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Welcome to Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass. Jon is the founder and CEO of image group international, an award-winning image consulting and personal branding pioneer established in 1989. This podcast will bring you old-school wisdom, inspiring ideas, strategies and hacks for the new tech world. Here you will learn everything about personal branding: the system, the techniques and the right mindset to have a successful personal brand, image and reputation.

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Hello, and welcome back to the John Michael personal branding masterclass. I'm John Michael, your host, and today we're diving into the critical aspect of personal branding. And that is monitoring your online reputation. Before we delve into this topic, I encourage you to connect with me on social media. Find me on Nexus, John underlined, Michael, on LinkedIn is John Michael and Facebook as image Group International. In today's digital age, for most people, your online reputation is a cornerstone of your brand. It's how the world perceives you in the boss realm of the internet. It's the sum of how you're portrayed, of course disgust, and proceed. It's your online reputation, and it influences opportunities, relationships and your overall personal brand success. So today, we'll explore the tools and tactics to effectively monitor and manage this digital aspect of your identity. And I want to explain to you first of all, as of July 2023, the market leader online has been Google in reference to a share of our own at one point 95% of the share online in reference to traffic. And the next in reference to online search has been being the Janet for about 10.5. And that's just Desktop Search market what Yahoo's market share was around 2.67%. So what it clearly indicates is that Google runs the show. And what's important about that is that's how people will find you because that's where they'll search initially, in most case, especially in Australia, the US of course, the other two might have also where a lot of these stats would emanate from would have largest share. But definitely from an Australian perspective. It's Google, Google, Google. And that also does the same around the world in all cases. So let's start with the tools. First of all, there's the digital side, that's obviously part of the platforms. And then there's the human side, and how that can help you keep a vigilant eye on your online reputation. 

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But first, let's start with the digital types, as there are several platforms out there and services designed for this purpose. So we already know that Google is king. So part of that is to set up Google Alerts. A simple yet powerful tool that I mentioned in a recent episode, it's an effective way to stay informed about what's been said about you, and also about your competitors. You can set up alerts for your name, your brand, of course, relevant keywords, and receive notifications, whenever new content mentioning these terms appears online. By the way, you can also put a search the same thing on my night. So if you if you wanted to follow up a lot of the things that we do that we'll also bring it up from a Google search bar in Google Alerts. So that's fantastic in reference to getting the information that you want straight into your folder on a daily basis. So next, also, there is other tools like for instance, among many, many others is Social Mention. It's also good tool. And that also you can look at that becomes a bit of a social search, and of course analysis platform. It sort of aggregates the content from various social media platforms, then it provides real time updates on mentions, likes and shares related to your name or brand. So it's a valuable tool for tracking all social media conversations, especially associated with your brand. But also you can put other brands there as well. So once you're clear, and this is very important on your strategy, and hen guy. Next, you delve into some tactics to actively, of course, manage online reputation and ensure a positive digital footprint. So it's very important. There's no point of having a plan. If you have no strategy. say get your strategy clear why you are doing this. What's the end guy? And some examples of that also is endgame might be The two, you know, totally different for everybody, of course, ultimate end guy for most people's more business or a lead sales. But some of the other things to consider is why you need this, it's to actively manage your social media profile. So that could be something important for you. It's to regularly update your information, share relevant quality content, yes, we don't need any more digital pollution, and engage, of course, with your audience, so you can build some relationship. And number three would be about being proactive on social media. So this allows you to contribute positively to your online narrative. Attracting followers leads ultimate clients and sales. 

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And what this means is you positively control your online narrative, because if you don't control your narrative, somebody else will. And we know that whoever controls the narrative has the power. So this is very, very important, especially if you want to build the brand out there. Because if you're not doing that, then potentially you're not actually going to be known found out about and your opportunity to build thought leadership is going to be non existent, always addressed both the positive though and negative feedback. And this is a big tip. So responding professionally, of course, the criticism and acknowledging in a positive comments demonstrates a transparency level and also sincerity. And in my experience, we have converted negative reviews for our clients, by getting them to be honest about how they've screwed up. And once you do that, in our Ozzy culture, people are very forgiving, okay, very forgiving. But it's also an opportunity to showcase your values and commitment to engagement to prove specifically that you are walking the talk, and you are what you say you are. So what I say here is there is no ghosting policy allowed here, definitely respond, don't be afraid. And you know, and this is interesting, because this goes totally opposite to what the big tech companies do, when they do screw up. Facebook is a perfect example of that. And you don't even get a response. So when you do, it's a bot that pretends to be human, and it gets you nowhere, and no, and that's a serious problem. So I say, bring your whole human centric approach here, you love Facebook that has so much power that you can get away with doing that, as a small to medium sized business, even a larger business, you haven't got the luxury of some of these big tech companies. So you want to remember that you're still human, and bring your humanity into the conversation. So there is nothing to fear in wide biases when you're doing good. And this includes also trolls, you know, so take a counterintuitive approach back by a human centric approach. And you might also win new clients with your newfound courage. Because trials also a potential opportunities, of course, to create business, a wave certainly use all those tactics on some of them for our clients. Some others include, of course, reverse googling yourself, you know, readily Googling your name not only reveals what others see about you, but also enables you to discover and leverage content you hadn't considered before. Such shares mentions in blogs, or articles, and they you can share a common URL to enhance your visibility. Another way also, that I've noted before briefly was engaged with competitors, interacting with competitors constantly on social media consent, counter intuitive, but it demonstrates confidence and establishes you as an active participant in your field, in a lot of the posts that I do, I get competitors all the time, you know, putting comments on there. And of course, subtly trying to, obviously potentially take clients away. That also could happen, though, fear around that we operate an abundance mindset. So if somebody's really, really that good, why shouldn't they take clients, so have no fear around that just share, engage with competitors, not a problem. This can also of course, increase your visibility and attract the broader audience. And what's important about that is if you're a true thought leader, while that also makes it very clear to your competitors, that you are the real deal, and not mucking around. Another tip also is to turn down some of the opportunities especially around the DMS you get specifically on LinkedIn. And what I mean by that, look, if you operate with scarcity, consciousness, that means every opportunity that's thrown to you keep on saying yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

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Before you know, you're gonna be chasing your tail with all the so called opportunities that you have the potential of burnout. So sometimes the best way to manage your brand is to be selective about the opportunities you accept, be very clear about that. Or this is nothing personal. But turning down offers that don't align with your brand values or goals can strengthen your reputation, showing that you're focused and principles that I mean using that as a snob approach I'm talking about. And if that's what you want to do, that's your choice. But I'm talking about from the reality of, you've only got certain hours in the day, you can only do so much. So if you look at the 8020 perspective, maybe take 20% of the opportunities, they're going to give you 80% results. Now, let me share a story of a client who recently led the importance on one on their online reputation. And I'm going to start off with this dynamic founder of a tech startup. A name is Mia. And she revolutionised the way we interact with smart home devices, you should discover the transformative power of combining online tools with a human centric approach to manage both personal and business brands. You know, being a tech wizard, her journey illustrates the profound impact of the strategy on the startup success because a lot of startup founders, especially in the tech world, normally would not do it this way, because I think it's Tech Tech Tech. But it's in the end humans, humans, humans. So recognising the importance of our online presence, Mia leveraged a suite of digital tools to monitor and enhance a personal brand and the company's reputation. So she employed social listening platforms to track what customers said about her products. And, of course, the analytics software to gauge the effectiveness of the marketing strategies, of course, what you can't measure, then you can't value. So that's very important. And of course, our reputation management services to address any negative feedback swiftly and with the importance of that also is negative feedback that also might get planted by competitors out there in negative reviews, that it's fairly common out there. A lot of companies do that. Although it's under play, it's a lot more common than we think, however me understood that technology alone, couldn't capture the essence of the brand. So she made a conscious effort to infuse the personal values and the startups mission into every digital interaction. So she took a leadership approach. And that included the human centric approach, which went actively engaging with the audience on social media, sharing insights into the startups, culture and innovations and responding personally, to customer inquiries and feedback. Now, she did not have a bot, she was the real deal. And of course, a lot of clients acknowledge that, and the trust level went through the roof. So the synergy between digital tools and personal touch, transformed her brand into a living, breathing entity online. It build trust, of course, as I've noted, and loyalty among the customers a jacket a community that advocated for her, and who resonated with the mission and value so authenticity was really key here lf course, media shown specifically with that, you know, her her whole startup, sort of significant uplift, in brand perception, customer satisfaction and ultimately, market share. So this geo strategy, enable me to navigate, you know, some of the complexities of online brand and reputation management successfully, and got to start thinking beyond than the digital how she could also do that offline, are through of course presentations, and other form of what I would call lobbying to get her name out there. 

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The story exemplifies how integrating online tools with a genuine human touch can propel a startup to new heights, showcasing the power of technology when guided by human insight and empathy. You see, machines can pretend to care. Human beings can only do that for so long before they get found out. So the care factor is very important in building relationships. And if you have non care factor, trust me, your players will find out very quickly as a coach been doing this for over 35 years. If I didn't have a clear fact that you think clients would keep on coming back to me all night saying absolutely not. Terry's very important care is not just the word, use, you know, as a marketing cliche, but it's about actually do caring for people. It's opening up your heart, and sometimes of course, being vulnerable around that as we have shared with you on numerous episodes. So as we conclude today's episode on monitoring your online reputation, remember your digital presence, of course is an integral part of your personal brand. So I encourage you to stay village and use the tools at your disposal and actively manage online narrative. Don't do that when the crisis comes, be proactive and have a plan in place prior. So if you found this episode valuable, please rate us on your preferred podcast platform and connect with me on social media. Also, you can contact Patricia dot Basa or Patricia at image group.com.au with further information if you'd like to work with us, I want to thank you for joining me as always, and until next time, keep shaping that positive digital identity. And of course always do good. Cheerio.

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Jon Michail’s Personal Branding Masterclass Podcast is sponsored by Image Group International, a global team of practical, digitally savvy personal brand and image strategists based in Australia, committed to maximizing your impact, influence and authority in the business world. To learn more and apply for your personal coaching, seminars and group workshops, please visit imagegroup.com.au or call 1800 631 311.