Your Social Media Image
What is your image on social media? Are you seen as a savvy businessperson or perhaps a partier? Do you know what you post online, both business and personal, helps shape your image?
What brings me to this topic today come out of a discussion in our Sunday School class this past Sunday. I’m not going to get all churchy on you today 🙂
We talked about how what you post online is taken by others. I want to pose a few scenarios. I know that everyone can relate to these….
1. The after-hours party picture.
We’ve all been there. Happy hour with a few co-workers. A conference we attended. Even a football tailgate (that hits close to home for me). What does is say about you if there are a lot of pictures of you posted holding a beer bottle or even a red solo cup? If someone is looking at your profile for a prospective job and this is all they see, what do you think they will think? In case you are wondering, yes, that is my husband and myself in New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl in 2007. To spare embarrassment of some of my friends, I used myself as an example here. This picture has since been deleted off my Facebook account.
2. The bikini shot.
This applies mainly to teenage girls and ladies who post pictures of themselves in swimsuits. There are a lot of stalkers and child predators online. Do you really want a picture of yourself or your daughter in a swimsuit/bikini for the world to see? If that’s all those teenage boys see, they don’t just see a nice looking girl in a swimsuit, they see someone they might be able to take advantage of. Sorry, that’s a teenage boy for you. For the women, I’m sure your male counterparts at work do not want to see pictures of you at the beach. One of the secretaries at my husband’s office did this and she has no idea what those guys are saying about her behind her back. Trust me, it wasn’t compliments. Now I know they shouldn’t be doing that, but the reality is, that is what happened. I could make this one bullet point an entire post in itself. Fortunately, I get to speak at our church’s girls conference on this topic!
3. Your grievances.
Please, please, please whatever you do, do NOT air your dirty laundry or complain your friends, co-workers or job. That is the quickest way to not get a job or get fired. I quickly unfriend/unfollow those who do that. I love my friends but some of them do this and it’s a big turn off.
If you have any of these on your accounts, may I suggest you go ahead and remove them? Any prospective client or employer will be checking you out online. You want to show them the wonderful, professional professional you are.
I invite you to chime in – what would be some tips you would give someone on their social media image?
