, the easier it will be for employers and higher education institutes to choose you and leverage your remarkable attributes and skills.

To build your brand, you need to review all the public spaces you are representing and what picture do they create. Where are there inconsistencies? For example, if you want to be seen as a serious, trustworthy lawyer-to-be, having a public Instagram feed full of photos of you behaving irresponsibly isn’t going to convey your message well. This isn’t to encourage you to put up a facade, we aren’t about smoke and mirrors, but rather to look at it through a new lens and filter your brand image accordingly.

Consider

1. Your Privacy and Visibility Settings: review the settings on each of your posts and decide if you want to have a profile which can be viewed publically. If you are looking to work in social media marketing, a well-curated public TikTok channel is going to work in your favour in job interviews as it shows off your abilities. So, consider what you are looking to do in the next few years and adapt it accordingly. Remove or limit the visibility of posts that you only want friends to see.

2. Your Gaps: there are a number of platforms available to engage on now but as you head into a learning or workspace, you will be expected to be in certain spaces. For example, a LinkedIn profile is a good place to track your career and gather testimonials and references. If you are looking to work in publishing, there are book review platforms upon which you want to build a reputation. If you are into sports, Twitter is a social media which is alive with community and you can build a following. Consider where the people you want to interact with will be found, where are they spending time, and then make sure you have a presence there.

These two exercises may raise more questions for you, feel free to pop us a message or email, we would love to help you as you set out on this new adventure!