Online identity management is the set of techniques used to create, promote and protect the way a person or company is portrayed on the Internet. Online identity management (OIM) often functions as part of a brand or reputation management campaign to improve the quality and accuracy of the information that makes up the online identity. An online ID is a distinct identity created by participating in online events. And this ID includes:
- Creating a website
- Creating a blog
- Interaction on social media
- Post a comment or review
Work is done on online identity management when posting to a social media account, creating a new page on a blog or website, commenting on a review site or forum, or even playing online games.
By focusing on an online identity management strategy, the likelihood of creating an online identity that expresses how you want to be portrayed online increases. This includes using different people for different online activities to mask the personal identity gap. It can also be used to create a distinctive presence of real personality online, which can increase a follower and rise in search engine results. This blog covers:
- Benefits of online identity management
- Using online identity management to promote online personality
- Protecting your online identity from search engines
- Threats to your online identity
Benefits of Online Identity Management
When left unmonitored, online identities can be easily damaged. Appearing forces out of control from negative social media posts, malicious Wikipedia editors, bad reviews, negative press, and even hackers can attempt to shatter the online identity. However, if active work is done to manage online identity, the target audiences can have more control over the information they find online about the person or brand, and the overall reputation in the process can be increased. Depending on the goals, online identity management can be used to promote or protect real identity.
Using Online Identity Management
Choosing online reputation carefully is a challenge, but it is worth the time and effort to improve the way the brand is featured online. Online identification can be a determining factor for a job interview, mortgage or loan application and must be carefully managed.
How to Manage an Online Identity?
You can start managing your online identity in just a few hours a week. But it should be noted that if faced with negative criticism or another crisis, more time must be devoted. It’s always best to start working on improving online identity while a brand’s identity is in good standing. Some tips for managing online identity:
• Creating positive content: Since many aspects of online identity management are beyond the control of the person or company, it is a good idea to focus on controllable factors. This means creating lots of positive content such as blog posts, web pages, social media posts, guest contributions to other embedded websites in your niche, or creating videos. If it creates quality brand-related content and is encouraged to make purchases, it can cause it to rise in search results and effectively push down any negative content that may be hidden in Google’s databases.
• Have control over comments: Even if negative reviews are received, there are steps that can be taken to turn them back into positive. It should be started by honestly evaluating the service and products and improving the overall customer experience. Then review sites should be entered to correct individual cases. Negative comments should be responded to with a plain title, and every negative experience should be turned into a positive experience. Most customers review their reviews and are willing to change their reviews if they think their issues have been resolved.
• Monitoring social media: Social media progresses so fast that just one negative tweet can quickly gain attention and reach thousands of people. Therefore, it is necessary to identify threats to online identity in order to have a chance to reach more people, and within that it is important to invest in social media monitoring.
Protecting Your Online Identity from Search Engines
All of the above tips are excellent starting points for online identity management. But what if the goal is to hide real identity online? There are many reasons why a person might want to mask their personal identity, including expressing unpopular views on hot topics or appealing to various groups with conflicting interests. One of the most effective ways to mask online identity is to create different people for various online interactions. Everyone has their own opinion, but if yours poses a threat to your reputation, they can create an alternative character (or nickname) for it. Pseudonyms ensure not to share controversial ideas without worrying about the risk they may pose to reputation.
Threats to Online Identity
Even if online identity is actively managed, there are threats that can damage reputation. Taking an active stance in managing online identity and being aware of the most common threats to it can help reduce these risks should they occur. A few of the most common threats to online reputation are:
• Traps: Traps are a research practice that will seduce a person to place their target in a compromised position, often with photo or video evidence that they will post online later.
• Incorrect content: False or misleading blog posts, social media posts, and reviews can all harm online identity.
• Social media and email manipulation: Hackers can steal passwords and other personal information to start posting offensive or insulting comments, pictures or videos.
• Unauthorized leaks: If inaccurate information about your brand gets into the wrong hands, news broadcasts can fuel conflicts with competitors and others who could benefit from damaging online identity.
• Continuous negative content campaigns: Any combination of these threats can have a large-scale impact on online identity. Antagonists can use proxies, cloaking techniques, fake names and identities to defeat sites like Yelp, RipOffReport, social media, and independent websites to influence search results.
The concept of verifying (granting) access to a resource has existed since the earliest civilizations. Preserving information or resources is nothing new. Identity management is a category of IT operations that has existed for a very long time. Of course, when it comes to electronic or digital assets, this process is different from what is seen in the physical world. As the world is increasingly moving towards being online, the concept of online identity management is an important concept to follow. There are several different efforts going on in the identity and access management world. Some of these focus on consumers, while others focus on business identities.
Whether you are the target of online identity manipulation or not, online identity management techniques can help bring out the best of a brand identity online. In an age where a simple Google search becomes the decisive factor in achieving goals, online identity is important to best portray.
