Friday, May 10, 2013

How I use Social Media Tools for Managing my Unique on Google Name & Personal Brand


I've recently had a few people ask me about the social media-related tools I use that help me increase the effectiveness and efficiency of managing my own online presence or "digital footprint". Also, a friend of mine has asked for help reviewing her CV and improving her chances of getting a better job, so I'm writing this blog post in preparation for this meetup.
Ana Lissansky's office desk
So here goes...

I've been actively managing my online footprint for the past 8 years, and this is why, although my name is unique on Google (and likely the earth), you will not find any photos of me in a risqué or intoxicated state (read: drunk in a barely-there dress). 


First thing's first, here's a list the channels I currently use for professional purposes:
Important note: All of the channels above are for professional discussions only. I therefore use my real name, and my professional email account, which is my Gmail one. My personal Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest accounts, as well as my Mommy Blog, are all attached to my personal email addresses (there are many), and use a nickname. Therefore, when a potential employer or HR manager searches for my name, he/she will only find my professional accounts and only see photos I've shared on my professional accounts. ****This is particularly important for me as my name is 100% Unique on Google, i.e. there is no other "Ana Lissansky" in the whole online universe with this exact name and spelling of name combination (Date of search: May 10, 2013). This is why it is more important for me to manage my online footprint, compared to let's say "John Smith".

Tools for accessing, managing, optimizing your social media

If you work, or intend to work in media, communications, marketing, PR, tech, graphic design/web design (off the top of my head, but here are many other industries for which this is crucial) or even if you're a small husband and wife business like Vegancuts, who ships monthly boxes of vegan snacks to it's list of subscribers, you may benefit from using these advanced social media management tools:

http://Hootsuite.com
  • Use it to manage my Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin
  • Schedule posts: avoid inundating your followers with too many posts even though you discovered many interesting articles at around the same time
  • Research Twitter hashtags. Wondering if there's a Topsy for Instagram? I'm going to try http://nitrogr.am for that, as it is the only on I've found so far.
  • Use it to manage who I follow on Twitter
  • Allows you to mass-unfollow accounts that haven't tweeted in a long time, or mostly "plug" themselves frequently, as well as other criteria
  • This is the best tool I've found for this purpose, I've tried at least three other tools
  • Recently started using this tool to get detailed Instagram statistics
  • Very helpful if you're attempting to use Instagram for lead generation or goal conversion (sales)
  • Shows you who shares your stuff, who are the top influencers for particular hashtags, and even when is the best time to share new content!
Mobile Apps for Social Media
  • Twitter: Use both Twitter's app and the Hootsuite App - different interfaces, sometimes one is better than the other, depending what I'm doing/looking for
  • Facebook and Linkedin I use the Hootsuite App
  • Instagram I use the Instagram App
  • Pinterest - I use the Pinterest App
  • Personal Facebook is used from the Facebook App. Personal Instagram is tricky as I need to log out of the professional account and log in to the personal one. Instagram on Hootsuite is not that great yet.
Current Mobile Devices
  • iPhone (32GB): because my phone mixes personal and professional worlds, it sometimes gets tricky as I need to log out of personal accts on certain apps and the log into professional accounts.
  • Tablet: ASUS Nexus 7 (wifi, 16GB): used for note taking during meetings on Google docs (professional use) or Evernote (personal use). This tablet is paired with a Logitech portable keyboard with tablet stand. The good thing about the tablet stand is that it can accomodate any size tablet, and my iPhone too! #win
  • ASUS ultrabook laptop: since I never take it out of the house, I'm not sure it can be called "mobile"!
I'm interested to hear about how others manage their personal brand. Which tools have you come across that you think would be helpful in some of the areas I discussed above?

3 comments:

  1. Ana i normally use http://Hootsuite.com to manage my profiles

    SMO Services India

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  2. Well, having a name as unique as Ana Lissansky sure helps a lot in managing your online presence. But what about those who have really common names such as Steve Pearson or something like that? Even if with very strict social media handling, making sure that those types of names don't get associated with anything ill-mannered is still very tricky. Any thoughts?

    Kristofer Mcginty @ ReachForFreedom.com.au

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    Replies
    1. Hi Kristofer,
      Here are a few tips, off the top of my head:
      - Search on Linkedin and Facebook to get a sense of exactly how many Kristofer Mcginty's there are in YOUR city.
      - Think of your name as a "brand" or a local small business, is there anyone with your exact name that also works in the exact same industry as you? Even if there are 1 or 2 others, you can work on creating more engaging content relevant to the keywords you want to be associated with than those other people.
      - Also, be sure to use the same consistent and large head-shot photo on all of you professionally associated social media profiles.
      - Lastly, monitor how your name is ranking on search engines for "your name + your field" or "your name + your city"

      Hope this helps!

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