market 'tude

i'm cate dunn: an online customer acquisition expert currently plying my trade in the cutthroat world of the beauty industry. trying to get folks today to think critically about what they put out there on this crazy internet and where it might leave them a couple years down the line.
May 6
via ICanHasCheezburger handles.  they are the name you go by online.  once the realm of hardcore 4chan nerds, they are now one of the biggest components of separating what you want business-types to find online versus what you want your friends to know about.a lot of people choose to simply put their name and/or handle out there, to totally publicize it and let people know who they are.  i was once one of those people, but when i found out that my boss was reading my personal blog…well, that drew me up right quick.  now, granted, my boss created a borderline inappropriate blog for our office (blow-up) dinosaur, so it wasn’t the world’s biggest deal that he was reading me blogging my weekend escapades, but i found myself uncomfortable.as much as i try not to embarass myself on my own time, i still felt like the time i spent with my friends, or contemplating my emotions, or thinking about what kind of beer i wanted to drink that night was just not appropriate information for the people i work with to have.  and god forbid i take and post a photo of one of my friends in a compromising position, or reblog something that was a little explicit or racy…well, i didn’t want that reflecting poorly on my business persona, either.  so i made a decision - no more using my real, full name on my blog.  that meant taking it out of the url, going through and setting posts that contained my name to private, and just being a little more careful in general. basically, i switched all references to my name to my handle, which has all the hallmarks of a good one: * it’s random.  no cdunn12309, no cate_the_great04, no nothing like that.  it’s totally unidentifiable as it relates to my name. * it’s still me.  people who know it, or people who i tell, understand why i use it. * it’s easy to explain.  for me, i wanted to be able to share my personal blog with my parents, so SeXyYYGUUURL999999 was probably out. * not to mention, i wanted somehting easy to remember.  something with a lot of numbers just didn’t make any sense for me. bottom line, when you make the decision to separate out your personal from your professional online life, your handle is the first step past closing off obvious avenues of discovery.  pick one that suits you, replace all instances of your name with it on all personal online media, and use it religiously henceforth. ceiling cat hath spoken!

via ICanHasCheezburger

handles.  they are the name you go by online.  once the realm of hardcore 4chan nerds, they are now one of the biggest components of separating what you want business-types to find online versus what you want your friends to know about.

a lot of people choose to simply put their name and/or handle out there, to totally publicize it and let people know who they are.  i was once one of those people, but when i found out that my boss was reading my personal blog…well, that drew me up right quick.  now, granted, my boss created a borderline inappropriate blog for our office (blow-up) dinosaur, so it wasn’t the world’s biggest deal that he was reading me blogging my weekend escapades, but i found myself uncomfortable.

as much as i try not to embarass myself on my own time, i still felt like the time i spent with my friends, or contemplating my emotions, or thinking about what kind of beer i wanted to drink that night was just not appropriate information for the people i work with to have.  and god forbid i take and post a photo of one of my friends in a compromising position, or reblog something that was a little explicit or racy…well, i didn’t want that reflecting poorly on my business persona, either.  so i made a decision - no more using my real, full name on my blog.  that meant taking it out of the url, going through and setting posts that contained my name to private, and just being a little more careful in general. basically, i switched all references to my name to my handle, which has all the hallmarks of a good one:

* it’s random.  no cdunn12309, no cate_the_great04, no nothing like that.  it’s totally unidentifiable as it relates to my name.
* it’s still me.  people who know it, or people who i tell, understand why i use it.
* it’s easy to explain.  for me, i wanted to be able to share my personal blog with my parents, so SeXyYYGUUURL999999 was probably out.
* not to mention, i wanted somehting easy to remember.  something with a lot of numbers just didn’t make any sense for me.

bottom line, when you make the decision to separate out your personal from your professional online life, your handle is the first step past closing off obvious avenues of discovery.  pick one that suits you, replace all instances of your name with it on all personal online media, and use it religiously henceforth.

ceiling cat hath spoken!

May 5
Avoid the Pitfalls of Social Networking– Social Networking for Business – Entrepreneur.com neat article, but i’m proposing online behavior 2.0 - be savvy and SEPARATE.  i don’t have it down to an exact science yet; however, i think it’s a worthwhile initiative.
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I’ve always thought that there is a distinct line between social-only social media and “social” media that also serves networking/business contact purposes.  For example, Facebook is really only for my friends.  Occasionally, there’s an overlap—coworkers who become friends—but most of the time I try to keep my professional life out of Facebook (and my FB out of my professional life).  This includes setting everything to private, putting certain people on lists that limit what they can see, and directing industry partners and colleagues to my LinkedIn profile.

Why?

Well, because at the end of the day I am still in my 20’s and still have a social life, despite the fancy title and the long hours, and I want to be able to document that social life.  Because I am not a celebrity, the likelihood of someone being paid to expose my Facebook is slim to none, so I can safely keep the pictures that might not be work appropriate up for my friends to comment on (or laugh at, as the case usually may be).  I can leave comments that might be off-color in a professional setting but perfectly appropriate in a friends-setting.  Basically, I can retain my online social networking freedom with a few clicks of the mouse and a few notes saying “Oh, sorry, I don’t use Facebook for business—I’ll add you over at LinkedIn!”

Face it.  We’ve all seen how “building a brand” can work for you or against you online, and we all know that every time we hire for a position, Google is our number one friend for really digging up the dirt on the candidate.  In the online marketing world, one of the things I look for to determine how web-savvy an individual is is how well I can access stuff that I quite frankly shouldn’t be able to access.  As a potential employer, I want to know that you know how to lock down that photo of you in the kegstand contest in Cancun.  If you don’t, I assume that you haven’t spent as much time online as you claim…and that you’re an idiot for not taking it down if you can’t lock it down.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about handles and other means of separating your personal from your professional life online, and what kind of stuff you should be doing in both areas to clean up and overspill between the two.  Have a great night!