Personal Marketing in the age of Google

A friend of mine, a consultant  in the imaging business, lost out on a potentially significant contract  and she only later learned why. 

As it turns out, it was my friend's  facebook  photo gallery that did her in.   

I must mention that my friend is at the top of her game. In the world of image consulting her name surfaces high up on any list. But it wasn't enough for a prospective  client who in making a final decision surfed my friend's facebook and came across some images of her "wining on a guy". 

" I couldn't hire her, my CEO is really conservative, from the images I don't think they'll be able to relate."

"But that man is her husband," I protested.

"Does not matter," said the prospective client "it just  sends a bad message." 

And out went a great piece of business

I spent many hours wondering if I would be crossing any lines if I told  my friend to remove the photographs. This led me to wonder about how much  one's personal brand should be divorced from one's professional interests. Turns out that in the face of facebook it never really is.

In conversation I find that  more and more HR managers  and business clients are turning onto social media profiles to get a better feel of job applicants and prospective  partners. And the long trail of status updates, twitter messages, personal notes, wall messages and photographs reveals an authencity that is missing from interviews and meetings.

 I eventually did call my friend. Sure, I thought the photograph was an innocent one.  And yes, it showed a man and his wife having fun in a way that's relevant to our culture. But with the 2 international conferences  approaching and  prospective clients  from all over the world surfing the Net in search of  good image makers on local soil, an innocent photo, I thought, could be misconstrued and attached with altogether different meaning.

It's a good lesson not only for my friend but for  all of us. Google never forgets.  It's like what one marketing expert says: better  to overload your social networks  "with a long tail of good stuff and to always act as if you're on Candid Camera, because you are."