Rob Stretch is a marketing major at the University of Missouri, graduating this May. On the side, works in VA Mortgage Center.com’s online marketing department part-time, working on SEO and social media related projects.

As a college student almost ready to graduate, I am extremely concerned with personal branding. Resumes are not just pieces of paper anymore. For better or worse, companies are becoming more and more concerned with candidates’ appearance on social networks as well as online reputation in general.

And it’s not just college students that should care. Potential clients and customers often track a company or professional’s online presence before doing business. Enter the world of personal branding and online reputation management. Below is a list of what you can do today to start maintaining a positive online presence.

1. If you don’t have one, start a blog or online portfolio

Go ahead and register yourname.com. If it’s not available, try your-name.com, stick a middle name or initial in there, or get creative. Use a .net if you need to. The point is, as more and more people are getting online, domain real estate is getting harder and harder to come by. Get ahead of the curve and register your property today.

2. Get active on Facebook

If you’re reading this blog, I’m sure that you’re one of the 160 million that have a Facebook profile. Congratulations, now put it to use. Make sure your pictures reflect you, if you don’t like how one portrays your image, un-tag it. If you don’t want potential employers/clients/associates to see unflattering pictures of you then delete them or change your privacy settings. Make sure you’re participating in the conversation – use status updates a little more sparingly than Twitter but make sure you’re staying active.

3. Join the conversation on Twitter

If you you’re one of those people who refuse to get on Twitter, get over it and try it out. Start following key players in your industry or concentration. Start mentioning them, you never know when they’ll reply back. Most importantly, spend a little time on your profile. Search for customizable Twitter templates and make a background for yourself. Check out TwitBacks to start. It is pretty easy to look professional on Twitter with a little elbow grease.

4. Get LinkedIn

LinkedIn can be a great way to connect to people as well as groups in your industry. Make sure you completely fill out your profile, upload your resume, and start connecting to people you know. More connections will follow. One great reason to have a LinkedIn profile is the recommendations feature. Start writing recommendations for your friends and they should return the favor. This can be a great way for potential employers/clients to notice you online.

5. Create your social footprint

Now you have a blog and three active social media profiles. Link them! Creating a social web is the best way to funnel people into your new brand. You should have icons near the top of your blog that link back to all three. Also, make sure you link all three back to your blog where they ask you to list personal websites. Finally, make sure as you are writing blog posts you are linking them on your Facebook and Twitter statuses.

6. Brand to tangibles

Include the URLs of your blog and profiles on your resume and business cards. Imagine you’re in the shoes of your potential employer. You are handed two resumes. One of the resumes has a link to your personal blog full of insightful posts which then leads them to the rest of your social web. The other resume is just a piece of paper with accomplishments. Think interactivity. Which one looks better?

7. Monitor your image

Check on your personal branding “campaign”. Run a Google search on your name in quotations and see what pops up. Another great tool for monitoring your web presence is Who’s Talking.

The information available online about you can be overwhelming, even scary at times. But this doesn’t have to be viewed as a negative of the information age. With proper personal branding and reputation management, spend a little time and you should come out on top of all of your competitors.

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