Gaining Control of Social Media

Hello there,

Social Media Management is something that my professors have been talking about for a while, and it is something that wasn't important for older PR professionals, but is absolutely necessary for companies and PR/Marketing/Media/Company individuals now.

Now more than ever, companies are searching online to find out how you represent yourselves socially. My PR professor this semester, Samra Bufkins, told our communications course that companies do not even look at your sources for recommendations anymore, they just check out how you present yourself online.

I've known that I needed to for a while, but after hearing that, I decided that this semester I was going to get total control of my social media, and will be keeping up with the process on here, to hopefully help another student who (like me) is struggling to change from the online active social butterfly, to the online professional and respectable people we want to represent.

The first two things that I have done, and I urge anyone to do is:

1. Get control of your accounts

The advice that was given to me  that I am now passing on is - create different profiles for your work and your social life, still do not post anything on your social accounts that could come back and ruin you, and only invite people to see your private social accounts that you know would never intentionally harm you (someone you'd invite to your living room.)

I created all the accounts and made all the changes that I need to, but now I need to go back through and make sure all the people on my accounts are the people that I want there, my social accounts are private and everyone who shouldn't be on there has been deleted. This will take some time, and honestly, when I start to do it I become overwhelmed because I know I have to do it for several accounts (which breaks down to a lot of work).



However, I know the outcome will be worth it. It is worth keeping your private profiles as secretive and private as can be. What I have had to learn is that it is not rude to delete someone off my personal account who I think might potentially cause me harm, and if they come to me wanting an explination, I have a whole other list of professional social media accounts of mine that they can follow, where they are not receiving my most personal information.

I have a long way to go, but right now I am getting my accounts cleaned up, my friends and followers where they need to be, my pictures and old content deleted, new content uploaded, passwords and emails changed for privacy (it was suggested to me that each account be different), and finally I need to make sure no personal accounts are able to be found through my name or any other professional email and accounts I might be using.

A family member very close to me who does the hiring and firing for a very successful and well known management company in Dallas told me once that "if you've got an account online, and there is a way to find it, you can guaran-damn-tee that I am going to find it."

It may not seem easy to look at all your social media accounts and realize the amount of work you have to put in to separate your social from professional life online, but it will be worth it, and I will be doing it right along with you all semester.

I have an awesome powerpoint, and lecture notes, and help from professors that I can refer to, but you've got the internet.  I found one article online on "How to Distinguish Your Personal from your Professional Brand Online" by Scott Langdon and it's a good place to start.

Good Luck!