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Social media has become a staple in both our personal and professional lives. It is a public platform for sharing our skills, views and expertise. But like all tools and inventions that help us it is not without its faults. Maintaining an online presence through social media is essential as it allows professionals to connect with clients, potential employers, and prospective customers.It is important to understand how to manage your digital identity, as web content is often permanent once posted.

Here are a few tips for maintaining your professional presence online :

1. Put your best face forward
Choosing an appropriate profile photo is essential to creating your professional brand online and solidifying your digital identity. Think about what style and image you want to portray through your photo.

When choosing a profile photo for social media profiles bearing your name, choose a clear and recognizable photo that shows your face. For profiles bearing the name of your business choose a photo that clearly identifies your company name or logo. Picture quality and sharpness should also be considered. It’s a good idea to invest in a professional photo shoot to get some head shots and other photos to use on social media.

2. Share content that is relevant to your industry
Social media is great for keeping in touch with friends and family but your professional profiles should showcase your skills and expertise. The best way to do this is by sharing content that is specific to your own industry or specialty, be it your own blog and website content or that of other industry specific publications.

3. Say Thank You
Your online presence wouldn’t count for much without people to read your content so don’t take your supporters for granted. As a professional you should always acknowledge and thank your followers. If you manage a Facebook page make it a point to thank your supporters and those who like your page. If you use twitter acknowledge new followers as soon as possible and thank them for joining you on twitter.

4. Keep it positive
Avoid posting any negative, offensive or derogatory content. It’s always better to stay positive on social media and avoid conflicts or disputes. Posting derogatory or controversial content and engaging in online fights can malign your digital identity and portray you in a negative light.

5. Be consistent
Consistency is key when managing your online presence. It’s best to come up with a social media schedule for updating your profiles and content. Don’t neglect your online presence as followers and supporters will notice your absence, and once lost followers can be difficult to win back. You can manage and schedule your updates and content using social media management tools such as Hootsuite and Buffer. Both of these tools allow you to schedule updates weeks in advance.

Updates containing photos can be tricky to schedule and although Hootsuite allows you to add photos, Buffer is a better tool for scheduling content with photos as it posts the photo directly unlike Hootsuite which diverts users to the application’s page containing the photo.

6. Differentiate content between social media profiles
With tools such as Buffer and Hootsuite it’s easy to schedule the same update across many different social media platforms, however differentiation is important.

Organize your post content according to your target audience or followers on each platform. Do not link all your profiles together, although it may be tempting pairing your Twitter and LinkedIn updates is not a good idea. Try to come up with different content for each platform, so followers can be more engaged. Varying content amongst platforms will help you increase your reach as followers will have to tune in to all your social media profiles in order to get the full picture.

7. Don’t get too personal
Although social media allows you to interact with clients and employers, your professional presence should remain professional. Avoid posting any content that contains profanity, is controversial or is overly personal on your professional profiles.

It’s a good idea to have two separate profiles one for personal content and one that’s strictly professional. Your professional profiles should also be readily accessible by clients, customers and employers, but your personal profiles should be more guarded. As a rule of thumb do not post any content that you wouldn’t want the world to see. Before posting anything on either personal or professional profiles ask yourself : would I be alright with this content being up on a billboard? If your answer is no then don’t post it!

Praveeni Perera is the CEO and co-founder of Professional Edge Consulting a corporate training company based in Ottawa offering training and coaching services to clients around the world. She can be reached via Website, Twitter, Facebook or her Blog.

1. Lack of Business Planning

Nightmares begin when an employee realizes that an employer is clueless as to what is needed to drive results and make business thrive. How can an effective business plan be made in the absence of a leader who is resourceful enough to develop a strategic roadmap? How can realistic goals be set? An employer that lacks knowledge in the areas of industry trends, regulations governing the business, and structures necessary for success will always be in firefighter mode; constantly putting out fires that could have easily been avoided by a simple plan. The most dedicated employee will walk away from the constant chaos and instability. Successful organizations have clear visions, goals and mandates. That is, they know what they want, how to get it and set clear rules that guide the “how” in the equation. They are aware of external factors that affect the business and plan by using internal resources to respond.

2. Lack of Consistent Organizational Processes

The absence of set processes that lead to successful completion of tasks can leave an employee feeling that nothing has been accomplished at the end of a busy day. Processes and procedures determine how we get from point A to point B in the business plan. They feed off of the organizational goals set and into each employee’s job description. Yes, I know, as a business you have to respond to changes in technology and marketplace, I agree! However, you must ensure that changes made to processes make sense, are in alignment with business reporting obligations, and lead to goals being achieved. Don’t forget to attach metrics to changes made. This will track effectiveness and allow you to make adjustments through a continuous improvement strategy.

3. Lack of HR Planning

Human Resource planning is more than just the hiring and firing of employees. It goes beyond recruitment and must include management. Employers often focus on customer retention and plan on keeping even the worst customer happy. But what about employees? How are you managing your human capital effectively? What is your plan to keep your best employees happy? How do you plan on developing the eager but least skilled employees? How do you deal with employees who wreak havoc in the workplace? Bad employers ignore them all and expect that the promise of a bi-weekly pay check is the answer to keeping everybody in line. Successful employers, regardless of size, understand
Succession Planning, Training and Development, and the need for the administration of clear HR policies that protect and support staff. The effective management of Human Resources will allow for the retention of top talent and make strategic partners out of all employees.

Nikki Waheed is a Career Coach and Job Developer, working with employers to increase diversity and equity. She can be contacted through email via canadiansmallbusinesswomen@gmail.com.

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