Save Your Online and Offline Brands from Yourself - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Save Your Online and Offline Brands from Yourself - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Here at the PersonalBrandingBlog, we provide you with all sorts of tips for creating and maintaining your personal brand. But, we don’t cover often enough what you might have already done wrong and how to fix it. Online TBYP (Think Before You Post) Because the impact of any single mistake on the Internet is exponential, it’s critical to evaluate every move you make â€" before you make it. In other words, think before you post. …Or Create Alerts Hit “Delete” Because we’re talking about the aftermath of your online mishaps, I highly recommend setting up a Google Alert and a Social Mention Alert for your name. See what’s already going on surrounding your brand â€" and if it’s negative, see what you can do to take it down. I’m sure you’ve heard that everything on the Internet lives forever, but that doesn’t mean you can’t try. If you can’t remove it, downgrade it by producing new, positive content. Take It Offline We’ve all done it â€" responded in anger to a ridiculous comment on our blogs and started a mini-war. Don’t remove the battle from your blog. Instead, stop the conversation on your blog itself and take it “outside” (offline). Don’t add quotable fuel to the fire! Offline Foot-in-Mouth Disease Speaking of things we’ve all done…I know I’ve said things I’ve regretted because I wasn’t fully aware of the politics of the situation or sensitivities of the people involved. The best approach? Admit you were wrong, apologize and promise it won’t happen again â€" and actually mean what you say. What Are You Wearing? This whole post could be about things I’ve done…I’ve both over-dressed and under-dressed for networking events. Trust me when I say both made me feel ridiculous. If possible, wear an outfit that you can add an “accessory” (this can range from a scarf for women or jacket for men) to in order to take the outfit one step up or one step down. Make sure to carry this accessory with you to future events! What else would you add to this list? There could definitely be plenty more examples! Author: Heather R. Huhman is a career expert and founder president of Come Recommended, a career and workplace education and consulting firm specializing in young professionals. She is also the author of#ENTRYLEVELtweet: Taking Your Career from Classroom to Cubicle (2010), national entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com and blogs about career advice at HeatherHuhman.com. delete