Sameer Somal thinks globally and acts locally.

He is a partner at Blue Ocean Global Wealth. Sameer works both in the financial planning and financial services communities, as well as the broader business world.  He works across the globe to spread awareness about the importance of personal financial advice and effective management of our online reputations.

One of the places where our and Sameer’s work coincide is in our mutual focus on our digital presences.  We both consult on how our clients interact and manage their online reputations.  We both believe that a solid reputation takes a lifetime of hard work to build and can be ruined in a moment.

What is a “digital presence”?

Our digital presence is what people find when they research us on the internet.  This is our company websites, Facebook profiles, LinkedIn profiles and twitter accounts.  It can extend to our Pinterests or even our wedding registries on theknot.com.

Online Reputation Management (ORM) is how we choose to manage our digital presence.

We can be proactive and sculpt our digital presence or can be reactive and manage our online reputations by burying unfavorable mentions.

Start with a strong proactive strategy.  It is easier to protect and defend against derogatory statements.  Also a strong, well setup, reputation automatically ranks better than the unfavorable mention.

Why spend time on my digital presence?

If you don’t have a good digital presence it’s less likely that the “right” thing will happen.

Your website, LinkedIn profile and other social media profiles are often the first impression you make with a prospect.  It is paramount that you communicate who you are, what you do and how you do it within a short period of time.

How you set this up must be intuitive to the reader but, in the age of digital marketing, also needs to be setup properly for Google’s robots to scour it and know what you are saying in a structure that makes sense.

Conversely, if you don’t pay attention to your online reputation, it will be sculpted for you.  It is near impossible to have no digital footprint.  I call this the “Ostrich Strategy” and only works when people don’t do their digital homework.

It reminds me of a quote, “Fortune favors the brave.”  It’s important to have good intentions and work diligently as you put your first digital foot forward.  By doing so you set yourself up for the next step.

Listen into this episode and learn critical strategies to sculpt your digital presence.