EDU520: Blog 1
- Rosa Conti
- Nov 1, 2021
- 9 min read
Updated: Feb 27, 2022
Want to Create a Professional Online Presence? Here are 7 Important Tips.
Three decades ago, I was first in line to buy a Compaq computer. It came with a suitcase-size monitor and took up half of my desk. It was the early 90s, I was in my early 20s, and the Internet had just become a thing. At first, all there was to do on my new toy was nerd out over the launch of Microsoft Office, which had been around for a few years by then, since 1989.
So it felt like an exciting big deal when AOL discussion boards hit the scene in 1992 (who remembers the free AOL discs that were mailed to our homes?) and Facebook went public in 2006 to anyone over 13 years old with a valid email address. I was 38 by then, so I definitely met that criteria.
Still, I hesitated two years later in 2008 before joining LinkedIn, an online platform that offers a place to “manage your professional identity.”
I had been working in a corporate environment for 21 years by that point, but what did I really know about presenting my best professional self, after all? Showing up to your office in one tiny corner of the world and putting yourself in a global spotlight for all to see are entirely different things. Social media was still shiny new, and there weren’t yet a plethora of advice articles describing best practices to follow. Even now, they can feel daunting to sort through. Also, how do you collate and synthesize all of your social media ‘selves’ and your website, if you have one, into a harmonious online presence? Having a professional online identity is much more having a LinkedIn account, as you will soon find out.
Chances are since you are reading this, you are in the early stages of creating your professional online presence. It may help to know that there is both an art and a science to each professional brand. People have different reasons for wanting to show their professional selves online. You shouldn’t feel intimated or feel that there is a wrong or right way of creating your professional online presence.
But you should aim to be effective. In this case, being “effective” means hitting the bullseye by successfully representing your professional side in the best way possible. Think of a professional online presence that you admire. What about their online footprints engaged you, pulling you in as a fan? Now think of why you feel this way.
Great online professional identities aren’t made overnight. People took time to research, study, and learn the ins and outs and best practices—and there is no shortage of resources for you. As of the writing of this article, a Google search produced approximately 316,000,000 results for ‘Create a Professional Online Presence’ alone. It takes time and practice to figure out how to put your best self forward in a professional way online, and you can get there.
Let's begin by focusing on these essential starter tips below.
1. DECIDE WHY YOU WANT A PROFESSIONAL ONLINE PRESENCE.
As you begin, ask yourself why you want a professional online profile in the first place. Just like you can’t set out on a new journey without directions, knowing the purpose and goal behind your professional presence will help you get there.
Some people want to have an online identity that offers a simple “here’s who I am and what I do” kind of static presence. This can be helpful if you want to refer people to your website or social media accounts to share information like your services or to showcase photos or testimonials. Or maybe you need a place to house your Ecommerce engine for client purchases. Or perhaps you feel that you won’t be seen as credible if you don’t hang a shingle in the Internet sphere alongside the rest of the world. Most of the time, these types of presence are static. Meaning it offers standalone information and doesn’t encourage or engage in a two-way conversation with the public.
Then there are those whose professional online identity is more fluid and continuously engaging. They blog, write articles, and regularly share information across their social media spaces. They understand the importance of creating content and consistent value for their audiences, which we’ll talk about in Steps 6 and 7.
Whatever your reason for wanting a professional online presence, be upfront and clear about it.
2. EXAMINE THOSE YOU ADMIRE ONLINE.
Creating a professional online identity can be a difficult task to begin from scratch. Even if one knows their values, topics of expertise, or niches, pulling it all together into a professional online presence can feel daunting with the infinite competition. Luckily, others have come before us. Therefore, it’s extremely helpful to find and evaluate existing online identities that you admire.
What makes them inimitable and worthy of revisiting?
Leverage what’s already been done to help you decide what you like and don’t like, what you think works well for you, and what doesn’t. There are so many examples already out there. Why reinvent the wheel? You get to decide what works best for your professional recipe.
3. BRUSH UP ON YOUR DIGITAL CITIZENSHIP.
Unless you are in a unique position of having an assistant (or team) who will design, develop, and maintain your online profiles, you need to understand, if only at a basic level, the importance of digital citizenship. And even then, you should always oversee their efforts as everything posted online about you will represent, well— YOU.
Digital Citizenship means that you respect the rights and opinions of others, while protecting your own integrity (Ribble, 2017). Digital Citizenship has nine foundational elements—two of which are Digital Etiquette and Digital Literacy. Keep these in mind as you move forward in your professional online experience.
Digital Etiquette adheres that you should always abide by the golden rule (treat others the way you want to be treated). Be respectful in your content writing and posted comments. Be careful with humor and sarcasm. Don’t post or share inappropriate material. Don’t swear. And remember that proper grammar, spelling, and punctuation really do matter.
Digital Literacy means that you have the knowledge and ability “to use a wide range of technology tools for a variety of purposes” (Mantiri, Hibbert, & Jacobs, 2019, as cited in Bolden, 2019). In other words, you will be more successful showing up in social media spaces and using digital media tools if you understand how they work and how and when to use them. You should know how to link media forms so that they “not simply co-exist but supplement one another” to “create organic ecosystems of sourcing, sharing, storing, and ultimately repackaging media” (Heick, 2015).
The more you understand how digital media interconnects, the better you will communicate with your public. You will be able to give them a better online experience while also expanding and cross-linking your content curation across different articles (via embedded links) and social media platforms (via sharing features or re-posting).
4. STUDENTS: CREATE AN ONLINE PERSONAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT.
If you work, research, or study in the educational field, you will want to create an online personal learning environment (PLE). A PLE is a website used by educators and students as an environment of learning.
From a student’s perspective, it is an online repository to share their digital work or portfolio. Content can be easily collated and stored. It also allows their work to be reviewed by instructors, students, and potential employers or collaborators. Blogging from a PLE offers a tool for collective feedback. Students can use a PLE to create a historical trajectory of their curriculum work.
From an instructor’s point of view, PLEs offer the opportunity to create a collaborative learning environment for their students and parents.
Take me, for example. You are reading this article on a website that I created as a student in a graduate program while studying educational technology. This is my personal learning environment (PLE), which is set for public viewing. While I am sharing value for others who might read this article, I am also demonstrating my learned knowledge to my instructor, who will provide feedback, along with my college peers.
5. BE YOU ONLINE, EVERYWHERE.
CLAIM YOUR IDENTITY.
If you haven’t already, claim your identity with a website of your name. Even if you’re not ready to have a website, secure the URL now anyway. If you aim to someday have a professional online presence (since you’ve read this far, I’m sure you do), it’s essential to brand yourself.
BE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR ONLINE IDENTITY.
For example, research professor and author Brené Brown claimed her identity not only with a website of her name (BreneBrown.com) but all of her four social media accounts also bear her name. Even more, she uses the same headshot across all social media platforms, where she consistently labels herself a researcher and storyteller from Texas.
This is a bright idea for several reasons. It helps to solidify her brand. People can easily recognize Brown and remember her name and face. It prevents shady people from claiming her moniker and holding it hostage for a high resell price (Zwilling, 2015). It also creates a sense of familiarity, trust, and reliability.
DEVELOP A MOTTO OR MISSION STATEMENT.
A mission statement helps to define your niche. It’s what people think of when they think of you. It’s what you are known for.
For example, entrepreneur and author Marie Forleo is known for her motto, “The world needs that special gift that only you have” and “Everything is Figureoutable.” All of her work circles back to these tenets.
Likewise, author and activist Glennon Doyle is known for her saying, “We can do hard things.”
When you are consistent with your identity online and what you stand for, it will help you create a solid professional online brand of your name.
6. CREATE CONTENT. THEN KEEP DOING IT.
Blogging is a terrific way to stay connected to your followers. It allows you to “express your positive values, show your expertise, and establish yourself as an influencer” (Zwilling, 2015). The more blog posts you write, the more content you have in your professional portfolio. This is desirable because you can show a history of your expertise and added value. You will also be able to cross-link articles with each other as they grow in volume creating an even more significant offering.
YOUR WEBSITE (or PLE)
Many DIY websites offer the ability to create a blog. Some are free, but you can upgrade to get features like removing ads and using plugins and add-on tools. Poke around and find the one that feels right for you.
Once you have a home (website) to hang your hat, you will create content.
Content curation is beneficial to “collect and organize great information”(Heick, 2015) for readers to discover and enjoy. So make sure that if you offer articles, they aren’t buried under other links or tucked away on your site. Categorize content when possible. Organize your content logically and intuitively so that people can find your work. In other words, don’t pack too much information into one area. Make the journey on your site intuitive.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Pick social media platforms that you feel most inspired to use because you should aim to keep your public engaged by posting content regularly—and if you don’t enjoy using it, you won’t. For example, if you don’t like making videos, don’t create a professional profile on YouTube because you won’t stick with it. People will visit your channel, and you don’t want them to hear crickets.
CROSS-REFERENCE CONTENT
It is commonly taught that active contributions to social media sites can set a positive reputation. Post regularly on your social media accounts. This is a good trait of a passionate entrepreneur (Zwilling, 2015). Also, be diligent and consistent in creating uniformity.
For example, see below how Brené Brown made the same post to her four social media accounts. This is a best practice. When you communicate to your public on all platforms, you reach people wherever they may be.
7. WHY SHOULD THEY CARE?
Motivational speaker Tony Robbins teaches that “people buy feelings, not things” (Robbins, 2016), and author Simon Sinek tells us that people don’t want to know what you do; they want to know why you do it (Sinek, 2014). If someone didn’t know you before visiting your professional website or social media accounts, would they be able to tell what you are about and why you are there? Be transparent.
For example, the main page of Brené Brown’s website has a tagline that reads, “Keeping it awkward, brave, and kind.” It does not tell first-time visitors to her site who she is; she assumes they do. It is essential to let people know what you are passionate about (MSU Graduate School, 2015) and what matters to you, yet she does not do this well.
TELL PEOPLE WHAT YOU ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT.
Health coach and educator Andrea Beaman tells people right away who she is and what you can expect from her professional website. She talks through a first-person lens, which right away creates an inviting feeling of engagement.
KEEP YOUR CONTENT CURRENT.
Whether it’s your blog, social media posts, or photos on your website, keep things fresh. No one is impressed when they visit a website in the heat of summer to see a Christmas tree photo on the home page. This tells the visitor that you didn’t care enough to give attention to your online presence by updating your content. If you don’t care, why should they?
According to Ken Blanchard, management expert and author, “What we give our attention to, grows." This also applies to building a successful professional online presence. Good luck!
References
Bolden, F. (2019, October 11). Technology in the Classroom: What is Digital Literacy? Retrieved from https://www.teachhub.com/technology-in-the-classroom/2019/10/technology-in-the-classroom-what-is-digital-literacy
Heick, T. (2015, November 21). 4 Principals of Digital Literacy. Retrieved from https://www.teachthought.com/literacy/4-principals-of-digital-literacy
MSU Graduate School. (2015, October 2). Managing Your Digital Identity [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg-fcEJL-tw
Ribble, M. (2017, September 10). Nine Elements of Digital Citizenship – Mike Ribble. Retrieved from https://choraltech.wordpress.com/nine-elements-of-digital-citizenship-mike-ribble
Robbins, T. (2016, January 29). People Buys Feelings, Not Things [Video]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iRUJv6knQk
Zwilling, M. (2015, August 7). 6 keys to a positive Online Presence and Reputation. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/249053
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