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You Look Nothing Like Yourself!

Its true. I’ve looked at most of your online profiles and you appear to be nothing like yourself in person. The pictures you’re using aren’t very flattering––you’re much more attractive in person! And the background and accomplishments you’ve listed make modest look a bit egocentric. If I didn’t know better I’d think you were making a concerted effort to be as unimpressive as possible. In the for-what-its-worth category, I’m afraid an opportunity giver wouldn’t give you a second look. You can only hope that the people looking at you online know your attributes better than your profile would suggest. Guess what? Fat chance––casual relationships as well as complete strangers are looking and evaluating and some may have an offer you wouldn’t want to miss out on… at least not on purpose! In today’s world of virtual relationships, you can’t afford to be modest. If you don’t promote you, who will?

Person-to-person contact continues to give way to the efficiency of online interactions and it’s become very simple, if not preferred, to access profiles on sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Qnary, Brand Yourself, About Me or a host of other platforms to learn more about a person. Frankly, with search engine functionality being what it is, you will be found and the question is this: Will your profile merit a second look? Whether it’s a passive recruiting effort, a social opportunity or someone simply checking you out prior to or after a meeting, the digital version of yourself might just be the first and only chance you have to make that important first impression. It doesn’t matter if you occupy the corner office or you’re a stay-at-home-mom, people are looking––you can count on that! Maybe it’s a neighbor, a supervisor, the HR department, a recruiter, the person you’re meeting with next, the person you just met with or a start-up parsing through profiles for a particular expertise.

Unfortunately, many people stand out in person but simply blend in online. Here’s the challenge: Can you bridge the gap between your offline persona and your online profile? Can you properly portray the dressed-up digital version of yourself? You have an expanding virtual network of online relationships and if you don’t make your profile(s) a bit stickier, you will continue to be part of that vast sea of sameness––both anonymous and irrelevant in the online sense. In today’s digital world and just a small step beyond your immediate person-to-person sphere of influence, visibility and opportunity go hand in hand.

Don’t be unimpressive––it doesn’t look good on you.

What You Say May Not Matter Anyway!

“What you do speaks so loud, that I cannot hear what you say.”

–Ralph Waldo Emerson

In today’s environment, Emerson’s words might be interpreted this way: The behavioral algorithms are so good it may not matter what your profile or social resume says about you––your behavior trumps everything! Your ever-expanding digital DNA is a reflection of you and everyone from investigative agencies to marketing and research companies are getting better and better at figuring out exactly who you are and what you like or don’t like, no matter who you say you are. A simple set of algorithms applied to your Facebook page for instance can determine your ethnicity, political affiliation, socio-economic level, sexuality, drug-use habits and even if your parents separated when you were young. These same algorithms are capable of predicting personality types and emotional stability… or the lack thereof. Early efforts at this science have even shown a correlation with people liking certain foods having higher IQ’s while liking a particular page on Facebook might be an indicator for drug use––pages that don’t have anything whatsoever to do with drugs or the related culture.

Personal data is big business and with the effort being put into psychometrics, it’s only a matter of time before our personal data is routinely being exploited for commercial gain and more. The truth is, it’s already happening. Take Facebook’s own EdgeRank system, which is their proprietary scoring system based on algorithms they use to determine which objects show up in your News Feed. In other words, it is their attempt to optimize the news feed to show relevant content predicated on your previous activities on Facebook. Any chance the ads you’re seeing are a result of those same algorithms? Count on it. Whether Facebook was the first or not really doesn’t matter––they positively won’t be the last! More and more companies are employing similar technology and in spite of your best efforts with privacy settings and careful online interactions: people are looking, will find you and already know more about you than you might think! And as the science improves, those same people will know even more. Scary, huh?

In the meantime, you should be hyper-vigilant about your privacy settings and make certain that you are in control of the controllables. Algorithms notwithstanding, personal visibility remains crucial on both a personal and professional level––every effort should be made to control your personal narrative. Marketing companies aside, your friends, neighbors, co-workers, customers and damn near everyone you encounter on a professional level are looking at and for you online. What kind of impression do you make? Given that your online visibility is available around-the-clock to anyone choosing to look, you should be making the same online effort that you make in your face-to-face life in terms of presentibility. In other words, your online profile should be the equivalent of that all important meeting or social event that you have to attend. You know the one… you put on your best looking outfit, you’re on your best behavior and you make your best effort to impress. We all do it!

Isn’t it time for your online image to match your offline persona?

Seriously.

Cattle Have It Easy!

What if someone else decided on your behalf what brand you should wear? And what if you had no choice in being identified as part of a particular herd?

And what if your sphere of influence was a relatively small area where you spent your days and nights and maybe a contiguous field or two in case you decided to stray for a evening (read: work, home and play)? Imagine a few people on the ponderosa getting together one day and searing an indelible mark onto your rear end and voila!, you have your own not-so-unique personal brand and you’re stuck with it! No thinking, no scheming and no effort required on your part. A passive branding victim as it were. Actually, come to think of it, that almost perfectly describes what many people do when it comes to their own branding and visibility efforts. No thinking. No scheming. No effort. And you guessed it, it shows! These are people that have decided not to take an active role in establishing and communicating their own brands. They simply allow those around them to silently develop their own opinions and thoughts as to brand and reputation attributes. They allow those throughout their digital network to make their own interpretations based on various online activities or the lack of, with the latter being potentially just as harmful. And contrary to what some believe, brand and reputation are not mutually exclusive. As a matter of fact, most people don’t take an active role in managing either, particularly in this age of ubiquitous social media and a personal digital footprint that expands by the day.

Don’t you think it’s time you grabbed this particular bull by the horns and took control of both your brand and visibility? Just being part of the herd doesn’t cut it any more. You have a personal megaphone (I could have said bullhorn) at your fingertips whether it’s LinkedIn, Facebook, WordPress, Brand Yourself, About Me, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr or a whole host of other platforms to promote your most important product… YOU.

How will others know if you don’t tell them? Are you willing to leave it up to interpretation? If you’re not in control of your digital footprint, do you think all the pieces will add up to a correct representation of who you actually are? Are you willing to take that chance? Like it or not, search engine functionality brings world-wide visibility and opportunity-givers are combing the web looking for people just like you. Your friends, co-workers and neighbors are looking too. Separate yourself from the herd and stand out if you want to be considered. People are looking and you will be found. It might be a social opportunity, a new job offer, a promotion, a board seat consideration, a consulting role or any number of other life opportunities. With intimacy (person-to-person) giving way to technology, more and more discovery is taking place online and your reach and visibility is greater than ever! Are you positioned to take advantage of this powerful new medium?

Don’t be a cow.

Don’t Kid Yourself!

Contrary to what we would all like to believe, even people that know us don’t think about us nearly as often as we might think! Ask yourself this question: Other than those in your immediate sphere-of-influence does anyone really know who you are and what you’re capable of? Probably not. However, when it comes to personal visibility it’s not really about those that know you well enough that they might be prone to think about you. It’s about those that don’t know you at all or all that well. It’s this group that you must learn to nurture and develop. It’s this group that can produce unexpected but extraordinary opportunities. Opportunities that you’re likely missing out on and you don’t even know it. The funny thing is, the opportunity givers don’t know they’re missing you anymore than you know what you’re missing. Let’s bridge that gap, huh?

You’ll get around to it, you say? You’ll start soon? You’ve been meaning to do it? A personal visibility campaign can be just like diets and exercise––you’ll start tomorrow, right? Yes, it is a lot of work. And no, it won’t be as bad as you think in terms of getting started. It never is. And just like every diet and every exercise program, you’ll be glad you did and the end result will likely be worth it.

You’re on an inexorable path to a more and more comprehensive relationship with technology and it’s not so much a matter of IF you’ll adapt or not. It’s really a matter of how far behind you’ll be before you finally choose to get started. It can either be a proactive decision to get engaged now or you can wait until the decision gets made for you. The latter being the drag-along option.

Before you know it, your profile and social resume will be complete and properly displayed on a number of connectivity platforms. With these platforms working together your visibility will be significantly enhanced, your name will rank high with the various search engines and if you play your cards just right, your name might show up on the first page when someone googles your profession or principal skill set. That would be the pinnacle of personal visibility! The visibility platforms at your disposal like LinkedIn, AboutMe and Brand Yourself are significant and very effective at telling your story in a compelling and meaningful way. Establish a presence on all, perfect your social and professional resume content and optimize your visibility… the sooner the better.

Be assured of one very compelling fact: There are important people out there looking for the right person to match with current opportunities. Make sure they have the best odds and opportunity to find you––you’ll both be better for it.

Don’t get left behind!

Can You See Me Now?

The economy is recovering, digital utilities are improving and technology is dis-intermediating person-to-person intimacy, so you better have an online presence with a virtual representation of yourself or you’re carrying the equivalent of the old brick phone in a sleek iPhone world. Go ahead with that particular philosophy and see where it gets you. Visibility is key and central for your professional well-being and it’s easier than you might think! Why do it, you ask?

DISCOVERABILITY

There are so many connectivity platforms that you have no excuse. Whether it’s LinkedIn or a whole host of others you must rise above the sea-of-sameness and make yourself visible. Quit hiding in plain sight for God’s sake––intentional or otherwise. At least get your head above the fray by fine-tuning your personal profile (social resume), focusing on a couple of key words and phrases and getting a decent photograph of yourself… seriously! Don’t waste your professional visibility efforts on Facebook (a neighborhood cocktail party equivalent), engage with LinkedIn: it’s the quinessential networking and recruitment platform.

OPPORTUNITY

People are looking. Opportunities abound, particularly in this recovering economy. Between social media and crazy-good search engine functionality there are ubiquitous queries taking place and whether its employment, social or advisory, there are plenty of opportunities. Are you positioned for discoverability? Passive online recruiting for all of the above is running rampant and none of us would mind getting blind-sided with a significant career opportunity, social invite, advisory fee or start-up invite!

CREDIBILITY

In the absence of a robust online presence, people may wonder if you are incapable, uncaring or just hiding something? Maybe stuck in another decade. Right, wrong or indifferent, that’s how it gets interpreted. It doesn’t matter who you are or the quality of your background; you should have a significant online presence with a high quality virtual representation of yourself. People are looking and you have to actively broadcast your story if you want to reach beyond your immediate sphere-of-influence. With the appropriate key words, phrases and descriptors of your skill-set and talents, you stand a significant chance of making the so-called short list and getting face-to-face with a decision maker where you can do what you do best and that’s represent your number one product… YOU.

Digital media is an indispensable platform and used responsibly (read: intelligently) it can exponentially magnify your visibility. In other words, it’s your personal megaphone––so use it! It can be your agent and publicist 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Put it to work for you on a full-time basis. A few hundred words can paint a perfect picture of who you are and be there on your behalf around-the-clock. Who couldn’t use that? Opportunity givers are combing the web––it’s just a more efficient way of discovery and they’re getting better and better at it.

Get off the proverbial couch and put yourself out there!

Somebody’s looking for someone just like you.

Are You Discoverable?

The entire professional world is lurking online––searching, parsing and taking advantage of search engine efficiencies offered by the latest technologies to help them find the right person for a myriad of opportunities––social and professional. Face-to-face interaction has mostly been relegated to some later date when one passes the first impression gauntlet in the virtual world. If When someone sees how you portray yourself online, what kind of first impression will you make?

Will they be intrigued and want to learn more about you or just yawn and move on to the next person? In today’s world, passive recruiting is rampant and opportunities are plentiful as the economy continues to improve. Employers and recruiters have better tools than ever with which to search and discover and with a pond like LinkedIn to fish in; why would they need to look anywhere else? LinkedIn is a quarter of a billion strong and growing in terms of membership and in the absence of a little forethought and planning as to your profile content, you simply blend in to the vast sea of sameness. You won’t get that all important second look, much less an offer. In today’s free-agent marketplace, online recruiting of the passive kind is your friend… you can always say no.

Search engine functionality has improved to the point that anything and everyone can be found. If your profile is constructed properly, positioned strategically and coordinated with the proper keywords and phrases, you will be found so you might want to start looking the digital equivalent of professionally polished. Passive recruiting has always been popular among search firms but the transparency caused by today’s search functionality has given worldwide access to anyone interested in performing a search. That includes the larger search firms all the way down to the one person HR department. Maybe it’s a start-up looking for advisors or a board looking for expertise. Someone, somewhere is attempting to match people with opportunities… are you discoverable? Moreover, are you presentable?

Believe it or not, people are looking at your profile and googling your name far more than you might think. Just know this: Whether its a coworker, neighbor, recruiter, boss, or friend, you never know who’s looking so be prepared and take advantage of the tools available to you. These tools can and will work on your behalf around the clock––just like having your own agent and publicist. What could be better than that?

Ask yourself this simple question: Are you positioned squarely in the path of discovery? One thing is for certain in today’s world… being visible promotes opportunities.

Don’t miss out on yours!

Don’t Be Afraid of LinkedIn!

Don’t be afraid of LinkedIn… it just might just be the single greatest resource available to you in today’s digital world. A world where old-school face-to-face intimacy is giving way to the evolving preference for online interactions. Where else can tell your story and have it be visible to the entire world and not look like an arrogant self-promoter? What other platform allows you to communicate your professional experience, personal interests, attributes, academic accomplishments and even provides a place to display a quality photograph of yourself. What other utility indexes as well as any paid SEO with each of the various search engines? Yes, that would be LinkedIn.

With the evolution of LinkedIn, the “network effect” is clearly evidenced in that over 300 million people are part of this growing platform and damn near every major corporation has a line in the LinkedIn pond and sooner or later they will probably be looking for someone just like you! Most professionals are now relying on the personal visibility provided by a well-crafted LinkedIn profile and most recruiters are relying on the fact that most professionals know the benefits of having their qualifications on display for all to see. You don’t have to be looking for a new job as a basis for being on LinkedIn, however, we do live in a free-agency society and passive recruiting is rampant! And, there’s not many things more flattering than an unsolicited offer. Particularly one that substantially improves upon your current package and includes what might just be the career supercharge you need!

The most important part of the LinkedIn equation is YOU––your responsibility in terms of how you choose to display yourself. You can be the dressed up digital version of yourself and make every effort to nail the first impression or you can be half-assed in terms of background details with an arms-length selfie and some misguided hope that someone is willing to “buy” the product you’re representing. Think about it: If you were advertising or displaying a product that you intended to sell, you would make absolutely certain you represented the product’s best attributes, advantages, benefits and any information necessary to differentiate and advantage your product in this vast and competitive marketplace. The photograph of your product would also show your product in its most favorable light (read: quality photograph of you). And, you certainly wouldn’t make it hard to find with a boring description that included an amateur snapshot––who would buy that? Yet, when you browse the LinkedIn profiles of friends and colleagues its amazing how many of them seem to have a complete disconnect with Marketing 101.

LinkedIn is the equivalent of a PR person and publicist all rolled into one. It’s like having billboards in all the right places to advertise and promote your favorite product: YOU! Whether it’s a friend or colleague, your next door neighbor, a recruiter, the person you’re about to meet with or the one you just finished meeting with, you can be discoverable twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week––front and center for all the world to see!

Advantage: YOU.

Personal Visibility – The Power of You!

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