Remember life before Facebook became a huge thing? Funny, it was only about 12 years ago, but it seems like the social media giant has been with us forever. And Facebook is not alone, because words cannot describe how much platforms like Google, Twitter, Snapchat, TikTok and the rest have become an integral part of our lives – for better and for worse.
With that in mind, it’s easy to understand why our social media accounts tell a lot about us. Just like in real life, on social media we try to portray ourselves as the version of us that we want people to see. That doesn’t always work, however, and that’s why it’s important to know how to manage our pages and accounts properly.
As an entrepreneur, you probably know how important maintaining your image is. When an investor, for example, shows interest in your vision, they will probably want to learn more about you as a person – and what better way to do that than to take a look at your profiles. That’s why it is crucial for you to keep an eye on what happens on your social media pages. Let’s take a look at some tips and tricks which can help you with that.
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Un-like-ly
A lot can be learned about a person from the activities on their social media account. We’re not just talking about posts they write or photos they upload. That’s obvious. An analysis can also be based on the content you mark as ‘liked’. “As an angel investor, I can tell you that I scan the accounts of entrepreneurs who approach me with their ideas and ask for funds before making any money-related decision,” told us Ofir Bar, an investor with an impressive track record in high tech startups and real estate.
Being worth about $150 million today, you can understand why he gets approached very frequently. “I learn a lot, just from seeing what people ‘like’ on Facebook, Twitter and the rest. It says a lot about their personality and, this may surprise you, also about their potential to succeed,” Bar continued. “For example, if someone ‘likes’ only posts which have received a large number of ‘likes’ beforehand, that tells me this person is probably not a risk-taker.”
Tag team
You can control what you ‘like’, but it’s much harder to monitor where you’re tagged or mentioned. Social media can be a place for silly jokes as well, but you should always think of how photos, stories and posts you’re tagged in affect your image. Always look twice at every photo of you uploaded to social media and try to see what others may see in it.
Don’t be ashamed to ask someone to remove a mention or tag, especially if you feel it could damage your reputation – or, alternatively, do it yourself. Any photo of you doing illegal or even shady things should be removed, no matter how silly or cute it seems. If your name is added in any form to a text expressing radical and controversial points of view, have it deleted immediately. The rule here should be ‘if in doubt, leave it out’.
Sharing is caring
You can allow yourself to be more generous when it comes to the content you share. This does not mean anything, though. Articles worth reading, especially those focused on innovation, are a good idea. Dirty jokes, on the other hand, are not. Keep in mind that this is a chance for investors to get to know you, aside from business meetings and table talk. The kind of content you find worthy of sharing also says a lot about you.
Niche necessities
Do not underestimate the importance of networks which are considered less ‘mainstream’, such as Quora, LinkedIn, and Reddit. You should pay close attention to your activities there because you can be sure that if someone really wants to check you out, these are the profiles they will be interested in.
“The fact that people even look at your account on sites like these baffles a lot of people,” explained Ofir Bar, “but when I want to really get to know someone, I know I have to look at their ‘hidden’ profiles. Think of these profiles as a photo with no filters – since less people see them, you put less efforts into making them seem like a better and slightly unreal version of you.”
About Carson Derrow
