COMM 333:Social Media, Mobile Technologies and

Strategic CommunicationsDepartment of Communication

University of LouisvilleSPRING 2016

MANAGING ONLINE REPUTATION & PERSONAL BRANDING AUDIT

One of the important elements in being a social media professional and practitioner is not only being aware of your corporate or business online presence, but also being aware of your own online presence as an individual and professional in advertising and public relations.

For this assignment, you will be asked to write a reflection paper (7 pages max of content, single space, 10-11 point font – this does not including appendix items or cover page) covering the following material:

Overview [2-3 paragraphs]: Discuss your overall goals for your online reputation management practices for this class and beyond. o A brief overview of the importance of online reputation in 2016, especially

among employers and young professionals. What are the challenges and opportunities here?

o Provide a couple of definitions of personal branding and make sure to share our own definition of a personal brand and online reputation.

o Some examples can be establishing credibility and trust as a resource in social media community on specific topic or industry, engaging in online community by sharing expertise and knowledge, get mentions and other references to blog from others, managing proactive reputation to obtain a job after graduation, etc.

o Make sure to state specific objectives that you have set in regards to your online reputation management efforts not only for this class, but after the class (ex. internship opportunities, jobs, graduate school, etc).

Personal Reputation Online Overview [2-3 paragraphs] Discuss and analyze your online bio presented through social media sites – Blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, etc. o This includes providing the bio that you list yourself on each of these sites. This

can be visualized through a table in your paper.o Provide some basis analysis of each of your profiles:

When did you get on this social media platform # of Friends / Followers / Etc Rank the social media platforms based on which ones you are most

active on (ex. 1) Twitter, 2) Instagram, 3)Facebook, etc) when you are completing this section.

o Conduct an audit of yourself by using this personal brand template analysis [this can be part of your appendix]: *credit to Keith Quesenberry for the

MANAGING ONLINE REPUTATION 1

inspiration for this table based on his social media audit template (http://ow.ly/YzZyv)

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PERSONA Channel / Community

Rationale for Channel

Content/Voice

Frequency / Activity

Importance on being on these

platforms

Analysis1 Challenge -> 5 Opportunity

PERSONAL

Facebook What kind of things do you post on FB?

Number of friends

Time joined

Type of content being shared

Audience

# per week Engagemen

t rating Ex. 5 posts

per day

Why are you posting on this platform?

Analysis what you feel is working for you on each platform w/ rating

Twitter Pics / Gifs Text Hashtags

Analysis what you feel is working for you on each platform w/ rating

Snapchat Analysis what you feel is working for you on each platform w/ rating

Instagram Analysis what you feel is working for you on each platform w/ rating

PROFESSIONAL

Blog

LinkedIn

Twitter

Other social media platform

you’re on

IDEAL PERSONAL BRAND /

COMPETITION

Identify your competition for jobs/internships you want to get after this classBrands / Pros you admirePlatforms they are on

Why are they on these platforms

What is their voice? What are they doing that’s working

What’s their frequency? What are they doing that’s working or not working?

Why are they on these platforms? (ex. Networking opportunities, etc)

What is working for the pros who you want to be? What are their strengths? What could they be doing better? What can you offer that’s different? What’s your ideal personal brand? How would you rate these individuals / brands on their social media presence?

PERSONAL BRAND ANALYSIS

Summary of key platforms you’re on. Are you on too many / too little?

Are you on the appropriate platforms?Which ones do you need to be on?

Analysis of voice and content? Are you consistent? Is your voice what you want it to be online? What is your competition doing?

Analysis of content sustainability. Are you over sharing or under sharing?

Analysis of key audiences. Are you doing what you can to reach your target audiences in the industry? Business? Making connections?

What are some things you will work on for your personal and professional brand? What are your strengths and weaknesses at this point? What are some actions steps you will take to accomplish these?

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NEXT STEPS / ACTION PLAN

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Online reputation monitoring and analytics [3-4 pages] : Reflect on your overall traffic and mentions on blog posts, Facebook, Retweets, Followers on Twitter, LinkedIn, Followers on Instagram/Pinterest, connections, etc.

o Twitter Search for your tweets since the beginning of this class and make sure

to include in your analysis [analytics.twitter.com] You may also want to check out this resource as well [5-Step Process

to Run Your Own Twitter Audit | Sprout Social http://ow.ly/VCW5V] Tweet impression and engagement rates / organic impression for the

week/ RTs Favorites / Replies / Click Throughs Top engaged tweet updates [3]:

Why do you think these got the most engagement? How many people responded/RT/Favorited this tweet? What are some takeaway lessons you have from seeing this? [format of the tweet / content / visuals / hashtags / user name mentioned / time of day / etc]

Screen shot these and have a brief overview answering the questions above for each one.

How has your presence on Twitter been so far? How many followers have you gained from starting this class?

What does your Twitter audience look like? What are some of the findings you found interesting

o Blog / LinkedIn Post: How many mentions have you had on your blog, comments, or site

visits over the course of this semester so far? What has been your overall traffic like on your blog since the beginning

of this class? What has been your most viewed post? How have the statistics of your LinkedIn Posts been doing as well for

this class? If you have posted on LinkedIn,

What are your statistics? What were your three tags for your posts?

What has been your most successful post? Who interacted with your posts? Any comments?

What were the specific analytic statistics for this post?

Reflections on online reputation building [2 pages max]: Discuss how your blog and the information you are sharing with others through social media is enhancing your online reputation – both personally and professionally. o Summary of the personal branding audit, analysis of social media profiles and

digital footprint, etco Discuss the characteristics that you consider you possess that has helped build

your online reputation (ex. personality characteristics, information sharing

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behavior, engaging consistently and professionally with followers and others through social media, etc).

o Think about future trends and goals you have for your online reputation for the rest of the semester and once you graduate, etc.

What are your goals for your personal presence on social media? What are your goals for your professional presence on social media? What are some steps you are going to take to address both of these for

the remainder of class?o What were your perceptions before and after this assignment in regards to

online reputation management?

Other: Items to include in your paper as an appendix: 1) List of profiles on social media 2) Tables and screen shots displaying social media traffic or influence via social media; and 3) Tables listing URLS and Profiles of Social Media Outlets (ex. Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn /Instagram / Blog)

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