Is your online Image as fabulous as your offline image?

2 House of Fraser Events announced Click here to book before 20th Feb for earlybird rates

Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Myspace...social networking has now become a huge part of our everyday lives. When teaching my Image Impact Worskhops these are the key messages I get across to my delegates.

Be VERY aware of what information is available online about you. Google your name and your company name regularly. You can actually create Google Alerts to be notified as soon as any information containing your name is posted online. If someone has posted information about you that may be damaging to your online image contact them immediately and ask them to remove it.Ensure that photographs displayed online are appropriate. Be sure to use professional headshots on Linked-in, Ecademy and any other business networking sites are a must. See John Cassidy's blog article about getting a great headshot. 

Ensure that your profile details are up to date. Potential employers, and customers WILL Google you and see information about you. A lapsted profile is the equivalent of wearing a cerise jacket with padded shoulders and gold buttons to a rock concert. There are now over 31 Billion searches on Google every month!


Check the security settings in all your social networking applications. If you only use Facebook for social activity make sure that you don't appear in search engines or the information displayed is limited to only friends. You can now categorise your contacts and decide who see's what so that is an option you can use to separate work and non work contacts.


Note: A complete absence of an online footprint is also a red flag: a) what do you have to hide? and b) do you not know how to use all this stuff.

If in doubt ensure you have a linked-in profile for your professional connections and use Facebook for personal use only. Do however, create a facebook fanpage for your company or services and keep it up to date.

Some Interesting Facebook Statistics, in case you doubt its influence on our lives!

Facebook has more than 400 million active users

50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
More than 35 million users update their status each day
More than 60 million status updates posted each day
More than 3 billion photos uploaded to the site each month
More than 5 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each week
More than 3.5 million events created each month
More than 3 million active Pages on Facebook
More than 1.5 million local businesses have active Pages on Facebook
More than 20 million people become fans of Pages each day
Pages have created more than 5.3 billion fans
Average User Figures Average user has 130 friends on the site
Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook
Average user clicks the Like button on 9 pieces of content each month
Average user writes 25 comments on Facebook content each month
Average user becomes a fan of 4 Pages each month
Average user is invited to 3 events per month
Average user is a member of 13 groups

IMPORTANT: If you are a Job Seeker, or seeking promotion:

A survey, which questioned human resource managers at the top 100 companies in the UK, US, Germany and France, found that 70 per cent admitted to rejecting a candidate because of their online behavior.

But HR bosses also said that a strong image online could actually help job hunters to land their dream job. Peter Cullen, of Microsoft, said: "Your online reputation is not something to be scared of, it's something to be proactively managed. "These days, it's essential that web-users cultivate the kind of online reputation that they would want an employer to see." Facebook faux pas include drunken photographs, bad language, and messages complaining about work life.

If you are a Business interested in attracting new clients or maintaining client relationships:

Do you have a Facebook fan page or following on Twitter. Facebook and Twitter are excellent ways of spreading your message, talking to your client base, getting testimonial's and generally keeping in touch.

A fan page allows you to keep your Facebook business activity separate from your social activity. If you are already using social media to promote your business, ensure that you update it regularly and be consistent. Ensure that your social messages are in line with your brand.

At Work: Many companies restrict access to social media completely or during certain times at work. Interestingly IBM and Google have policies encouraging staff to post updates and collaborate online via social media, they have the foresight to know that online news can travel fast and it's a great way of them attracting customers and employees.

Simply for the love of fashion

Don't care about what people think about you online? Well indulge yourself by signing up to your favourite brands Facebook pages. Sign up for pages from your favourite retailers. I'm a fan of Coast, Monsoon, Bobbi Brown, Phase Eight, Nine West, Sephora, MAC, YSL, Estee Lauder, Make-up Forever, Moet and Chandon - to name but a few. I get discount vouchers, and invites to exclusive events and previews of new collections daily.
  Lastly I'm back in the UK for one month from 12th March. I do have some dates left so if you would like colour, style, wardrobe weeding or shopping please do drop me an email. I hope to see lots of you looking fabulous at my House of Fraser events at High Wycombe and Reading too.

 2 House of Fraser Events announced Click here to book