Nowadays, it has become necessary to cultivate an online presence. Every day we hear stories of employees who got fired because of how unprofessional they were online. Even celebrities get hate for something they have posted on social media. Some would even dig through years of posts and tweets to highlight the wrong things that other people have done.
Having a professional online presence can go a long way, whether you want to establish yourself as a brand influencer, or promote a business or product that you developed, or even just in looking for a job. Here are some tips that you can follow in order to have a professional online presence.
1. Keep your Facebook and other social media accounts for family and friends
Bear in mind that Facebook was created as a personal social website in the beginning, and if you have a Facebook account, it is best to keep it between people you really know and are close to.
Check your privacy settings so that it can be set to private because if it is public, anyone can see it. When you set it on private, only your profile picture will be seen. Also, if you want to look more professional, have your default picture on all your accounts be done professionally or at least look like it has been done professionally.
2. Watch what you tweet
Twitter has become the place where users like to give snippets of what they have been doing throughout the day. It has also become the place where they rant about anything and everything under the sun. The problem is that for some people, those rants can come back to haunt them and can even cost them crucial opportunities in their professional journey. Try to keep your Twitter free from rant tweets, or keep a different personal account and make it private, then make another account for your professional pursuits.
3. Create a website
a website is a perfect tool to showcase your skills and talents. You can put up your portfolio there and make sure to highlight your skills and abilities so that potential clients or employers may see them. While you can indeed create your own website, if you do not know the first thing about creating one, better get people who know how to make a professional web design.
4. Update Your Content Regularly
Whether it's in your social media account or your own website, it's important to periodically update so that more people will keep coming back for more content from you. Update more than once a week, like a post a picture or put up some blog content and the like.
5. Proofread Everything that You Post
Because you want to look more professional, make sure that everything you post has been proofread. A post with many grammar mistakes makes you seem like you are a sloppy worker, and make sure that whatever you post will not be misconstrued as discriminatory against anyone. There are many tools you can use to check your grammar and spelling, and if you are unsure of your content, have someone you trust to read it and give you feedback.
