Your Brand is How You Are Perceived

If you are a business owner, everything you do on the Internet affects your brand.

Even from a personal perspective, what you do helps form potential customers’ opinions.

Everything you say, write, don’t say, don’t write, insinuate, argue, debate, and more defines what others think of you.

Keep in mind that often, how others perceive, you might not necessarily be how you want to be seen.

I realize it is challenging in today’s political environment NOT to take part in online conversations.

Believe me, there are times I have to sit on my hands to not respond to some of these absurdities. Sometimes it’s NOT easy to ignore some outrageous comments/opinions from BOTH sides.

But alas, I DO refrain because, in my opinion, it is in the best interest of my brand to remain publicly neutral!

Stay Away from Controversial Subjects

It is a priority of mine NOT to share my views or even my disgust at some highly heated exchanges.

I was brought up to never get into religious and political conversations, and I still agree 100%.

Some huge online brands that have nothing to do with politics are writing political posts slamming candidates.

I won’t even tell you which side – you can guess or look it up yourself.

In my opinion, they are hurting their brand and reputation. And from the comments I see, others agree with me.

Twitter is an excellent example of where we follow people that are in our niche.

However, through different levels of automation, we are inadvertently re-tweeting highly inflammatory political rhetoric.

We can’t seem to escape politics. This makes monitoring a little more time-consuming.

If you are looking for employment, what you say on social networking sites is easily accessible to potential employers.

ESPECIALLY in today’s highly heated political environment, one could actually not get a job one interviews for because of political opinions.

How others perceive you on the web is directly correlated to how you present yourself.

Perception is in The Eye of the Perceiver

How you are perceived might not necessarily reflect your intentions. Perception is in the eye of the perceiver.

No matter what your small business sells, whether it is products or services, you, as the owner of your business, are also your brand.

The Internet offers an almost ridiculously massive array of social networking sites where you can engage and participate.

From Facebook to Twitter, what you “say” is read by anyone anywhere who is interested enough to “listen”.

Be careful when you comment on someone’s Facebook post or status. Avoid writing anything off-colored or inflammatory. You can’t want to leave a negative impression of yourself in someone’s mind.

If you are a business owner, that negative impression will be carried over to your brand, and you might have just lost a potential customer.

It is easy to forget when we are using social networking sites for entertainment purposes. We are also having an impact on our reputation and our brand.

The Internet Has A Better Memory Than an Elephant!

Colleges and potential employers often check out prospective students or employees on social networking sites to get an idea of who they are.

For those looking for a job, be sure to control what potential employers might see.

Don’t write anything that could be perceived as controversial, insulting or inflammatory.

It is interesting to see how young people are reacting online to this realization.

They know that what they write affects their reputation and could impact their chances of getting into a college.

They are changing their real names, often, on sites like Facebook. So, their comments and conversations will not show up in searches tied to their real name.

Maybe they know more than many adults about reputation management and branding!

But for some, this might take the fun out of social networking. It is a matter of personal preference on how one chooses to network.

As long as you realize what the potential impact is of your style of networking, the choice is yours.

Manage Your Brand. Manage Your Reputation. Protect Your Business!