Clean Up Your Social Act
Go through your social media platforms and take a clear look at how you use these channels. Any channel that you use purely for personal matters such as Facebook should have privacy settings set to maximum. No one should be able to see your kids or your family pictures, apart from being a security risk for them, it should not be accessible by all your colleagues.
Any channels you use for business or a mix of both personal and business need to be cleaned up and brought up to scratch. The best way to do this is to take the time to write a 500 words biography which describes why you are good at what you do and where your passions lie. Make sure you mention how you help people and what your aspirations for the near future are. Your qualifications should be mentioned last not first.
Once this is written rewrite it for every channel adapting to the audience you have and the intentions you have for that particular channel.
For example: My Twitter statement says: Love to help CEOs and Entrepreneurs find & reach their audiences - Marketing Strategist, Speaker, Content Marketing Coach and Tech Junkie.
This gives my audience a good idea of what I post. Making sure people who follow me are not disappointed. Of course this is very different to my linkedIn profile and other touch-points.
Get serious (but not desperate) with LinkedIn
Use your 500 word Bio to extract a few paragraphs for linkedIn. Make sure you also fill in the other fields in your profile making it as close to complete as possible. Add details like books, follow influencers and why not publish your own articles through the Pulse platform.
The Pulse platform has its own mobile app and push notifications are sent to all your connections when you publish something. This is quite unprecedented in terms of social publishing. It's a very important tool one can leverage and there is no learning curve.
Rewrite History - Clean up Your Google Results
Google yourself and see what comes up. Everyone gets one or two (or a few) google results they dislike whether its an old image, an article written in our Uni days or a social picture that should't have made it to Google.
The first and most obvious way to clean up google results is to get in touch the people who posted that content and ask them to remove it. From my experience this works 50% of the time so you'll need to resort to other means to achieve what you want.
If someone refutes to remove an article that mentions you from a while back you might negotiate them down to at least removing or replacing the imagery. If this doesn't work you're on your own and your only option is the (SEO) Search Engine Optimization battlefield.
Generating your own original content will push any undesired google results to the 2nd or 3rd page of search results and hopefully even further back. This bring us to the next tip ...
Start a Blog
Starting a blog means that when people google you they will find exactly what you want them to know about you. Having your own blog means that you can easily and efficiently push out any other content related to yourself that you might consider undesirable.
The most important thing is to have a plan and consciously use your blog to express yourself and position yourself as you wish to be perceived. If your target is to become the new CEO of a tech company then your blog must contain tangible proof that you possess the skills, experience and passion required to hold this post.
Write a Book
If you want to be taken seriously write a book. Everyone has a book in them, you just have to find the right way to put it together. Many of us would have no other option but to self-publish however do not forget that self-publishing can be the first step in getting accepted by a publisher so its worth doing.
Once you've learnt how to blog you can combine your blogging research and writing to produce the content for your first book. Do not be concerned with quality no-one produces a 5 star book first time round, there is plenty of room for informative mediocre books out there, what matters is that you learn how to write a book and you can only learn by doing it.
Flirt With Influencers
If you can be seen with influencers then you can influence and grow a following. Get to know influencers online; especially those that have already made it in your industry. Do not be weird but do be generous and genuine and things will happen for you. This is more a matter of finding the right time to say the right thing. Sending unsolicited email does not work and will ruin your reputation in the long term.
Network With Other C-Level Executives
Network with people who already hold the position you want. This will give you insight into the kind of person and attitude it takes to hold that kind of job. You need to walk into the interview room looking and acting like you already have the job to give the impression that you're made of the right stuff.
Dress Like You Want to be Treated
Although it takes effort and may not perceived as 'cool', dress up. Overdressing in the wrong way can make you look cheap however never opt for dressing down - opt instead for dressing right. It seems shallow to judge people on their appearance but in reality you have little else to go on during a first meeting. Many studies have shown that first impressions stick, so make sure you come across as professional whilst being the best version of yourself. A more corporate-looking version of yourself but yourself nonetheless.
Share Your Achievements (discreetly)
If you have past achievements to be proud of, share them discreetly; this means without sounding like you're boasting, giving credit where credit is due to others that helped you, and also making sure you do not share sensitive information.
However don't be shy to share your achievements, you will never get recognition for your achievements unless you share them.
Investigate
Use your social media prowess to investigate; learn as much as you can about the company you want to join. A good way of learning more about a company is (naturally) by looking at its quarterly reports and PR, but vacancy adverts and mission statements will give you insight into the true spirit of the company and also its direction. The vacancy pages of any company often contain gold nuggets of intelligence you won't find anywhere else.
Use this knowledge to improve your social platforms and blogging to become more relevant to the position you want within the Company you're targeting. It will also help you find synergies or lack of with the core values and evolution of the company and will put you in a better position to decide if this is the company is a good match for you.
If you decide the company is still a good match for you, then optimising your profile to show the synergies you feel with the company will help you look like a good fit when the right opportunity arises.
By making sure you have a strong and clear online presence with increased visibility through blogging and social media, you will also make it easier for head hunters to find you. So you could be landing that job sooner than you think.