Tuesday is #SaferInternetDay and in recognition of that, this week’s post is thinking about how we can make the in Internet a safer place.
As a business owner or marketeer, you may think there’s very little you can do, however any journey, no matter how long, is made up of a thousand steps. If we all took a few tiny steps together, then together, we could have a huge impact. So start by thinking about yourself and your online image and reputation – not only is it beneficial for the greater good, it’s also essential to have a healthy and protected protected online reputation in order for your business to survive.
Google, or Alexa, or YouTube, or Instagram, or any other number of online channels, are now the word, and have way more influence than we probably realise. How many times do you search a company you have heard about… A person you are due to meet/Zoom with… The sender of an email you have received… The speaker at an event you are attending? What you find in those spaces makes an immediate impression and you judge that person based on what you have found – often without even meeting or speaking to them. You therefore need to take control of what they find – don’t leave it to chance!
To help with this, I wanted to share some tips from my dear friend and safer internet crusader, Barry Cummings, from Beat the Cyberbully. These six simple steps don’t take much time and could make a huge difference to your reputation online – and contribute to the overall safety of the internet:
Stop. Think. Post
Whenever you are going to post anything online, take a moment to just think about it. If you wouldn’t say it to someone in person, don’t say it online.
Learn the art of self googling
Once a month, type your name into Google and social media platforms and see what comes up
Set up online alerts
Create Google alerts for your name and your company name. You can then receive results via email for your name, and perhaps variations of your name, or even nicknames. You decide what you want to set the alerts for.
Adjust your privacy settings on your social media channels
Think about who you want to share everything with and what you want to keep for friends and family. Facebook’s default setting is completely open and over 25% of all Facebook users have never touched it. Don’t be a statistic.
Claim your virtual real estate
Buy the .com web address for your name at the very least and look to get hold of the vanity URL’s for your social media channels, even if you’re not planning on using them, that way no one else can
If you work with a team, implement a social media policy and guidelines
If you have your own staff, or work with freelancers and other suppliers, create a policy and guidelines so that everyone is completely up to speed about how they should communicate through external company channels or regarding company information.
I’ll be profiling the great work of Beat the CyberBully over the course of this week, however if you would like to know more about anything I have shared here, please feel to get in contact with Barry directly: barry@maximumnetgain.com
