Almost Savvy » Branding

Is Social Media the Brussels Sprouts of the Internet?

Irene Koehler — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:46:35 +0000

To those of us who live and breathe social media every day, it is easy to forget that not everyone is as comfortable online as we are. In fact, many people have concerns about being too visible online and some don’t want to be online, period. Yes, there are people who, by choice, do not have Facebook, Twitter or Google+ accounts. To my fellow social media aficionados, I realize this may come as a shock.

A few days ago, I had a chance to have lunch with a dear friend. Lola is successful and intelligent, as well as both technology and business savvy. Naturally, given my work, the conversation turned to the topic of social media. Lola doesn’t use Facebook. She never has and has absolutely no interest in starting now. Though she has never used Facebook, she has extremely strong opinions about many aspects of the widely popular social networking site, ranging from privacy to rampant oversharing to the implicit meaning of the Like button.

Judging from a distance

I left our lunch wondering…How could someone so bright know that she was opposed to one of the most popular activities in the world without even trying it out herself? Wasn’t she curious in the least bit? Hadn’t she read articles about business-related successes on Facebook, along with the articles about oversharing and privacy risks? If we were talking about something difficult or dangerous (say, cliff diving), I’d understand, but Facebook?

Using social media is not straight forward. Everyone’s experience – what they hope it will be and what it actually turns out to be – is different. One’s experience has everything to do with whom we connect online. It has to do with strategy, style, preferences, and an understanding of the networking platform.

Social media is easily misunderstood. It’s misunderstood when it’s perceived as content, rather than a channel through which content is shared. It is misunderstood when it is seen as a tool which defines one’s experience, rather than a tool which can be used to tailor one’s experience. Would we refuse to use the telephone if we didn’t like the way other people were using it?

Here’s where the brussels sprout come in

Social media is like brussels sprouts. Well, kinda like brussels sprouts. It’s the brussels sprouts of the internet. Brussels sprouts have been described as ugly, smelly and bitter, yet they are rich in disease fighting nutrients. Most people I know despise brussels sprouts; would only consider eating them if no other food was available within a 400 mile radius. Many of these same people have never eaten a brussels sprout or haven’t had one since they were a child. Like social media, brussels sprouts are/can be very good for us, yet both are frequently dismissed based solely on what we’ve “heard” about them.

I’ve put together a handy scientific* chart illustrating this point.

“No, thank you” helpings

When I was young and didn’t want to try a new food, I was told I had to take a No, thank you helping. A No, thank you helping was a small sampling of whatever I was trying to avoid. It was a taste, just enough for me to decide if I truly did not like the food based on my own first-hand experience, rather than decide based on its purple-ish color or the fact that my sister cried when she tasted it.

Is it possible to take a No, thank you helping of Facebook (or other social media channels)? I propose that it is and that it is simple to do so. One need only to set up an account, connect with interesting people or organizations and periodically read what is being shared. If something seems interesting, it is easy to add a comment and contribute to the conversation. While this small taste will not be the same experience as when one is fully engaged, it is possible to skim the surface and get a sense of how others are using social media. At a minimum, it may facilitate a more informed decision.

On a personal level, I take No, thank you helpings on a regular basis when it comes to something new or something I haven’t tried in a long time. I’ve hated brussels sprouts for as long as I can remember. A few weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to give them another try, another No, thank you helping. While I don’t expect them to become my favorite food anytime soon, I was surprised to find how much I liked them. All it took was the right recipe and an open mind, and a willingness to give them another try.

*Scientific means that it makes sense in my head

Image courtesy of Ed Yourdon

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10 Steps To Create An Awesome Google+ Profile

Irene Koehler — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:14:28 +0000

Once you sign-up for Google+, the first order of business should be to build your profile. As with any social networking site, your profile is your home base. It’s where you tell people what you’d like them to know about you. This is where you showcase the information you want to be publicly available when someone searches, or googles, you online. It is also the information others will use to decide whether or not to connect with you on Google+.

Before you begin, you must find your way to the right page in your Google+ Profile. If you previously had set up a Google Profile, it has now become your Google+ Profile. See the red arrows above to direct you to the correct page.

Get Started: Click on the ‘Edit Profile’ button to begin. You will then see that it is easy to click on any section you wish to edit.
Profile Photo: Select a photo to upload. You may want to review 8 Tips for Selecting the Right Profile Photo to help with your selection.
Name and Headline: Be sure your name is correct. This must be your own name, not the name of a business. Make sure to include a headline. It can be a mix of serious and fun, but use the space wisely.
Text Sections: The Introduction is important. What is the story you’d like to tell about yourself? As you write your introduction, you may want to include keywords which would enable you to be found most easily. While it remains to be seen how searchable Google+ profiles will be, we do know that Google will be giving some visibility to public content on Google+. I’d say that the Bragging Rights section is optional, but I’d suggest that professionals complete all or most of the other sections.
Employment: This tiny section is extremely powerful, though its power isn’t obvious at first glance. The information you add here will provide a window into what you’re all about to anyone who wants to make a quick decision about whether or not they’d like to connect with you or view your profile to learn more about you. Here’s how it works… If you see, for example, an insightful or witty comment I added to one of your friend’s posts and you wanted to find out more about me, you would hover your cursor (see red arrow in image below) over my name. By hovering here, you will see my hovercard (see inset box in image below). From this hovercard, you can instantly follow my public posts by adding me to your circles. All too often, I find that people have left this field blank. When their name appears in a discussion or I see that they’ve added me to their circles, I wonder, “Who the heck is this person?” and peek at their hovercard to find out. If I find no information on their hovercard, it is much less likely that I will circle them back. Make sure you put something meaningful in this section; not just your employer or name of your business, but also something about what you do there. If you are seeking employment, this would be a great place to highlight your skills or accomplishments.
Links: Any good online reputation or digital footprint is seamlessly connected. Make it easy for me to see where else I can find you online. Add links to your social accounts, blog, website, presentations, publications, videos, photos – anything you feel helps tell your story online.
Search Visibility: Now this is key. Do you want your Google+ Profile to show up in search engine results? For me, the answer is 1,000,000% yes because I know what a huge branding and visibility opportunity it is. If you are worried that this will mean that everything you share on Google+ will also be publicly viewable, don’t. You have complete control over each individual post and can easily share each item publicly, privately, or somewhere in-between. (More on sharing in an upcoming blog post. Be sure to subscribe at the end of this post if you don’t want to miss it.)
Formatting Text: In each text section, you have the ability to add links and format the text as best suits your needs. It isn’t mandatory that you do this and it is certainly something you can always revisit at another time, if you’d prefer.
Private vs. Public: Google has learned a lot about users’s desire for complete control over who can see their content and they’ve gone a long way toward allowing you to manage your profile privacy at a granular level. For each section, you will be able to determine who will be able to see your information. For example, if you added your telephone number in the appropriate section, but didn’t want everyone to be able to see it, you would select the Custom option and then might make it visible to only your Family and Best Friends circles.
Done!: Bravo, you’ve finished! Just click Done Editing and admire your work. See something you’d like to change? No problem, just click the Edit Profile button again and tweak away. You always have the ability to jump back in and make adjustments.

If you haven’t yet joined Google+, you can sign up here and to find out why your Google+ profile is an important branding opportunity, whether or not you’re using Google+, you’ll want to read this.

I’d love to see your Google+ Profile. Post the link in the comments below and I’ll add you to my Almost Savvy circle. I would be delighted if you added me to one of your circles to see what I’m sharing on Google+. Also, please share your tips you’ve come across about creating Google+ Profiles.

Thanks to S Sriram for capturing the screenshot of my hovercard for me.

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The #1 Reason You’ll Want to Use Google+

Irene Koehler — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 14:44:42 +0000

If you’re still wondering if you ought to bother spending time getting to know yet another social network, I’ve got one big reason you might want to give Google+ a try. It is clear that the team at Google thought long and hard about how people and brands use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and worked to incorporate the best features of all, while adding a few cool features we haven’t seen before. I’ll be addressing those features and how to get started using Google+ in the next few posts.

To keep things simple for the moment, let’s focus on the top reason you should care about Google+.

Google Search

I’m a huge Google fan. I use Gmail, Gcal, Google Voice and plenty of other Google products. Even if you aren’t using Google products like I do, chances are good that you’re using one…Google search. Google is the power player when it comes to online search. While there are many other search engines, Google dominates the field. Whether we’re looking for travel information for our next vacation or reviews and best prices for our next purchases, we’re probably searching on Google.

What’s that you say? You’re not interested in search engines and don’t see what that has to do with you? After all, you’re not all that into tech stuff. Fair enough, but I suggest that even if you think you’re not interested in search, you really are – you just don’t know it yet.

When a Brand Name Becomes a Verb, You Know Something Big is Going On

When was the last time you googled yourself? Do you know what information shows up at the top of the search results? Your current, past and potential employers, clients, and dates are googling you (oh, yes, they are) and you should be monitoring your online reputation and take steps to be sure the best information about you to be the easiest to find.

Google Gets to Make the Rules

How does the stuff at the top of the search engine results get to the top? Well, we don’t know exactly. How each search engine ranks content is a bit of a mystery:it is based on a proprietary algorithm, which is their own secret sauce. Google, Bing, Yahoo – none of them completely reveal the criteria they use to rank certain items higher than others.

It remains to be seen exactly how Google will incorporate content from Google+ into their SERP, but speculation is that it what we post and how others engage with our content (by commenting, for example) will definitely be a factor. Prior to Google+, my Google profile appeared at the bottom of the first page of search results. It now appears at the top, above even my own website. That makes Google+ pretty darn important right out of the gate. This make Google+ a critically important place to build a presence for your business or career. (Note that businesses are not yet allowed to set up profiles on Google+. Business profiles are expected to be launched in a few months.)

Does this mean that all the work you’ve done to polish and optimize your LinkedIn profile, Twitter, blog or website no longer matters in terms of what people will find when they google your name? Absolutely not. If Google were to no longer assign weight to your other online properties and engagement, it seems they’d likely have an antitrust problem on their hands. Don’t stop what you’re currently doing, but I do encourage you to either dive head first into Google+ (for those extremely familiar with Facebook and all it’s features) or approach it taking baby steps soon (for those who are still learning to use Facebook’s features).

Want an Invitation to Google+?

I’ve got a limited number of invitations left to share with my friends. If you’d like to sign-up for Google+ and learn as you go, you can grab an invitation here while they last. You’ll need to have a Gmail address to sign-up, but it is easy to create one if you don’t already have an account. Once you’re in, add me to one of your circles. This will enable you to see what I’m sharing on Google+. See you there!

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here to be sure you don’t miss any future Almost Savvy social media updates and news. You are also invited to connect with others interested in social media on the friendly folks on the Almost Savvy page on Facebook where we share news and tips.

How Old is the Perfect Social Media Expert?

Irene Koehler — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 23:31:47 +0000

So, there I was. Listening in on a fascinating conversation online with one of the business world’s most well known thought-leaders, some of his most famous books on the shelf above my desk as I soaked in his words coming through the speakers of my computer. His wisdom and perspective on the importance of respecting and empowering one’s employees and customers were inspiring. Most of his advice wasn’t new, yet being reminded of what I’d forgotten to focus on can be immensely helpful.

His talk was hitting all the right notes, exceeding my expectations, when he began to discuss the need for transparency for corporate executives and the critical opportunity, and must-have piece of their communication strategy, social media now represents for everyone in the C-suite. (Having come from a corporate management background myself, he definitely had my attention now!) And then he said it.

“If you don’t understand social media, find a social media expert. Get someone in their twenties, or even your grandson, to teach you. They’re all social media experts today.”

Really? Did he just say that? Oh, yes he did, and I wasn’t the only one listening online to take notice.

This really isn’t about this one guy. I’m not even going to name him, because he’s not the point. The point is that I’ve heard the same thing from many people, young and old. It represents a real misunderstanding of what it takes to effectively incorporate social media into one’s online presence, whether it’s for professional, branding, political, marketing, customer service or other purposes. Frequent and persistent clicking does not make anyone a social media expert.

Insert Statistics Here (or not)

I could easily link to all sorts of statistics and studies which show the demographic breakdown of who is using social media the most, who grew up with it, who’s adopting it later in life and on and on and on. I’ll go out on a limb and submit for your consideration that no one from the Baby Boomer generation used social media online as a child, that many under the age of 30 (or so) used computers early in life and the younger ones in that group were texting, Facebooking, and LOLing while still in elementary school. We don’t need numbers to prove this to be true. It just is; no judgement, no prejudice, it just is.

Doing It Often vs. Doing It Well

Do you know any really bad drivers? You know, the ones who roll through stop signs, drive too fast and can’t seem to stay in their own lane while barreling down the highway? You may even love them, but you don’t feel comfortable sliding into the passenger seat when they’re driving. They drive often and have driven for years, but does that mean they drive well? Would this be the person you’d trust to teach a new driver? How would you feel if the name of your company was emblazoned on the side of that car for all to see?

If someone uses Facebook often and has used it for years, does that mean they’re doing it well? If that person has grown up posting updates and photos to Facebook for much of their life, would this person be the one you’d trust to teach an executive how best to utilize social media for business purposes? I’m hoping your answer is either No or Hell no.

If you don’t want someone who knows the mechanics of operating a car, but doesn’t respect the rules of road, to drive your car, why would you give them the keys to drive your brand?

Experience, Perspective and Skills

Forget age and focus on finding the right person to help you. Success in leveraging social media requires many things beyond simply having grown up online.

Here are just a few of the key things I’d suggest you consider in your quest for the perfect social media expert:

Voice – The ability to understand your brand voice, especially if this person is to be entrusted with the duty of interacting on the business’ behalf. Countless brands have suffered terribly when that voice was left in the hands of an intern or someone not adequately prepared.
Reputation – While it can feel as if everything happens in-the-moment online and then is swept away quickly in the flow of social media content, the fact is that most of it lives on forever in one form or another. Assume that anything shared online by you or about you will be archived and can be found again forever, often through a simple Google search. You will want your social media expert to fully grasp the long-term value of a reputation and how it can be damaged with a single click.
Culture and Etiquette – Each social networking platform has its own pace, culture, best practices and etiquette. Does your social media expert fully grasp the nuances of each, as well as the upside and downside of different approaches to sharing and engaging?
Objectives – Before embarking on your social media journey, aligning your use of these new tools with your overall business or professional objectives is key. Posting stuff for the sake of posting stuff probably isn’t going to achieve meaningful results (unless posting stuff happens to be your objective).
Learning – Everything about technology and the internet seems to change weekly. From privacy settings to the latest applications, analytics and gadgets, it takes time to stay on top of the latest news and best practices. Either invest ongoing energy in staying current or work with someone who does.
Mechanics – Of each of the items listed here, this may be the easiest to learn. This is all about how to post a tweet, how to set-up a page on Facebook, how to upload a video to YouTube. Don’t be intimidated by any of this and don’t select a social media expert because they are a master of mechanics, but are missing other critical skills.

The Right Age

What is the right age for the perfect social media expert? I have no idea.

The right social media expert for you will be defined by their skills, vision, experience and fit, not their age or generation. When you find someone who has what you need, work with them. Whether that person is 24 or 54, hire them. You’ll be glad you did.

Image courtesy of chimothy27

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How To Manage Your Online Reputation By Using Google Alerts

Irene Koehler — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:45:41 +0000

In addition to the wonderful feedback to my post last week about 3 Mistakes You’re Making Online, I also received questions about my third point – using Google Alerts to monitor your reputation online. While I know throngs of hyper-connected people for whom using Google Alerts is second nature, the fact is that this is a new tool for many people. If you’re part of the second group, I strongly encourage you to consider using Google Alerts. There are definitely more comprehensive and sophisticated tools out there, but this is the place to get started tracking what’s said about you online. Best of all – it’s free and incredibly easy to do.

What is Google Alerts?

Google Alerts is an extremely simple tool to help monitor what is said or shared online about any topic of interest to you. While you are undoubtedly interested in keeping up to date on industry-related topics, local news or your favorite sports teams, one of the most relevant topics to you should be you. This may include information posted online somewhere by you, someone you know, organizations or companies you’re affiliated with or public databases.

Here’s how Google explains the Alerts tool:

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic.

Enter the topic you wish to monitor, then click preview to see the type of results you’ll receive. Some handy uses of Google Alerts include:

monitoring a developing news story

keeping current on a competitor or industry

getting the latest on a celebrity or event

keeping tabs on your favorite sports teams

Surprisingly, there is no mention of monitoring your reputation online, which simply is a must do step for every professional, business, non-profit and anyone who deals with other people who may want, at some point, to learn more about them. Really, who doesn’t this include?

Why should I bother?

Whether you know it or not, and whether or not you like it, everyone is looking you up online. You should assume that your current and potential employers, clients, customers, donors, friends, dates, family members and neighbors are typing your name into Google to find out what you’re up to, how much you paid for your home and to which political candidate you donated money. Sure, if you assume that everyone is googling you, you’ll be wrong in some cases. Still, don’t you want to know what they’ll be finding? You might be surprised to find out how much information is online right now about you.

In addition to monitoring your own reputation, it is also a simple way to keep an eye on what is being said about your company, your competitors, the company you hope to work for and so on. Don’t be the last to know!

Is it really that easy to set up Google Alerts?

In a word – Yes. Google has a simple guide to walk you through the steps, along with some helpful examples.

A few tips when setting up your alerts:

Use quotation marks when you want to get results for a specific phrase, as shown above for my name. Without the quotation marks, I will receive alerts for every instance online of when the words irene and koehler appear, but not necessarily together as in “irene koehler” and I definitely don’t want to receive emails for all of those thousands of pages which aren’t relevant to me.
Set up alerts for any nicknames or usernames you have on different online forums or social networking sites.
In addition to creating alerts for your own name and business name, consider creating alerts for your children’s names. Even if they’re young, you might be surprised to find their name listed online as a result of a soccer tournament or school activity. Set up alerts for your spouse’s name at your own risk.

Your turn…How have you found Google Alerts useful? If you haven’t used them before, do you plan to set them up now? Add a comment below to let me know.

3 Mistakes You’re Making Online

Irene Koehler — Mon, 23 May 2011 14:53:30 +0000

Oy, the internet. Must it be so complicated? Can’t we all just have fun online and not worry so much? While some people do take that approach, but I certainly wouldn’t recommend it. If you’re reading this, chances are you’re active online and chances are you’re making one of these mistakes. OK, maybe you specifically aren’t doing these things, but many of our friends are.

1. Multiple Personalities

You use different websites for different parts of your life. You’re the professional you on LinkedIn. You are the friends and family you on Facebook. You’re the silly I’m out all night on a Saturday with my friends you on twitter.

While this approach of segmenting our lives may have made sense pre-internet, it is no longer a luxury we have. When I want to learn about you, I head straight to Google. It’s entirely possible that what I will find shows me much more than you intended. In addition to finding the professional you on LinkedIn, I may easily find content you shared on Facebook which you thought was only visible to friends, your ranty comments on YouTube videos and blog posts, and all sorts of photos of you (whether posted by you or someone else).

2. Undersharing

You’ve heard so much about the perils of oversharing that you’ve decided to be smart about how you approach your online presence. You know better than to post personal information revealing your vacation plans and when your house will be left empty and vulnerable. You know better than to complain about your neighbors and your boss online, lest they find out about it. You’ve heard the horror stories about people losing their jobs or destroying their reputation because too much was shared online.

You’ve heeded lessons that others have learned the hard way. The only problem is you’re overcompensating by not sharing enough information online. When someone Googles you, and believe me they are, are they finding the information that you want them to see or are they finding information that doesn’t tell your story in the best possible light? If you are not intentionally and strategically sharing information online, you may be defined by a hodgepodge of links to your extracurricular activities or from various sites that aggregate content about someone with your name, which may or may not indeed be you. It’s really a question of brand or be branded. Do you want to be defined by what is online about you by default, or take an active role in telling your story online?

3. Sharing, But Not Monitoring

You’re busily posting photos and updates online without taking the time to keep on eye on what the internet has to say about you. You’re under the impression that any information online about you is under your control because you decided to put it there.

When was the last time you googled yourself? Everyone else is googling you, so you’d better know what it is they’re finding when they do. While there are many sophisticated tools and strategies to monitor your reputation online, the first place to start is to set up Google alerts. Set up a Google alert for your name, nicknames, name of your business and other terms of particular interest. You will then receive an e-mail when that term appears online in a blog post, for example. Sure, it’ll also alert you when someone else with the same name is mentioned online, but this is a good thing. If another Irene Koehler got herself into a little legal trouble, I would definitely want to know about it so I could be sure to clarify things is anyone thought it was me.

This list is by no means complete. What common mistakes are you seeing people make? Please add them in the comments so that others can learn from your questions and suggestions.

How To Get Feedback on Your Profile Photo

Irene Koehler — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:41:34 +0000

Welcome to my shortest blog post ever. The response to my recent post about how to select the right photo for your online profile has been fantastic. I invite you to watch this video to find out…

How you can get valuable feedback on the photo you’ve chosen for your profile As my friend, Hjortur Smarason says, we should think of this photo as our own personal logo.
How you can support others by offering helpful feedback.
Why doing #1 and #2 above would be helpful to me personally.
Why this post is so short and the video isn’t edited at all.

Click here if you aren’t able to view the video above.

As mentioned in the video:

If you missed it earlier, read the tips here: 8 Tips: How to Select the Right Profile Photos
Post your photo and share feedback on others’ photos here: Almost Savvy Page on Facebook

I look forward to seeing your photos and feedback!

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8 Tips: How To Choose the Right Profile Photo

Irene Koehler — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 15:25:51 +0000

You know you’ve seen it. That cringe-worthy photo from your friend’s beach vacation that she’s using as her LinkedIn profile photo. “What in the world is she thinking?” you’ve wondered. “I’d never use a photo like that to represent myself online.” Really, Mr. Look-at-me-and-my-super-cute-puppy?

Hey, don’t get me wrong, I’m all for puppies. I’m pretty keen on babies, too, but not in our profile pictures. There was a time when we framed and displayed those photos at home or, perhaps, on our desk at the office. Things are no longer as simple. Today, our workplace is not limited to just one desk in just one office. To some extent, we’re all connected to others online and we still want to express ourselves by decorating our online office with our favorite photos. For those of us who have businesses or careers, the version of ourselves we put online matters. It can and will be seen by anyone interested in learning more about us.

One of the often overlooked elements of our online presence is our profile photo. The photo is important for a couple of reasons:

It makes it easier to recognize you. If I’m meeting you in person for the first time, having seen your photo will put me at ease knowing who I should be looking for. Similarly, if we’ve met in person and you send me an invitation to connect online, seeing your photo will help me remember you.
Simply put, it humanizes you. I don’t want to connect with an anonymous account. I want to connect with a person. And, yes, this means that it’s time to finally add a photo to your LinkedIn profile if you haven’t yet taken the plunge.

Choosing the Right Photo

Head shot – Probably your head, neck and a bit of your shoulders, but no more. It should be the real you, not a cartoon or Mad Men version of you. And, by real you, I also mean current you. It may feel like you were in high school only yesterday, but if you did the lindy hop at your prom, your old yearbook photo won’t do.
Logo – Unless your business is a well known brand (think Ford or Macy’s), it is probably best to use your photo rather than a logo. In general, we like and want to connect with people, not businesses. It’s important to note that using a logo instead of a photo on LinkedIn would violate the User Agreement. Skip the logo and stick with your own head shot.
Keep it simple - This means we want to see you. Lose the baseball hat, those awesome sunglasses or anything else that competes for our attention in the photo. Same goes for busy backgrounds.
You and only you – Getting back to puppies…your primary profile photo is probably not the best use of your puppy photos. Ditto for you and a group of your best friends or you riding your bike.
Nudity – If I can see your shoulders in your head shot, I want to see clothing. While you may be wearing a strapless dress, it’s all about perception. Don’t take the time to create a great profile only to leave people wondering if you’re actually naked. Eww. There is no difference between being naked and appearing to be naked in a profile photo. There is a time and a place for nudity, but your profile photo is neither of these.
Consistency – A great way to help your own branding is to use the same photo for all of your online profiles. Use the same photo on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube channel, your blog, etc. It will make it much easier for people to recognize you right away.
Smile – Don’t overthink your pose. Attempts to look too serious can come off as intimidating. And none of those here-I-am-looking-busy-by-pretending-to-talk-on-the-phone photos. You’re not that busy. Put the phone down for a second so you can smile and have your picture taken.
Doesn’t need to be fancy – You don’t need to rush out and schedule a session with a professional portrait photographer. Having a friend take a photo of you in front of a solid background should be fine as long as the lighting is sufficient. Word of warning – Whatever you do, have someone else take your picture. Do not, under any circumstances, let me see you taking your own photo in the bathroom mirror with your phone.

Exceptions

I can hear you all the way across the internet, “But I use the different social networking platforms differently and that’s why I have puppies on Facebook and am wearing a suit and tie on LinkedIn.” You are in good company. If you must have a profile photo with your puppy/baby/surfboard/bottle of wine/cigar/goat, keep it on Facebook and only on Facebook. As long as you understand what can be seen when a potential client or employer Googles your name and you’re OK with it, that’s all that matters.

Are your profile photos dressed to impress? What profile photo best or worst practices have I missed?

It’s All About.Me (Your Identity Online – Simplified)

Irene Koehler — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 07:35:12 +0000

Have you ever received an email from someone and their signature block seems to run on forever with so many links that the signature is longer than the email itself? Are you guilty of this yourself? It’s okay to admit it, you’re among friends.

I have several links in my own signature block. I want to make it incredibly easy for the email recipient to learn more about me, so I include links to find me on my own website, my professional profile on LinkedIn, Twitter (two accounts), and the Almost Savvy page on Facebook. I’ve seen others with even more links to Flickr, YouTube, SlideShare, to name just a few of the more popular sites.

Did you ever wish that there was an easy way to lead someone to all of the various pieces of your online presence with one simple link? If so, you may want to check out about.me.

Reasons to set up your own about.me page

You’re able to include all the links to your online presence and drive traffic to those sites.
With an interesting photo and small amount of text, it’s an opportunity to have a little fun and show some personality.
It’s easy. All you really need to do is connect about.me to your LinkedIn profile and any other sites you think help to showcase who you are. Limit yourself to those that show you in a positive light.
By registering your page, you’re making sure that a valuable piece of online real estate tied to your name is yours before someone else with your name claims it or a you-wannabe claims it.
Think online reputation. Having solid skills and a credible reputation are critical keys to success. If it isn’t easy to find evidence of your skills and reputation, however, how valuable are they? This is one more tool which will help you make it dead simple for others to learn more about you.

Tips when setting up your page

Find the balance between having enough text to say something interesting about yourself (enough) and not having it begin to look like marketing material (too much).
Use one photo for the page. You have the option to tile a small photo (have it repeat several times to fill the page), but this usually ends up looking too busy. Choose a good photo, one that makes you look good or makes your story or brand more compelling. Don’t worry if you don’t have the perfect photo when you get started; there are several stock backgrounds from which to choose when you first set it up.
It is extremely easy to experiment with different photos, fonts, text – everything. Try it out, send the link to friends to get their feedback, edit, repeat.

A little inspiration to get you started (click on each image to enlarge)

Here’s mine. I consider it a work in progress. I wasn’t able to find many interesting photos of myself. It turns out that years of being the one holding the camera has its downsides.

Here are more examples of interesting about.me profiles.

Do you have an about.me profile? Please share the link in the comments so that we can easily meet you.

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here to be sure you don’t miss any future AlmostSavvy news. You are also invited to connect with others interested in social media on the friendly folks on the AlmostSavvy page on Facebook where we share news and tips.

How To Easily Hack Your Facebook Profile Photo

Irene Koehler — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:40:20 +0000

Yes, I finally gave in. I had resisted the call to “upgrade” my profile on Facebook for several weeks. Calling it an “upgrade” didn’t fool me. I heard the buzz and read the complaints. Many of those who moved to the new format weren’t happy. I knew, though, that my days of being able to remain on the old profile design were numbered. For the last few days, there has been a message at the top of my Facebook homepage,

“Get with the program. Resistance is futile, you ought to know that by now. Look deeply into my/our eyes and trust that when we call it an “upgrade” what we mean is that you have no idea how unbelievably awesome this is.”

OK, maybe that isn’t exactly what the message said. The exact words escape me at the moment, but I think that captures the gist of it (or not).

In any event, I knew it was coming at any moment so I surrendered and clicked the “Upgrade” button. It felt a little bit like knowing you’re about to be fired from your job and you decide to quit first so it you can tell everyone it was your idea.

As soon as I switched to the new profile format, I wanted to make the most of the photos displayed at the top of my page. When the new profiles were first rolled out, there were loud protests from people uncomfortable with photos they’d been tagged in being displayed so prominently. Very quickly, though, creative minds went to work and produced many beautiful examples of how to use the images at the top of the page to make a statement about what you want others to know about you. While many of these incredibly creative examples were created through the use of advanced photo editing tools, there is a very easy way to put these images to work for you right away. Thanks to the good folks at Schweppes, not only do we have a wonderful source of club soda and tonic water, we now also have an easy way to up the cool factor by easily editing our profile photo.

In this video, I walk you through exactly how to do this, step-by-step. If you’d like an easy way to tweak your photos, this may be the answer.

Let me know how you decide to use those photos at the top of your Facebook profile page. Did you decide to do something creative or leave them as is?

If you enjoyed this post, sign up to receive free updates by email here to be sure you don’t miss any future AlmostSavvy news. You are also invited to connect with others interested in social media on the friendly folks on the AlmostSavvy page on Facebook where we share news and tips.

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