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.

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:

• Twitter: http://twitter.com/lissansky
• Linkedin: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/lissansky
• Facebook: http://facebook.com/ana.lissansky
• Google Plus: https://plus.google.com/108125077480654805661/
• Blog: http://lissansky.blogspot.com
• Instagram: http://instagr.am/Lissansky
• Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/Lissansky
• YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/LissanskyAna
• Foursquare: https://foursquare.com/lissansky‎
• Klout: http://klout.com/#/Lissansky

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

http://Topsy.com

• 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.

http://ManageFlitter.com

• 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

http://Statigr.am

• 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?

Social Media Tools Demo at Carleton University

Last Friday (January, 15, 2010), I was fortunate enough to be invited by @ThomKearney to present to his 4th year Interactive Multimedia Design (IMD4500) class at Carleton University on the topic of Social Media. Essentially, I was asked to demo the tools I use professionally.

Here are the tools I chose to demo, along with the "show of hands" informal usage survey at the beginning of the demo (out of 25 students present):


• Delicious - 10 (use)
• Google Wave - 10 / 3 (have tried it, use it)
• Google Docs - 22 (use)
• Twitter - 5 (use)
• Linkedin - 3 (use)
• Blogger - 3 (blog)
(Note: these numbers are estimates, based on a quick glance at a show of hands)

I was pleasantly surprised that 22/25 student used Google Docs! I certainly use Google Docs, but not as much as I use Word (given it's the wordprocessing software at work), and it was clear to me that there was no need to demo it. However, now that I think about it, it shouldn't surprise me, since most projects are done collaboratively in groups, Google Docs seems like the most plausible tool.

I began with my Delicious account where I had links to the other tools I was to demo.

Then I went to TweetDeck. Luckily, I had already recruited @bxmx to help out with the Demo. So when I showed @ replies and retweets, it was in a live and interactive conversation with @bxmx (who is based in BC by the way). Twitter went well, many students were curious and had quite a few questions. As always, I tried to emphasize that everyone's Twitter experience is going to be unique because it depends on who you choose to follow - so if you follow celebrities or people who talk about their breakfast, then that is what you'll get.

I then moved on to a Wave demo, and here's where @bxmx came in handy again. He and I tested it a few days before so that we would be able to demonstrate several features all in one wave and fairly quickly. The students were most interested in the "replay" function, so I simply ran through the wave we had prepared. It showed how to embed images, video, maps, and gadgets (such as the "wikify" gadget which turns a term into a link to its Wikipedia page).

Next we moved on to Blogger, and I must say that I was a bit surprised by the fact that only 3 of the students blogged. I proceeded to open my Blogger account and showed them a few unpublished posts in the edit view.

Lastly, I covered Linkedin, where I went to the search window and typed a relevant job title - the students asked me to use "Game Designer", and low and behold, there were thousands of game designers displaying, essentially their entire resumes, for public view on Linkedin. I also showed students a few Linkedin Groups I'm an active member of, such as the Government of Canada group, and a few social media focused groups. They were intrigued, but not necessarily convinced. I then pointed out that many of the senior managers/vps and professors that I can't find on Facebook and Twitter, I am able to find on Linkedin and that the median income on the site is $100K, which says something.

Although in the case of some tools, students seemed skeptical as to their professional value, I think overall, they enjoyed the presentation, and I thoroughly enjoyed presenting too!

At the end, I took a photo of the class and tweeted it, and that if they'd like to see the photos, they should visit Twitter. :)